The COVID-19 pandemic has turned our world upside down, with small businesses being hit especially hard. This is a pivotal time for SMBs, and the way they respond to the pressure will determine how their business runs for years to come. Many companies are taking this difficult situation and turning it into an opportunity. In our Positive Pivots series, we’re diving deeper into what these innovative businesses have done, and what lies beneath the surface to produce this kind of creativity and resilience.

This week we spoke with Lisa Sun, Founder and CEO of Gravitas, to discuss how the company was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is Gravitas?

Gravitas is a NYC-based women's workwear brand whose mission is to catalyze confidence. My inspiration for the business came from a former boss who told me I needed more gravitas. When I asked her how, she said, "Get a new dress, big jewelry, and great shoes. I can teach you how to be good at this job, but I can't teach you how to like yourself. When you look at yourself in the mirror, you have to see the best in yourself.'' After much consideration after feeling burnt out, I left my job after 12 years and traveled the world. I gained a whole new energy and perspective, and when I returned, my mother pushed me to start a company with my life savings. Gravitas launched in 2013, and our first product was a little black dress with built-in shapewear. Oprah gave us props and it sold out in a day. This was and will always be one of my favorite days.

How did COVID-19 impact your operations?

We did our first runway show during New York Fashion Week in September 2019. We were so excited for March and April because we were about to release all these amazing runway pieces, and then on March 13, 2020, the world stopped. Our sales were not zero — they were negative. Customers who recently made purchases ended up returning them when they realized they had nowhere to go. As a result, our sales were negative between March 13-20. Then, in late March, our building was shut down as DHL was trying to deliver millions of dollars worth of our runway collection pieces.

How did you respond to those changes?

I got a phone call on April 2nd from a friend in television who said the CDC was about to make a mask mandate. She asked if we could make 50 face masks for the staff because they're still going into the studio. I didn't even know if I could get a seamstress to come in, so here’s what we ended up doing: we had 3,000 yards of Japanese cotton in the office, and a local store sold us elastic that I picked up on the sidewalk. My designer lived a few blocks away, so we got a few seamstresses working from home and on April 3rd, we went back to work and made cloth face masks. They ended up on the Today Show. They were tested against N95 and hospital masks and passed. We ended up making a quarter million face masks and everything was sewn here in NYC. In parallel, a local hospital asked if we could make hospital gowns, so our Shanghai team — accustomed to making US $300 dresses — started making hospital gowns. It kept our team together, but we didn't profit at all. We just covered expenses. I like to say we pivoted with purpose, not profit.

What is the lasting impact those changes will have on your business?

This experience helped us expand our catalogue with purposeful pieces. We had a lot of stretch velvet that was supposed to be for holiday party dresses. We brainstormed and my designer said, "If you’re stuck inside on Christmas day, you might want to wear a velvet sweatshirt with gold zippers and have a special holiday party outfit for home. Give me four hours." We ended up launching a collection called EveryWear soon after and it sold out in one hour.

Has there been a silver lining for your business throughout the COVID-19 pandemic?

After locally producing our pieces, we realized we could transform the garment industry from a slow-moving supply chain to a fast one. We could turn the New York Garment District into a leader in on-demand manufacturing as a complement to what we do overseas. Our made in NYC collections provide a consumer with a direct link to local community impact.