From the Diamond District to Dallas

How a special friendship and shared philosophy brought Marla Aaron jewelry to Texas

Marla Aaron’s functional fine jewelry brand is unsurprisingly based in New York City’s Diamond District. Aaron is not from Dallas, and her jewelry is sold all around the world. So why did she decide to establish her first American shop-in-shop inside the newly-opened clothing store Kick Pleat on Lovers Lane? It was her friendship with Kick Pleat founder Wendi Martin that drew her to the area.

Aaron and Martin’s professional lives bear a striking resemblance. Years before meeting Aaron, Martin worked for Dell, helping to launch the computer in Latin America. Though Martin says she is grateful for her corporate experience and that it has helped with her business, she knew she needed a change.

“I just really knew it wasn’t for me, because I felt like I was dying on the inside with my cubicles and my punching in,” Martin says.

Before launching the Marla Aaron brand, Aaron was working in marketing and advertising while making jewelry on the side. After a particularly rough business trip, which ended with her having third-degree burns due to a rogue coffee maker, Aaron quit her job and began making jewelry full time.

“I had to be young and dumb to start (Kick Pleat),” Martin says.

As startups, both Kick Pleat and Marla Aaron started small. Aaron originally started working out of her home for the first four years. Martin started her business in a 1,200-square-foot house, and it was 14 years before she opened Kick Pleat Austin.

Kick Pleat now has three locations, and the Marla Aaron showroom in New York City averages six to eight appointments a day.

About 12 years ago, Martin and Aaron met in the Gary Graham store in New York City while Martin was scoping out Marla Aaron jewelry to possibly be sold at her store. Since then, the two owners — and their brands — have had a strong relationship. Kick Pleat was the first store Aaron sold to after launching her own line.

“We are very particular about the stores where we are sold. This is by far our most important relationship in the world for many, many reasons. That’s why it was important to do this here,” Aaron says.

Perhaps one of the best symbols of this relationship is the specialty item that will be available at the shop-in-shop. It features Aaron’s signature lock, engraved with bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas.

One of the reasons Marla Aaron and Kick Pleat seem to be so compatible is their owners’ similar philosophies about fashion and jewelry trends. Aaron and Martin have both made a point to stick to their visions. Martin says that people have asked her if she is going to change her inventory to fit the Dallas market.

“No, we’re going to do what we do, and that’s what’s going to hopefully make people with like minds that like it come in,” she says.

Aaron has also stayed firm in her vision of her brand. This is easily seen in the manner in which the jewelry is displayed. Instead of the traditional stands with glass cases, Marla Aaron jewelry is displayed in a specialty bright orange case that is modeled off of traditional sewing boxes. The display ties into Aaron’s desire to portray jewelry shopping as a “moment of play.”

“I think the key to success is to just stay your course,” she says. “If you try to be something you’re not, it’s over.”