Conversations with Regan Heinrichs

Today we’d like to introduce you to Regan Heinrichs. 

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
From a young age, I always loved fashion. I grew up in the Midwest where I had little access to fashion, arts, design, etc. (pre-digital age!) and would often skip school with my mom to make the hour and a half drive to our nearest mall to spend the day shopping with her. My mom was big on handbags and shoes and I just loved raiding her closet. 

Getting dressed in the morning always proved to be difficult for me. While I loved fashion, had more clothes than I could even count and was a teenager, I still struggled with my style. I would have meltdowns trying to choose the perfect outfit. This carried through as I moved from the Midwest to the west coast, to the east coast, to Colorado where my style not only had to change because of geographical reasons, but it also changed because of lifestyle reasons. Like my current clients, I always had a hard time getting dressed & put so much pressure on it. It always made me feel really, really good and like I could conquer anything when I had the right outfit on but when I had the wrong outfit on – yikes. Navigating lifestyle changes (aging, moving, having children, going from college to work life, etc.) is a huge component in personal style and it wasn’t until I realized this, that I could help pinpoint what I wanted my wardrobe to say about me. More on this later though! 

I struggled in school and always felt lost while it seemed my peers always knew what they wanted to do. I just knew that whatever I did, I wanted to love it and have fun doing it. From a young age, that’s always been my motto. I didn’t realize what I wanted to do until I saw a flyer for FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising) at my community college I attended in Iowa. I eyed that flyer right before class started on a bulletin board and spent my whole art history class researching the school. My heart lit up. I just knew this was going to be my path. 

Fast forward to a year later, I moved to LA (my lifelong dream to simply just be in CA, I always said this from a young age too!) to start my education at FIDM in the Merchandise Marketing program. I never felt so connected to what I was pursuing. Throughout my education, I worked at Michael Kors, interned with Halston Heritage, blogged (before I knew how influential bloggers were going to be!), and attended as many industry events as I possibly could. I hustled and I loved it. 

Upon graduating (well, technically I literally started my career 10 hours after graduating. No breaks here!) I began my career with Christian Louboutin (a literal dream for me – they were going to be my first designer purchase. I call that manifesting!) where I worked for 3 and half years in LA and NYC. Life brought me to Colorado where I had the opportunity to work at many small local businesses – where I found my love of fashion & business really started to merge. I always thought I’d own my own business one day as my mom did, and the thought of starting a styling business entered my mind. 

I’d be lying if I said I quit my job right away. I didn’t. I let the idea ruminate in the back of my head for about 2 years before I simply just started The Wardrobe Edit one day (right before covid, a blessing and a curse!) I knew I wanted to help women achieve confidence in their wardrobes and I also knew I wanted women of all backgrounds to feel welcome at TWE – not just women of money or status. I believe we all should have access to feeling confident in ourselves through our wardrobe. 

I’ve now been in business for 2 years this February and am so happy I finally took the leap. Today I’ve helped over 25 women achieve their dream wardrobes, hosted events on discovering your personal style, & I continue to strive to reach more women day in and day out. The Wardrobe Edit helps women achieve confidence through their wardrobes, just like I wish I had someone to help me feel this way when getting dressed in the morning in the past, I now want to help women get dressed in the morning seamlessly, too. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Lol, NOPE! Like I said in my previous slide, I really struggled with what I wanted to “be” when I grew up. I didn’t understand how all of my peers knew what they wanted to do with their lives. Their sense of direction really ate at me because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. The thought of doing one thing forever really daunted me – the thought of doing one thing forever that I hated was even worse. I didn’t really know what the fashion industry was then or what it entailed so that thought didn’t really cross my mind at the time. I remember feeling lost as a teenager and even going into community college, I had no idea what I would do but I just knew I’d figure it out somehow. I trusted myself. 

A big struggle for me was leaving the fashion industry in New York to move to (smaller town) Loveland, CO. What the hell was I going to do in the fashion industry in Loveland, CO?! I knew Fort Collins was close, Boulder a little further, and Denver farther than that. I assumed I had options but finding a job that I felt truly fulfilled in was difficult for me. I grappled with my decision knowing how hard I worked to get to where I was (I was only 20 when I had my first corporate job at Louboutin) and it was a difficult struggle to find work that I felt fulfilled doing. I kind of felt like what I was doing was it for me and I needed to give up my dream of being in the fashion industry and switching to something else. I tried multiple times, actually, but it must not have been in the cards for me because I probably applied to 30+ jobs over a year and I didn’t get any of them. A blessing in disguise, I suppose. I enjoyed the small businesses that I did get to work at and am so grateful for what I learned through them, but I just knew something was missing. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit so when the decision of opening a personal styling business came to me, I knew I had to do it. It just took me a while to actually take the leap! 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
You could say that I’m both a business and a creative. I have to be both in my line of work. The Wardrobe Edit by Regan is a personal shopping & personal styling business that helps women achieve confidence in themselves through their wardrobes. I am a one-woman team who puts her all into her business day in and day out. 

I help women create “capsule wardrobes” and no-capsule wardrobes do NOT have to be boring. Capsule wardrobes are smaller, well-curated wardrobes of pieces you can mix and match endlessly. I help teach women about intentional shopping, investing in their wardrobe, shopping less & better, and achieving confidence throughout. I do this through Closet Edits & Cleanouts, Personal Shopping, Personal Styling, and Style Guides. I offer this in a multitude of varieties and really tailor each individual service to each customer depending on their wants and needs. 

What sets me apart from the many styling services out there (RTR, Stitch Fix, other larger style services) is that TWE is personalized. No AI, no funky “technology” to get to know you, no randomly guessing what you might like – but truly me getting to know you. My customers are my friends – I take the time to get to know who they are before and during working together. I don’t make guesses. I’m a helpful sounding board throughout the process and act as their BFF (best fashion friend) while navigating the difficult process of shopping & styling themselves. 

I’m most proud of my clients & my work. I’m proud of my ability to show up every day, give my clients my all, and end the day knowing I didn’t settle for anything less. I’m proud of my clients who are learning & taking educated risks with their wardrobes while working with me and beyond. 

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Haha – not really. Networking is so hard for me. Same with finding a mentor. I always hear of women having amazing mentors and I think “how can I find me one of those?!” Networking has never been easy for me. I’m not a natural-born salesperson (although I’ve worked in sales for much of my life – maybe that’s why I hate traditional networking so much!) I do not like pitching myself to people, I like my work to speak for itself, it’s something I’m working on. 

That being said, networking has been the avenue that has led me to many business partnerships and friendships. So, when I do push myself to network, and I have many opportunities to network thanks to the few groups in my area that put on amazing events, I find myself being so happy that I just showed up. You never know who you’ll meet and you never know what opportunities may come from it. 

I’ll get back to you on the mentor part ha! 

Contact Info:

• Email: twebyregan@gmail.com
• Website: twebyregan.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/twebyregan
• Facebook: facebook.com/twebyregan

Image Credits
Rachel Cox Photography