Dirty Celebrity Wins Klarna's Small Business Initiative Program

Jersey City, NJ, August 21, 2021 --(PR.com)-- It can be challenging to grow a small business under the best of circumstances. The ongoing pandemic has made it increasingly difficult for entrepreneurs to survive let alone thrive. Dirty Celebrity felt it the hardest. “We just started doing trade shows last September,” said Yvette Estime, co-owner and designer for Dirty Celebrity, “and were just wrapping up Vegas Edge in February.” Eva Estime, twin and co-owner stated, “We were aware of COVID but it was so downplayed in the media; we thought it was worth the risk.”

Soon, after returning home to Jersey City, NJ; the lockdowns started happening and on the day of the Twins’ birthday, March 17, 2020, NJ locked down. “It was an utter shock,” said Yvette. “We felt lied to and blindsided.” Worst of all, the connections they made at Vegas Edge, the American extension of London Edge, tradeshow for alternative brands, evaporated overnight. “We needed a website quickly,” Eva remembered.

“We had a website in the past but it was no longer our main source of income,” stated Eva. The twins worked on building a new website and promoting through Facebook but few leads and an economy ravished by COVID proved to be a big obstacle.

“And then we got this email from our favorite business blog, The Emerging Designer, which she posted about Klarna’s Small Business Initiative,” said Yvette. The premise was to write about how COVID affected your business and how you were navigating the changes. “Writing was always a passion of mine,” said Yvette, who received a Masters in Psychology and wrote of the Psychology of Fashion, “so I wrote the 200 word essay.”

In July, the twins were informed they won. The prize was 1 free year of Klarna on their website and $40,000 in free advertising. “It was surreal,” said Eva, who almost did not believe the news. “It goes to show that if you have the passion and drive anything can happen.”

About Dirty Celebrity
Eva and Yvette Estime are twin sisters who design alternative fashion with sustainability in mind. Dirty Celebrity focuses on alternative accessories influenced by Japanese street wear, American Punk and Victorian Goth.