How a Brazilian Designer Earned $75,000 Building a Kidswear Studio Around Her Children

Built on the Side: Real freelance stories

Andressa I. rebuilt her fashion career after moving from Brazil to the United States, then launched a kidswear design studio while caring for two children under two. What began in short bursts between feedings and nap times has generated approximately $75,000 in cumulative gross revenue since June 2020.

She Had Her Dream Fashion Career—Then Started Over

Before freelancing became her main source of income, Andressa had already built a substantial career in fashion. In Brazil, she worked as a kidswear designer for a large fashion company and taught fashion product development at the university she had attended.

It was the kind of career she had once imagined: creative work, international travel and opportunities to study abroad. Moving to the United States in 2014 changed the trajectory.

Andressa first settled in Minnesota and continued doing some freelance work for Brazilian fashion companies, producing trend reports and helping them understand the US market. After moving to Georgia, she secured a role as a visual merchandiser with Altar’d State in 2016.

That job added a new layer to her experience. Instead of focusing only on how a product was designed and manufactured, she saw how it was presented in stores, how customers responded to it and how the retail environment influenced purchasing decisions.

Then she became a mother. Her son was followed by her daughter, and in 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted ordinary working life just as Brazilian brands began contacting her again for freelance research and product-development help.

“My workdays looked a lot like: feed the baby, open the laptop, design something, feed the baby again, answer an email—and repeat.”

A Forgotten Portfolio Produced Her First Client

Andressa did not launch with a sophisticated acquisition funnel or advertising budget. Her first client found a portfolio she had uploaded years earlier and then largely forgotten.

The prospective client operated a store carrying products from several brands but wanted to create a label of their own. They needed someone capable of turning the initial idea into a real collection.

The project arrived in the same month Andressa began operating the studio in June 2020. She later formalised the business as an LLC in 2023. More importantly, the project reminded her how much she enjoyed translating an idea into something that could actually be manufactured and sold.

“That first project gave me more than just a customer—it gave me confidence,” she says.

With two children under two, her available working time came in fragments. She built the foundations during naps and between everyday childcare tasks. As the children grew and began attending school part-time, the business gained more room to grow too.

What Her Kidswear Studio Actually Does

Through Dressa Iop Fashion Studio, Andressa helps emerging fashion and kidswear brands move from an idea toward a production-ready product.

That can include trend research, collection development, textile prints, technical design, tech packs, sourcing and sample development. It is a much broader service than drawing a garment.

A detailed tech pack must communicate measurements, sizing, construction, materials, trims, artwork and print placement clearly enough for a manufacturer—potentially working in another country and language—to produce the intended result. Kidswear adds questions of fit, function, consistency and safety.

This end-to-end understanding has become central to Andressa’s positioning. Clients are not only buying artwork; they are buying experience that can reduce confusion, delays and expensive production mistakes.

The Numbers Behind the Business

Andressa says the studio has generated approximately $75,000 in cumulative gross revenue since launching in June 2020. That figure is total business revenue before subtracting expenses or tax, not annual earnings or personal take-home pay.

For her most recently reported period, she recorded gross revenue of $22,584.14, again before expenses and tax. A typical current month brings in around $2,500 in gross revenue, while her best month reached $5,580. She works approximately 25 hours a week, although both workload and income can fluctuate substantially with the type and timing of projects.

A print-design assignment may take a few hours. A product-development engagement involving research, technical packs, sourcing, samples and manufacturer communication can continue for months. That makes monthly comparisons imperfect: several small projects may run together, or one larger engagement may dominate the schedule.

She estimates regular annual business costs of $2,981.31, including Adobe Illustrator, Canva, internet, her website, business software and some outsourced help with social media and content.

The Real Startup Cost Was Almost Nothing

Andressa initially entered approximately $6,000 as her startup cost, but later clarified that this combined two investments made after the business was already operating: a MacBook Pro purchased with first-year freelance earnings and a professional course bought in early 2026.

Neither was required to win the first client.

At launch, she used an older computer and internet service she already had. The only meaningful additional requirement was an Adobe Illustrator subscription—plus, in her words, “lots of courage to keep going.”

This distinction matters because startup spending and later reinvestment are not the same thing. The studio was validated using existing equipment and expertise. Better hardware and further education followed once the work had begun generating revenue.

She Doubled Her Income—Then Doubled It Again

The first physical marker of progress was buying the MacBook Pro entirely with money generated by the new business. In her second year, Andressa says she doubled her income. In the third, she doubled it again.

Another milestone came when Sew Heidi—whose book Freelancing in Fashion had helped shape Andressa’s early approach to portfolios, pricing and client acquisition—invited her onto a podcast. The show is no longer available, but for Andressa it represented a transition from studying someone else’s advice to being recognised for putting it into practice.

More recently, a long-term client told her that one collection had generated almost $10,000 in sales through a single store. It was the third year of their working relationship.

That $10,000 was the client’s product sales, not Andressa’s fee. Its significance was seeing a product move from an initial idea through development and into a commercial result.

