Career & Money

On ‘Day in the Life’: What EB Denim Founder Elena Bonvicini Learned From Hiring Mistakes

October 19, 2025

Building a business is never a straight line, and when it comes to hiring, it’s often the most challenging part of the journey. On Day in the Life, host Paige Port sits down with EB Denim founder and creative director Elena Bonvicini, who openly shares the ups and downs of growing her team while building one of the coolest denim brands around.

What began as a high school passion project, where she reworked vintage Levi’s, has now blossomed into a thriving label with a flagship store in Los Angeles and a celebrity fan base. However, as the business expanded, so did the team, bringing with it a host of valuable lessons.

Hiring is one of those things nobody really prepares you for, and Bonvicini admits it was a process of trial and error. From her very first hire to learning when to invest in experienced talent, she’s built a strong team of 17 that runs everything from design to retail.

The first hire matters more than you think

While the romanticized image of a fashion founder often involves being surrounded by designers and stylists from the get-go, Bonvicini’s journey took a different path. Her first strategic move was to bring in support for the essential but less glamorous tasks. “The first person I hired was a customer service representative,” she recalls. Juggling her studies at USC, she needed someone to handle the day-to-day operations, allowing her to focus on the creative side of the business.

That kind of practical decision-making set the tone. As she explains, “When I was doing upcycled Levi’s, I had a seamstress who I had basically found on Craigslist and asked her to make these jeans.” It wasn’t glamorous, but it was smart—getting help where she needed it most so she could focus on building.

Learning when to level up

As the business grew, so did the demands. Wholesale accounts rolled in, and Bonvicini quickly realized she couldn’t just hand off tasks without real expertise behind them. That’s when she decided to take a bigger leap. “I hired someone with a bit more experience, which was kind of more of an investment,” she explains. This was the turning point from a hustle project to a structured company.

With experienced hires came new skills, fresh ideas, and the ability to think bigger. Bonvicini frames it as the difference between telling someone, “Okay, respond to this email,” versus trusting them to drive strategy in wholesale and PR. It’s a shift every founder faces—the moment you stop hiring helpers and start hiring leaders.

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Mistakes that became lessons

Of course, no one nails it perfectly. Bonvicini is refreshingly honest about the mistakes she made along the way. “I didn’t know anything about building a brand or making clothes going into this. And I figured it out along the way, and I made a lot of mistakes along the way,” she admits.

One of those mistakes was over-assorting and buying too much inventory without a clear vision. Another was not understanding how critical it was to get the right people in the right roles early on. But she doesn’t see those setbacks as failures—they were stepping stones. “The last year was about making sure we can ship product on time with a healthy margin,” she explains. Even the most challenging experiences can lead to growth and success.

Building the right team takes time.

Now with 17 people working on the brand—including store staff and warehouse employees—Bonvicini credits her “amazing team who makes it all happen.” But she doesn’t sugarcoat how difficult it can be to find the right fit. “It’s been such a journey, like finding the right people and figuring out the needs of the business and finding the roles behind that,” she says.

The key takeaway? Building a team isn’t just about filling seats. It’s about knowing what the business really needs at each stage and having the courage to correct course when you get it wrong.