From Guyana to Canada, Shop Dauntless creator Shanice has brought a new concept to online shopping with bold and trendy pieces inspired by her own powerful style!
Moving to Canada at the age of 12 has changed Shanice’s life and made her think about her future. In high school, she found her love for fashion and style, which led her to think about creating her own online store for years.
After thinking about it for a very long time, pursuing fashion studies, and working in the retail fashion industry for nearly 10 years, Shanice found her calling. She was drawn to sunglasses and bold accessories, using her style as a form of self-expression.
In 2019, motivated after becoming a young mother, she finally took the leap and created a platform to empower and inspire individuals like herself to showcase their personal style and fashion sense, known today as the Toronto-based shop, Dauntless.
Owned by a powerful black woman, Shop Dauntless shows its talent through the amazing carefully curated pieces, inspired by Shanice’s mission of self-expression and individuality. In this unique online shop, you will find pieces inspired by geometric shapes, the 90s, 2000s, trendy and funky styles, bold colors, and prints. You’ll have everything you need to take your outfit to another level and stand out!
The brand offers sunglasses, chains for masks and sunglasses, hair accessories, bags, and waist chains for a reasonable price. Nonetheless, the sunglasses are definitely the stars of the shop, as they come in the most unique shapes and colors. You can find the pieces divided into eight categories, rectangle/square, cat-eye, micro, unique, oval/round, rimless, unisex, and oversized.
Dauntless also has amazing deals, with pieces for only $5, $8, $10, and $15! Their mission is for customers to be able to buy great products at affordable prices, which is perfect for anyone looking to update their accessories collection and support local.
In an exclusive interview with Shanice and after spending hours on her website, her answer to the main question left no space for wondering about what makes Shop Dauntless so special.
What differentiates Shop Dauntless from other brands?
What differentiates Dauntless from other brands is the brand itself, what it values, and what we stand for. For us, we’re not just selling sunglasses and accessories, we’re selling this value around owning your creativity and being confident in your style. We all have different personal styles, so we really want to inspire and empower that individuality in each and every one of our customers.
Also, with a background in fashion and business, Shanice is able to support her customers, understanding both perspectives in the industry and contributing to the shopping experience on her website. One of her expectations for the future is to learn about her customers, even more, making sure they have all the needed support from her website and perhaps growing into the clothing industry one day, although for now sunglasses and accessories are her main focus.
It all started off before even setting up her business, with one of the researches that she needed to do in order to find her niche.
How was your research on finding the customers of your products?
This is something that I’m continuously doing right now, making sure that I’m getting the target market. But in terms of that, it was very important for me to know who my customers would be given that I was offering bolder and trendier pieces. I knew that my demographic would be people who are into style and fashion, they might be younger demographic as well. It would be someone who is keeping up with trends but is more into style. So it’s basically getting a feel from the market that’s out there and really thinking if the product would align with them. Then after starting the business you can see who’s purchasing from you and on that, it’s important to collect data.
Two years after creating her business and currently juggling it with motherhood and school, she gives advice to those who want to take the same path as her.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to follow the same path as yours?
I say do it, but before doing it, have a clear understanding of what you want to do. Do your research, have a business plan, write out your ideas and the things you want to accomplish. The journey especially in the beginning is not easy at all, it gets challenging. You are really working hard to get your name and brand out there, but I would say keep pushing at it. Once you have a clear understanding of why you want to create the business, you will always have a path to follow. So just think of your ‘why’, the deep reason why you want to do this and keep going at it with a positive mind.
After looking up Shop Dauntless on Instagram and checking out their website, there is no doubt on where the name came from. A synonym of fearlessness and determination, what truly makes this brand unique and powerful are the tools that it gives to the customers to wear and style the pieces in their own way, as a form of self-expression and investment in their creativity.
Make sure to support this amazing local sunglasses and accessories brand, as we are sure you will find the next key pieces to incorporate in your style.