She has also contributed an article on kidswear tech packs to the Brazilian book Fichas Técnicas de Moda by Doris Treptow and Denis Fraga, reconnecting her current work with her earlier experience as a university educator.

From Selling Hours to Selling Experience

When she began freelancing, Andressa priced work by estimating the required hours and multiplying them by an hourly rate. Over time, she became less convinced that this reflected the value of what clients were actually buying.

Most projects are now quoted using a project fee. Instead of considering only how long it will take to create a print or tech pack, she considers the broader result: clearer communication with suppliers, fewer preventable mistakes and less time and stress for the client.

“I stopped selling hours and started selling the value of my experience.”

That experience spans more than 18 years in fashion and product development. It includes understanding manufacturing processes, asking suppliers the right questions, spotting problems early, meeting deadlines and keeping complex work moving.

The shift has encouraged her to pursue larger, better-fitting projects. Those opportunities can take longer to win, and she does not win every proposal, but a successful one is more likely to use the full range of her skills.

The Unglamorous Client-Finding Loop

Andressa’s business now attracts enquiries through Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, her website, cold outreach, referrals and Upwork. She cannot yet identify a single dominant source.

Consistent visibility has nevertheless changed her sales conversations. Prospective clients often arrive having already reviewed her portfolio, website and posts. The discovery call can therefore focus on the brand’s needs rather than beginning with a lengthy attempt to establish her credibility.

Her working routine follows a recurring cycle:

• Find and approach potential clients.
• Land a suitable project.
• Switch almost entirely into design and development work.
• Finish the main production phase.
• Return to marketing and pipeline-building.

Finding the next client remains the hardest part of the business. She would prefer to spend her time designing, but recognises that the creative work and the work of keeping the pipeline alive are equally necessary.

The $4,000 Project She Was Right to Reject

One proposed assignment offered one of her clearest business lessons. A prospective client wanted 40 tech packs, each accompanied by three coordinated print designs, for approximately $4,000.

That would have meant producing 120 print designs in addition to the technical packs—before accounting for revisions, communication or project management. Andressa knew the budget was inadequate but initially considered the project because she wanted the work.

She proposed 50% payment upfront and 50% upon completion. The client instead wanted to pay only after every item had been finished. When she withdrew, he became angry and yelled during a phone call.

The experience reinforced a rule she now applies more confidently: a freelancer should not ignore obvious pricing and payment risks simply because an opportunity is large.

AI Helps With Language, Not the Design Thinking

As a Brazilian professional working internationally, Andressa occasionally uses AI tools to refine English-language proposals and emails. She also finds them useful when communicating with manufacturers whose first language is not English.

She deliberately draws a boundary around the creative and technical core of the work. Product concepts, print direction, technical development and decisions about what will work for a child and a manufacturer remain grounded in her own expertise.

For her, AI is a communication aid rather than a substitute for design judgment.

Success Looks Different After Children

Andressa is candid that her household has a safety net: her husband’s regular employment covers everyday living costs, allowing much of her business income to go toward retirement, college savings for the children and wider family savings.

That context matters. She does not present her route as proof that everyone should immediately leave employment to freelance. Her advice is to begin alongside a job or other responsibilities, build a portfolio, test whether customers want the service and understand the financial buffer required before making a larger leap.

Her own definition of success is not simply revenue growth.

“Success means being able to help brands bring their ideas to life, contribute financially to my family and, most importantly, be present and watch my kids grow while doing work that I love.”

With her children now spending more time in school, she plans to invest additional hours in the studio. Her goal is to double revenue, bring trusted collaborators into the business and gradually build a small team capable of handling larger projects without removing her from the creative work.

Seven Lessons From Andressa’s Journey

1. Existing expertise can make a service business inexpensive to test. Her first client required skills, a portfolio and an Illustrator subscription—not a new computer or large inventory investment.
2. Old work can continue marketing you. A forgotten online portfolio produced the first client years after it was uploaded.
3. Reinvestment is different from startup spending. The MacBook and professional training followed early revenue rather than preceding it.
4. Project pricing can reflect outcomes that hourly pricing misses. The value includes reduced mistakes, clearer supplier communication and confidence that production keeps moving.
5. Pipeline work does not disappear when projects improve. Visibility, outreach and follow-up remain part of the job even for an experienced specialist.
6. A large project can still be a poor opportunity. Scope, payment terms and client behaviour matter as much as the headline fee.
7. Build a version of success that fits your circumstances. Andressa’s studio works because it combines meaningful creative work, family flexibility and a contribution to longer-term household goals.

The Bottom Line

Andressa did not begin from zero professionally. She began with years of fashion knowledge, then had to rebuild the way that knowledge reached the market after immigration and motherhood changed the structure of her career.

Her studio’s approximately $75,000 in cumulative gross revenue is important, but the more instructive result is how it was built: using an old computer, an existing portfolio and short periods of available time; reinvesting only after clients arrived; and gradually learning to price specialist judgment rather than creative hours alone.

It is a realistic version of freelance growth—uneven, dependent on continual client acquisition and supported by specific household circumstances. It is also evidence that a career interrupted or reshaped by family life does not have to be abandoned. It can be rebuilt into something different.