How a fashion creator turned audience demand into a 500+ client styling business
Maddy Gustini turned her audience demand into a styling business with over 500 clients, according to Digiday. She earns revenue from brand deals, personal styling, and affiliate links.
Original reporting · digiday.com
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How this was written. GMS Agency Desk wrote this article with a language model from Digiday’s reporting (model: @cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from Digiday’s report
- Maddy Gustini built a styling business with over 500 clients through her audience demand.
- She earns revenue from brand deals, personal styling, and affiliate links.
- Gustini has secured brand deals with several major menswear brands.
- She made an early bet on a startup, Driptail, as a strategic equity investor.
- Gustini's investment in Driptail is part of her effort to diversify her revenue streams.
Maddy Gustini started creating content in 2023, focusing on practical fashion advice for men, and gained over 100,000 Instagram followers within a year. Today, she has nearly 300,000 followers.
Gustini saw an opportunity to turn her audience's demand into a new revenue stream: personal styling, and started Maddy G Style, a personal styling service. She charges upwards of $250 an hour for shopping help, $55 an outfit for a style deck, or $800 for a full closet redo.
Gustini has more than 500 style deck and closet redo clients and over 100 regular styling clients, but she wouldn't provide details on her earnings through her personal styling service. Around 60% of her revenue comes from brand deals, 20% from Maddy G Style, and 20% from affiliate links.
Gustini makes content featuring menswear brands she has affiliate deals with and includes those brands in her personal styling guides. She has secured brand deals with J. Crew, Calvin Klein, Todd Snyder, Bespoke Post, Steve Madden, and Aldo.
Gustini wanted to diversify beyond brand deals and her styling business, so she made an early bet on a startup, Driptail, a social fashion app that helps users find clothes based on their body type. She was invited by Shine Management to join Driptail as a strategic equity investor.
Gustini was invited to provide app feedback and advice, and shortly after, she was invited to come on as an equity partner. She didn't provide details of her investment, but said it's all in service of diversifying her revenue streams.
Gustini's representation says she's driven the most users to the app, alongside creator Alicia McCarvell. One post of Gustini's drove 1,000 new users to Driptail and over 100 purchases in the three days after she posted it. This article is based on reporting by Digiday.
Questions and answers
How did Maddy Gustini build her styling business?
Maddy Gustini built her styling business by turning her audience demand into a new revenue stream, offering personal styling services through her company Maddy G Style.
What are Maddy Gustini's revenue streams?
Maddy Gustini's revenue streams include brand deals, personal styling, and affiliate links, with around 60% of her revenue coming from brand deals.
Why did Maddy Gustini invest in Driptail?
Maddy Gustini invested in Driptail as part of her effort to diversify her revenue streams and have a stake in a fashion app that aligns with her values and expertise.
