She created prison fashion when she visited her husband in prison: ‘I earn more than in any other job’

Camilla Bez found in the most difficult moment of her life the possibility to enter the fashion industry with the rules on prison clothing

With more than 20,000 followers on her company’s Instagram, Camilla Bezerra, 32, had no idea that her new daily life would become her main source of income. The Sao Paulo native is an entrepreneur a fashionable clothing brand standards for prison visits.

When her daughter was 7 months old, Camilla became a single mother. Her husband was arrested and sent to the Provisional Detention Center (SP) of Sorocaba, 88 km from the capital Sao Paulo, where Camilla lives with the child and has her physical shop.

In conversation with the Earth you, Camilla says that her entrepreneurial activity began unpretentious in a difficult moment in her life. Husband had been in prison for 2 months and her initial idea was to use the profits from small sales to pay for his trips to detention, food and items she could bring for her husband (this set of items is popularly called jumbo).

“I started offering standard custom-made leggings, T-shirts and lingerie to girls who visited the same unit as me. At the beginning I had no capital to invest,” she recalls.

It didn’t take long for Camilla to realize that her idea had become a business. In the first few weeks of advertising you received several requests for standard clothing and lingerie. That’s when another idea emerged: expanding commerce on social media.

“There came a point where I thought, ‘If it works here, it will work on social media.’ I started promoting my work on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook groups to reach women in other places who might be interested.”

Dress rules

In 2022, the Secretary of the Penitentiary Administration of São Paulo (SAP) has standardized the attire of visitors in all units of the State, including children. Camilla explains that visitors are currently no longer subjected to embarrassing searches and that light, standard clothing makes body scanner searches easier.

In all penitentiary departments of the SAP it is allowed:

• Using shirts with sleeves, which may be short or long, except in navy, white, khaki/brown, and black;
• Wear sweatpants or leggings, with no metal buttons, no zippers, and no prints, except in navy, white, khaki/brown, and black;
• Visitors are also allowed to wear skirts below the knee, of the “midi” type;
• Use of flip-flops, with thin soles and simple rubber straps;
• On days with low temperatures, the visitor can enter the prison wearing socks and a sweatshirt, as long as the latter does not have a hood, linings, pockets, metal buttons, zip, except in the colors navy blue, white, khaki/brown and black;
• LGBTQIA+ visitors are guaranteed the use of clothing, respecting the rules, based on their gender identity;

As for underwear, such as lingerie, items containing metal details, removable straps, metal or plastic/silicone rings are not permitted.

Disposition and psychological

Even though he could already see the potential of his company, things weren’t easy. Camilla couldn’t afford caregivers and she needed to carry her daughter to place orders and receive packages.

“I needed a lot of disposition and psychology to grow. Several times she came with me on the kangaroo to do the shopping, send the mail and everything that was necessary ”.

Not having the capital to invest in her brand was also one of the biggest challenges the entrepreneur faced. Due to lack of money, Camilla had to travel every day to Brás, a commercial district of São Paulo, to pick up orders based on the orders she received.

Camilla still had to convince the suppliers that she would return on the following shopping days and that in the future she would buy in large quantities to get better prices on the few pieces purchased. “There were items for which I earned R $ 5 because I couldn’t get the wholesale price, but I sold them anyway to win over the customer,” she recalls.

Today, the Bazar da Bez store, located on Avenida Thomas Edison, in Barra Funda, welcomes more than the families of prisoners and also serves people who have never set foot in a prison, but have appreciated the proposal of comfortable and more refined looks .to practice physical exercise.

“Many evangelical women buy from us to train! But the largest audience are the wives of prisoners, I think because they are the ones with whom we have the greatest and almost exclusive approach on social media,” says the entrepreneur.

The “Basic Visit Kit” is the shop’s best-selling composition, which includes winter proposals and even cartoon characters. Camilla believes that “basic” success is accepted in all prisons across the state. Leggings and printed T-shirts depend on the rules of each unit’s director.

The future

Between prejudices and negative comments, the entrepreneur earns more from her physical and digital store than from the jobs she already carried out in various sectors of commerce in São Paulo.

“I earn more than in all the jobs I’ve had. I’ve been a colorist in high-end beauty salons, I’ve worked as a street vendor in Brás, as a commission salesperson, I’ve had my own bikini manufacturing business, but without a doubt I earn more these days.

Camilla’s dream is to expand the brand by providing comfort and style in the lives of women who need to visit the people they love in detentions and prisons throughout the states of Brazil.

“I want to add colors and pieces to the store’s products that go into prisons in states we haven’t reached yet, most of them use the same standard as SP state, but some follow other standards. We are studying it!”

Check out this photo on Instagram

A post shared by • Bazar da Bez • | Standard prison fashion🔒| (@bazardabez)

Source: Terra

Ben

Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.