Effort to produce 'sexy modest' apparel turns into fashion empire

Sisters Vivien and Fernanda Böhme immigrated from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, to Salt Lake City with their family as young children. Vivien had a penchant for numbers and Fernanda leaned toward the creative. With a work ethic gained by experiencing the trials of an immigrant family and as young adults with growing families, the sisters launched a women’s fashion apparel business. With hard work, and as they say on their company website, “after the stars aligned and our auras were the right color,” their hard work paid off. Böhme was born.

Last week owner/CEO Vivien and owner/designer Fernanda were named Small Business Persons of the Year for the state of Utah by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The sisters will be honored at ceremonies during May’s Small Business Week in Utah and at ceremonies on May 5-6 in Washington, D.C. They are then eligible to be named the National Small Business Persons of the Year at the D.C. event.

Starting as a single store in Fashion Place Mall in Sandy in 2007, Böhme  has grown to eight stores in Utah along with another eight scattered across Idaho, Montana, South Dakota and Iowa. The company also has a successful online retail outlet.

The original store struggled at first. The sisters’ idea was to present a “sexy modest” clothing line targeted at Mormon women. 

“As a startup, we had to bootstrap our way through things and be creative with what we had. We only had a credit card to fund us, along with some faith,” Vivien said. Soon after opening, Böhme became No. 1 for sales per square foot at Fashion Place and the chain was off and running. “The thing we learned most over the years in business was to trust our gut feeling,” Vivien said.

Böhme has received multiple honors in recent years, including being listed in the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies, and accolades from The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Us Weekly, and Cosmopolitan magazine. The company has more than 200 employees, the vast majority of which are women.

“I am delighted to recognize the 53 winners from across the country as they gather in our nation’s capital,” said SBA administrator Linda McMahon. “Entrepreneurs are the innovators who take risks on ideas, invest in their communities and create jobs. Their skills and creativity not only support their own families, but they also make our neighborhoods and cities vibrant places to live and work, fueling our overall economic strength. These small-business owners best represent the nation’s 30 million small businesses and I look forward to welcoming the winners to Washington, D.C., in May when they are officially honored for their accomplishments.”

McMahon is expected to visit Utah during Small Business Week in May.