This Temple alum co-founded an online clothing store to help save the elephants

Two years ago, five students came up with a idea of Ivory Ella, an online clothing store benefiting African elephants with ten percent of all their proceeds going towards Save the Elephants.

Through the last two years of the creation of Ivory Ella, almost one million dollars have been donated to Save the Elephants and the Elephant Crisis Fund. Additionally, Ivory Ella have donated thousands of dollars to other charities as well, such as The American Heart Association, Toys for Tots, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and many others.

Co-founder John Allen is a Temple alumnus and was thrilled to talk with The Tab Temple about the inspiration behind Ivory Ella, the current outlook of the company and additional advice for his fellow Owls.

What was the inspiration for Ivory Ella?

The inspiration of Ivory Ella goes back to when I was a junior at Temple. Myself and three other partners had started another clothing business (before IE) called Boho Outfitters. While we had fun and gained experience in the apparel and jewelry industry most of the items being sold were just wholesale apparel from places like China, India, Etsy stores, etc. However we had always wanted something that was our own – our own clothing, accessories, etc. So while we ran Boho we began working on our own brand, the lifestyle we wanted to represent, the quality we wanted to sell and thus the idea for Ivory Ella was born.

We knew we wanted to be different than other brands like Vineyard Vines, Polo, Victoria’s Secret, etc., so we linked up with the Save The Elephants organization and really learned more about the devastating effects of the Ivory trade and the future of Elephants and from there we knew we had to add a component in our business that gave back and brought awareness to these travesties.

What were you studying at Temple? 

During my four years at Temple, I studied communications. While communications isn’t really related to business or entrepreneurship, I’d like to think it allowed me the ability to explore different opportunities and meet a ton of new people, which for me was the most important thing about college. That being said, after starting Ivory Ella, I immediately knew I had to step my business game up, so over the last two years I have been taking online classes in more business/finance driven fields in order to further my education in those fields.

Did you expect the company to be as successful as it is today?

While we did expect success from Ivory Ella, we obviously never expected what it has become. I think the best way to outline our mindset at the time was as following: we had 500 shirts premade, we said if we sell these in a month amazing, if we sell in a week it will be life-changing. We sold out in about 17 minutes of launch. At the time we were running out of my partners (maybe 800 sq ft) basement with his family helping us fold and ship shirts. We now have over 100 employees working out of a 50,000 sqft warehouse.

What advice would you give to Temple students looking to start as an entrepreneur?

I think the advice I would give is that which most successful entrepreneurs preach, which is you’ve got to be willing to work harder than anyone else and you’ve got to be willing to take risks. Prior to Ivory Ella I had numerous businesses selling everything under the sun from Energy Drinks to women’s dresses and rompers. For years, friends and even family mocked and laughed at me assuring me that I was wasting my time and energy. But I never let that stop me- I was always the first one in the tech center and the last one out. I was by no means the smartest guy in the room but I can guarantee there wasn’t anybody who wanted to succeed more than I did. You will be surprised how far dedication, focus and perseverance can take you in life.

What advice would you offer to Temple students who have no clue what career they want to pursue?

I think it’s great. Nobody should have there life planned out when they’re 20-23 years old. Take risks and seize opportunities while they’re in front of you. This is a time in your life when you cant make a mistake, you can’t fail, you can only live and we should embrace that. Eventually we all do find our path, some later or earlier then others, but you cant determine what you want if you dont know what else could be out there.