DigiCom - Growth Marketing Podcast · Digicom

Episode 8: An Interview with Kira and David Kessler, Founders of Rock'n'Rags

·27 min

Kira and David Kessler discuss building Rock and Rags, starting from their father's failing record store. The business pivoted to fashion on Instagram, scaled through hiring interns to post daily on TikTok, and went viral on January 6, 2020 with a simple store walkthrough video. Unlike venture-backed brands, they bootstrapped with profit reinvestment, avoiding aggressive scaling. They expanded from one Chicago boutique to two locations and launched an online store while managing supply chain and operational challenges across retail and digital channels.

As heard by us

A bootstrap interview that treats inventory as strategy, not admin.

Digicom turns a founder conversation into a practical bootstrap story. Kira and David Kessler walk through Rock and Rags as a business that had to adapt when records and CDs faded, then grow into a clothing brand shaped by Instagram and rising demand.

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Why you'd press play

You want a bootstrap pivot story grounded in a family record store, not mythology.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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