Scrappiness Wins When You're Creating Something From Nothing — Kristen Lambert
I came into the world as a surprise…
An early “present”, as my mother was a teenager that had hidden her pregnancy. After two weeks in foster care, I was returned to be adopted by my grandparents a few days before Christmas.
My grandmother went on to fill the role of my mother after raising five children of her own.
Life was not always easy and often filled with adversity.
I was a shy kid…
so to break me out of my shell my grandmother kept me busy through a variety of experiences that ranged from soccer, to t-ball, to bowling.
Despite her efforts, I always felt different and developed a sense of shame for not having a ‘normal’ life at home.
Things in our house were tense and often filled with conflict, fighting, alcoholism, and chaos.
At an early age, I wanted out and something different for myself.
I was in search of a life that felt peaceful and stable.
How I changed the trajectory of my life…
I left home at 17, to attend Bentley College and it shaped me in the most positive way. Having the opportunity to live and immerse myself in college prepared me for the independent life I was seeking.
I went on to work in Finance and soon realized I hated the corporate world. I was miserable and completely unfulfilled with the work. I changed roles and moved to companies, but the feeling was the same. In search of a new career path, I went to graduate school to pursue an MBA with the hope it would point me in the right direction.
After the Financial Crisis hit in 2007, I lost all faith in the finance industry. I was disheartened after seeing the job losses along with the market crash and the mortgage crisis.
It was at that moment I knew that I wanted to own my career by becoming an entrepreneur.
At 27, I was planning a wedding, and sites like Etsy & Pinterest became my creative outlets.
I fell in love with all the elements of design and could see the growing opportunity within the DIY maker space. In that same time frame, I had a serendipitous conversation with a workout buddy that soon pitched me on a hand-knit scarf she made… I remember saying,
“This is beautiful! I would buy this. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
It dawned on me, “What if we could make these and sell them?”
I called every yarn store across the country and bought all of the yarn I could on my credit card. Soon after, a business partnership was formed to create Third Piece.
I took out a personal loan for $20K and hired a woman from a yarn store to get the scarves knit.
Orders soon came in from renowned retailers such as Henri Bendel, Bergdorf Goodman, Shopbop, and other boutiques across the US and Canada.
The concept expanded into short and long-term pop-ups around Boston. I was hiring knitters in the Boston area to fulfill all of the orders that were coming in, which ultimately turned into a cottage-industry-style operation for local women.
These women inspired me and I fought hard to keep the production locally made with their help.
The early vision for Third Piece was to serve as a platform that could combine their love of knitting with something that could support their livelihood.
I found myself doing everything I could to make this local production happen.
Looking back, there were elements of the relationships I had with these women that resonated and reminded me of my grandmother. Each of these knitters had a belief in me and Third Piece that created a sense of belonging and loyalty like nothing I experienced before.
In 2017, I created the first of-its-kind retail experience to shop, make and learn everything about knitting!
After years of working with renowned retailers and hosting pop-ups, I opened the first-of-its-kind retail experience in Boston. It was there that I connected with thousands of customers and knitters. This little space became a hub of connection, community, and knitting.
Pivoting from the pandemic, the business shifted online, where we now connect with knitters all over the globe and expanded into ways I never could have images. The retail concept has since been put on hold as we move into the future, with a digital-first experience.
The pandemic ended up being one of the best and worst things that lead me to where I am today.
After a few chapters of trying, failing, rebuilding, and pivoting,
Third Piece has evolved to be much more than the small hand-knit fashion label it started as. Being an entrepreneur has always been about creating the life that I want to live. It was my small way of leaving a positive impact on the people, my community, and the world around me.
