Kitsch
After seven failed businesses, Cassandra Thurswell wrote a one-paragraph plan as if it had already worked, then started selling handmade hair ties. She never took outside money, and Kitsch now does $300M+ a year.
After seven failed businesses, Cassandra Thurswell wrote a one-paragraph plan for a hair-accessories company as if it had already succeeded, then started selling handmade hair ties. She never took a dollar of outside investment. Fifteen years later, Kitsch does more than $300 million a year in over 27,000 stores worldwide.
Thurswell bootstrapped Kitsch from a single hair tie in 2010 into a nine-figure beauty brand, satin scrunchies, heatless curlers, shampoo bars, sold at Target, Ulta, Walgreens, Whole Foods, and Amazon, while keeping full ownership the entire way. She built it on cheap, everyday products most of the industry dismissed as too small to bother with.
At a glance:
| Founded | 2010, by Cassandra Morales Thurswell |
| Started with | A single handmade hair tie |
| Funding | None. Fully bootstrapped, 100% owned |
| Revenue | $300 million+ in annual sales |
| Distribution | 27,000+ stores: Target, Ulta, Walgreens, Whole Foods, Amazon |
| Category | Hair accessories and mass haircare |
The Story
Seven failures and a one-paragraph plan
Kitsch wasn’t Thurswell’s first try, it was roughly her eighth. She’d been through seven failed ventures before she sat down and wrote a single paragraph describing the company she wanted, written in the present tense, as if it already existed. That habit of clarity, deciding exactly what she was building before she built it, became the throughline of everything that followed.
A single hair tie
In 2010 she launched Kitsch in Los Angeles with something almost comically small: a hair tie. What set her apart wasn’t the product, it was her read on why people buy even the simplest things, the emotional backstory behind an ordinary purchase. She treated a $2 accessory as something worth designing and branding well, in a category everyone else treated as an afterthought.
Bootstrapping to nine figures
Thurswell grew Kitsch entirely on its own revenue, no venture capital, no outside investors. That meant slower, more deliberate growth, but it also meant she kept complete ownership and control as the brand scaled. She credits the decision to bootstrap as a core reason for the brand’s durability, and the numbers backed her up as Kitsch climbed onto the Inc. 5000 and kept compounding.
27,000 stores
From a hair tie, Kitsch expanded into a full range of accessories and haircare and pushed hard into mass retail. It grew from an $87 million brand in 2021 into one reportedly doing more than $300 million a year, sold in over 27,000 stores including Target, Ulta, Walgreens, Whole Foods, and Amazon, and Thurswell was named a CNBC Changemaker in 2025.
The Strategy
Win the products everyone else ignored
Kitsch’s whole business is built on cheap, everyday items, scrunchies, clips, hair ties, that the beauty industry considered too small to take seriously. Owning an overlooked, high-repeat category is a powerful position, because there’s little prestige competition and customers replace the products constantly.
Bootstrapped, so it stayed hers
By refusing outside money, Thurswell kept 100% of a brand that grew into nine figures. Bootstrapping a consumer-products company to that scale is rare, and it meant the entire value she created stayed with her, the same control Ju Rhyu protected by keeping Hero lean.
Everyday hero products, engineered to spread
Kitsch repeatedly turned mundane categories into viral moments, the satin scrunchie, the heatless curling set, products that are cheap, useful, and easy to demonstrate on social media. A low-priced, genuinely useful product that photographs and demos well is a scaling engine that costs almost nothing to ignite.
The Marketing
The feeling behind a simple purchase
Thurswell’s real skill is emotional, understanding why someone reaches for even a basic product and building the brand around that feeling. That instinct turned commodity accessories into things people chose Kitsch for specifically, which is how a hair tie becomes a brand instead of a generic.
Viral by design
Kitsch’s products are built to be shown, not just sold. The heatless curler and satin scrunchie spread through demonstration on TikTok and Instagram, generating earned attention that a mass-retail accessories brand could never afford to buy outright.
The Numbers
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2010 | Kitsch launches with a single hair tie |
| 2021 | Reaches ~$87 million in sales, still bootstrapped |
| 2024–25 | Reportedly $300 million+ in annual sales |
| Ongoing | Present in 27,000+ stores worldwide |
Bootstrapped to $300 million: Kitsch reached nine figures without a dollar of outside capital, which is almost unheard of at that scale. It meant slower growth, but it also meant Thurswell owns the entire company she built, and answers to no one about how she runs it.
What You Can Learn
The overlooked category can be the opportunity. Kitsch built a $300 million business on products the industry thought were too cheap to matter. Small, high-repeat, unglamorous categories often have the least competition and the most loyal buyers.
Bootstrapping keeps everything yours. Thurswell grew to nine figures and still owns it all. Bootstrapping is slower and harder, but it means the value you create stays with you instead of your investors.
Slow growth compounds. Kitsch took years to become an overnight success. Building deliberately on your own revenue is less glamorous than a big raise, but it produces a business that’s durable and entirely under your control.
Sell the feeling, not the object. Thurswell’s edge was understanding the emotion behind a simple purchase. Even a commodity product becomes a brand when you build it around why people actually buy it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Kitsch?
Cassandra Morales Thurswell founded Kitsch in 2010 in Los Angeles, after seven earlier failed ventures, starting with a single handmade hair tie.
Is Kitsch bootstrapped?
Yes. Thurswell built Kitsch entirely without venture capital or outside investors, retaining full ownership as it grew to more than $300 million in annual sales.
How big is Kitsch?
Kitsch reportedly generates more than $300 million in annual sales and is sold in over 27,000 stores worldwide, including Target, Ulta, Walgreens, Whole Foods, and Amazon.
What does Kitsch sell?
Kitsch makes hair accessories and haircare, including satin scrunchies, heatless curling sets, shampoo bars, clips, and hair ties, focused on accessibility, sustainability, and everyday useful products.
Sources
- Inc., “How This Founder Built an $87 Million Brand From a Single Perfect Hair Tie,” 2021. 2010 founding, the hair tie, slow bootstrapped growth.
- CNBC, “Cassandra Morales Thurswell: 2025 Changemaker,” 2025. $300 million+ sales and 27,000 stores.
- Fortune, “Kitsch CEO’s viral haircare brand started with hair ties,” 2024. Bootstrapping decision and market context.
- Founded.com, “This founder wrote about her goals like they already happened”. The one-paragraph plan and $300M/27,000-store scale.
- Kitsch, “Our Founder”. Seven failed ventures, handmade hair ties, and bootstrapping.