STYLE: Vestique – Charlotte Magazine

Best friends Morgan Lashley and Caroline Dunham have done almost everything together since they met at N.C. State in 2003, their freshman year. They majored in public relations and worked in marketing in Raleigh for the first few years after college. They married their husbands within a year of each other. Today, they’re both 38, and each has three kids—the same ages, 7, 5, and 3. Their families vacation together. They do barre together every morning. Then they go to work at the North End offices of Vestique, the clothing boutique they founded in 2010 after desk jobs that, Dunham says, made them realize they “were not meant for the cube life.”

They launched Vestique as a small online store, and it’s ballooned into a beloved and recognizable brand. Today, it has 12 brick-and-mortar stores in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia; more than 120 employees, all women; a large, engaged social media following; 10,000 square feet of warehouse space; and a growing e-commerce presence. 

Vestique’s merchandise is trendy but not unique. It’s what you’d find in most boutiques today: checkered sweaters, plaid blazers, pleated skirts, matching sets, swanky dresses, gold necklaces, cute boots—things that “cool girls” on social media wear. So why has Vestique been so successful? 

It sells the same items for less than the competition and gives customers an experience that mimics that of a luxury fashion brand, with employees who act like personal stylists and lifestyle photo shoots to promote the products. And, even 14 years in, owners Lashley and Dunham are still accessible to their customers, not only on social media but often in person. Buying from Vestique feels a lot better than giving money to fast-fashion retailers like Shein, H&M, or Zara.

Thirty percent of Vestique’s merchandise is designed in-house, including last year’s swimwear.

“We’re never going to be high-end,” Dunham says. “We want to look high-end, though. We want people to turn over the price tag and be like, ‘What?! I can get this sweater that’s amazing quality and looks so high-end for $50?!’”

In 2010, Lashley and Dunham initially considered opening a wedding venue, then rethought the idea when they realized the upfront costs and pivoted to the online boutique. They sourced merchandise at boutique trade shows, stored it in Lashley’s spare bedroom, and sold it on vestique.com. The business took off, and in 2011, they opened their first physical store in Raleigh, where they both lived.

But they noticed that most of their online orders were coming from Charlotte. Lashley says Charlotte’s abundance of young professionals means it feels “a little trendier”—a better match for Vestique’s brand than the “old Southern feel of Raleigh.” In 2012 and 2013, they opened their second store on East Boulevard in Dilworth, then ones in Greenville and Charleston, South Carolina. Shortly after, Lashley and Dunham relocated their families, and Vestique’s operations, to the Queen City.

Of the brand’s 12 stores, the Charlotte location, in Dilworth, sells the most.

The Charlotte store is still Vestique’s busiest and most profitable location. It’s also where Vestique’s chief creative officer and stylist, Adair Kennedy, encountered the brand—and Lashley and Dunham. At the time, she was a student at Queens University, and she’d save her nannying money to shop at Vestique. “Finally, I was like, I just need to work here,” Kennedy says. She started as a sales associate, then slowly took on more responsibilities. In 2014, she became a full-time employee.

Now, Kennedy, 32, leads the brand alongside Lashley and Dunham. She oversees the company’s creative team, which forecasts fashion trends; designs clothes and collections (30% of Vestique’s clothes are designed in-house); and manages photo shoots, social media, and
the website.

Kennedy says Vestique’s Spring 2024 collection will revolve around vibrant maxi dresses, skirts, miniskirts, matching sets, denim-on-denim outfits, and patterned pajamas—“the kinds of things you want to wear on vacation.”

Many boutiques mark up inventory by 80%, but Vestique keeps its markups around 50%. Most of its inventory is less than $50, and nothing is more than $100. Because it’s affordable, it sells more. Another classy touch: The moment customers walk in, they’re greeted by a fashionable, bubbly employee who offers to help. It feels like walking into a Prada or Burberry store, but without the pretension. Lashley compares the feeling to “shopping with your best friend.” 

The online experience gets the same luxe treatment. In addition to studio shoots of the merchandise, Kennedy plans highly stylized lifestyle photo shoots—about 20 a year, in destinations like Asheville, Chicago, and New York City—to share on the website and social media. Early this year, Lashley and Dunham traveled to the Bahamas to model for a spring-collection photo shoot. 

Their willingness to show up—in person or on screen—is another factor they say contributes to Vestique’s success. Regulars know the owners, who still work the floor from time to time. But even customers who’ve never met them feel like they have. Lashley, Dunham, and Kennedy are frequently on social media, in photos and reels, and interacting with followers via live videos and polls.

“Once a lot of businesses get to a certain point, the owners usually become hands-off,” Lashley says. “I don’t ever want to get to that point.” 

Tess Allen is the associate editor.