Shop Small is a monthly series highlighting small business owners from diverse backgrounds. This series aims to go deeper than your typical product roundup, diving into the inspirational stories behind some of our favorite brands. By taking a behind-the-scenes look at how their shops came to be and highlighting the products they (and their shoppers!) love, we hope to put a deserving spotlight on these business owners.
If you’ve ever lost your cool shopping for a stylish shower curtain—or even swapping one out—Lisa Fine understands your frustration. These simple pain points are what inspired Fine, a former Madewell stylist, to launch the lifestyle brand Quiet Town, with her husband, Michael, in 2016.
The idea first came to her a few years earlier while caring for her newborn. “I was sleep deprived and up all night long, and began thinking about bathroom accessories and shower curtains,” Fine explains. “There was nothing cool on the market at the time, so we were forced into this corner of big-box buying.”
Not one to settle for a drab bathroom, Lisa began working on the business with Michael, who was a freelance photographer at the time. They eventually found a manufacturer and started dedicating their downtime to Quiet Town—all while holding onto their full-time positions. Then the pandemic hit.
All of my freelance styling work stopped and suddenly Quiet Town's monthly sales increased from $30,000 to $100,000 and it just kept growing. The next thing we knew, it became our full-time job. It’s now Quiet Town’s 10-year anniversary,” Lisa says proudly.
Today, Quiet Town sells everything from colorful shower curtains to striped bath rugs and organic cotton towels. Below, Lisa opens up about her journey as an entrepreneur, the void Quiet Town fills in the market, and future plans to expand the brand.
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What inspired you to launch Quiet Town?
I was sleep deprived and up all night long, and began thinking about bathroom accessories and shower curtains. There was nothing cool on the market at the time, so we were forced into this corner of big-box buying. My husband and I liked to fill our home with special things and thought there had to be a better way.
At the time, in 2014, I was a stylist at Madewell and my husband, Michael, was a freelance fashion photographer. He saw me plugging away during nights and weekends and knew I was trying to find a domestic manufacturer. He’s the most curious person in the world, so he hopped in to find a factory for Quiet Town. Everything just started to click once he put in his special talent of curiosity and strategy.
We were both still working at our full-time jobs and answering customer service emails for Quiet Town (at the same time). We didn't know where the business was going. We were just following my dream and then the pandemic happened. All of my Madewell styling work stopped and all of a sudden, Quiet Town went from 10,000 orders a day to 30,000 a day, and it just kept growing. The next thing we knew, it was our full-time job. It’s now Quiet Town’s 10-year anniversary.
How did your styling work at Madewell come in handy with Quiet Town?
I started at Madewell in 2006 and was the first stylist to ever lay hands on the clothes, which was such a stroke of luck and great timing. That meant learning how to build a brand from scratch under Mickey Drexler and Jenna Lyons, which was the most incredible opportunity.
I learned about product focus (Madewell = denim and Quiet Town = shower curtains) and how to be visually authoritative when it came to styling and story telling. I learned that you have to pull back and follow where “the puck is going.” And I learned that curiosity is everything. Always ask questions. I still collaborate with a lot of my Madewell alums—so many of whom are at Mickey’s brand, Alex Mill. We’re actually working on a canvas upcycling project as we speak. And Michael and I are working with art director Alice Bucaille, who was the creative director at Madewell when I was there, on a Quiet Town shoot in Paris.
Who is Quiet Town’s ideal customer?
Our customer is anybody who is thoughtful about what they put in their home—people who are concerned about how things are manufactured. They’re yearning for something a bit more than a big-box store option. It’s people like us who are concerned citizens of the world who want beautiful things and vibe off of color and sunshine. Quiet Town is beautiful, but it's also super casual.
Why is sustainability important to you?
I don't think the world needs more stuff. If we are going to put anything into the world, it's going to be the most thoughtful, conscious, sustainable, and durable products we can possibly imagine or else it's not worth it for us.
For instance, our Sun Shower curtains aren’t just visually beautiful, but they’re also materially beautiful. The grommets are 100% brass and the curtains are made of non-toxic EVA vinyl plastic, so there’s no smell. We also chose a really heavyweight material, which means it’s durable enough to last for years.
What are other bestsellers besides the Sun Shower Curtains?
Our shower curtain hooks, which we’ve carried from the beginning, are incredibly popular. It’s an S-Hook that has so many incredible details. We partnered with jewelry designer Cat McCadden of Grace Gow to make them.
If you’ve ever hung a shower curtain, you know they can be such a pain. I wanted something that makes it easy to change your shower curtain as many times as you need to. The other thing is you can hang things off of our S-Hooks. I like to dry my underwear, bathing suits, or even towels off of them, so they’re incredibly space-saving if you have a small bathroom. They also elevate and elongate your shower curtains.
We also have a new rug called Lost Coast, which is really cool because it was designed to fit in small, awkward bathrooms. It has an organic amoeba shape, and it can fit around toilet pedestals. We can’t keep it in stock. Another bestseller is our upcycled End Bits shower curtains, which are made from linen fabric scraps. We partnered with our factory in India to make them.
Are there any new product categories on the way?
Shower curtains, bath rugs, and towels are a no-brainer for us, but the next thing I want to do is window treatments. We haven’t really found anything that speaks to us, and it would be fun to decorate people’s windows in our color story. We’re also launching hampers and other storage items later this year. There's a little gap in the market to bring in some color.
Monique Valeris is the home design director for Good Housekeeping, where she oversees the brand's home decorating coverage across print and digital. Prior to joining GH in 2020, she was the digital editor at Elle Decor. In her current role, she explores everything from design trends and home tours to lifestyle product recommendations, including writing her monthly column, "What's in My Cart."
