On the Daily

Challenging the Status Quo of Lifestyle Leisure

Interview by Hailey Bethke | Photography courtesy of Daily Drills

You may have seen the iconic “!!!” and comfy-cute matching sets take over your social media feed. Appealing to everyone from college girls and jetsetters to the most effortlessly stylish woman at the office, Daily Drills is it: the LA-based lifestyle brand has redefined the casual-chic domain of fashion. Founders Mary Ralph Lawson and Kennedy Crichlow started the brand as recent college graduates, combining their love for style with high-quality materials to make everyday pieces comfortable, unique, and it-girl-worthy.

The two met through social media almost a decade ago while working on a style account, and both ended up in California for college. “From there, we were introduced in real life through mutual friends and have been inseparable ever since! We’re both entrepreneurs at heart, and we constantly bounced ideas off each other, cheered each other on through our individual endeavors, and found random ways to work together,” the duo says.

“When the pandemic hit, and we had some extra time, we decided to put our talents together and follow our dream of starting a clothing brand. It was honestly an immediate ‘yes!’ Our strengths play well together; we have similar styles and have the same goals for the brand. After the initial idea, it only took four months to release our first collection.” Read on for an exclusive Q&A with these stylish female founders!

VIE: Why the name Daily Drills and tagline “on the daily”? Also, who came up with the branding?

MR & K: When we started Daily Drills, we thought it would be an activewear brand, so we wanted a name and tagline that motivated people to get up and get going each day. However, we quickly realized that we liked fashion a lot more than working out, and the idea of “on the daily” morphed into describing the mission of our brand: to design pieces that can be worn throughout all the stages of your day, transcend trends and seasons, and bring excitement to getting dressed every morning!

We both come from marketing and social media backgrounds, so we knew that good branding was vital to telling the story of Daily Drills. The “!” has been the center point of our branding from the very beginning. When discussing starting a brand, we used about ten thousand exclamation points in our texts, so we had to bring it into the logo! It captures the excitement and positivity of our brand and team. We all emphasize everything we do, and we like to work hard so we can play hard, too!

VIE: What’s your favorite Daily Drills collection? 

Kennedy: So hard, but I think I had the most fun shooting our Tuscany collection, which launched this past summer. I’ve always loved Tuscany, so the creative process of building a collection that evoked a sense of place and then actually traveling there to shoot it in person was a dream come true.

Mary Ralph: I’m constantly living in every Daily Drills collection, but my favorite collection to shoot had to be our first-ever swim collection in the Bahamas. I’m a beach girl, so designing swim was a passion project for me—and who doesn’t love a work trip to the Bahamas?

VIE: When did you both start focusing on creating an engaged community on social media? Did starting a brand together get you more exposure online, or did you start posting consistently on your personal accounts before Daily Drills was born?

MR & K: Our own personal followings took off fairly organically throughout high school and college. We’ve loved fashion forever and started posting lifestyle content when Instagram first started, and it grew from there! While neither of us really intended for it to become a career, we feel so blessed to share our lives and interact with our followers.

While we’d been posting consistently on our accounts long before Daily Drills was born, it’s given us more exposure . . . and our personal followings give the brand exposure, too! Part of Daily Drills’ success comes from our followers always wanting to know what we were wearing, and Daily Drills is essentially a collection of everything we wished we had in our closets!

VIE: What does being an “influencer” mean to you? How do you practice showing up authentically online? And what is something you wish people knew about you beyond the screen?

MR & K:. It’s so special knowing that there are girls out there watching us follow our dreams of starting a clothing line, and we hope to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs that it’s never too soon to get started! Since we both became “influencers” at a young age and sharing our lives on social media has been part of our nature for so long, it’s not super hard to be our authentic selves online! If you’re not being you, what’s the point? We do like posting content in real-time to take our followers along with us throughout our days, and we make sure to add our own language and personality to branded content.

One thing we wish people knew about us beyond the screen is that even though our followers might not see it, the lows are there to match our highs. We prefer sharing the good stuff to keep Instagram a positive space, but obviously, our lives are far from perfect!

VIE: What’s your secret for prioritizing true friendship in the office and outside it?

MR & K: Prioritizing our friendship has been super important to us since day one but has never really been an issue. It’s very rare that we disagree on something for our business, and when we do, we can always resolve it over an Aperol spritz post-work! We make a point to eat lunch together every day during the week and often find ourselves doing the same on the weekends. Our husbands have also become friends, so we love spending time as couples outside of the office. The best part about working with your best friend is that we have someone to cheer for at the end of a good day and someone to share the burden with at the end of a not-so-good day.

If you’re not being you, what’s the point?

VIE: Tell us about your team dynamics and how you work your magic behind the scenes.

MR & K: One thing we love about our team dynamic is that the best idea always wins! No matter whether one of us, an intern, our photographer, or a friend comes up with a design concept, if we like it, we run with it. We’re a lean team, so we love hearing everyone’s input as we brainstorm what’s next for Daily Drills. It’s also been important to surround ourselves with people we want to work with. Because we’re a small team, when one person is in a bad mood, it affects the entire vibe of the office. When interviewing potential employees, we love for them to spend some time with each existing team member to ensure they are a good personality match over anything else. You can teach skill, but you can’t teach personality!

VIE: Where do you see yourself in five years?

MR & K: We’d love for Daily Drills to grow as we do! We plan to expand our men’s collection (so our husbands can stop begging!), reach new audiences, and allow the brand to reflect our personal growth. When the two of us start to have kids, we’d love to launch some pieces for the littles. But before that happens—travel everywhere and anywhere we can!

VIE: What’s one of your talents that lies deeper than what meets the eye?

Kennedy: I’ve been told I’m very organized at work, but it doesn’t stop at the office! I’m that friend who will create a whole itinerary of fun activities and reservations for a weekend getaway.

Mary Ralph: A lot of people compliment me on styling when it comes to outfits, but I bring that skill into my environment, too—from styling our office to my home or Daily Drills events. I love putting the pieces together in an aesthetic yet comfortable way!

VIE: What is your favorite Daily Drills color or style from the past that you would love to bring back?

Kennedy: Our New York Collection. But that might just be so I have an excuse for an NYC trip soon!

Mary Ralph: Our blazers! I love styling mine up for events and down for a day in the office. It’s a closet staple that I definitely need in more colors.

VIE: What are some of your favorite Daily Drills products for us to check out? What insights can you give us on exciting things coming soon?

MR & K: We drop new collections twice a month on ShopDailyDrills.com at 10:00 a.m. PST on Wednesdays! An insider tip is to download our app because that’s where every collection launches five minutes early to give you a head start on snagging your favorite pieces. Keep a close eye on our socials for sneak peeks, news, and surprises. Every Friday, we share a “Friday Happy” on our app, ranging from mini collections to coffee to free gifts with purchase!

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To connect with Mary Ralph, Kennedy, and the Daily Drills team, head to ShopDailyDrills.com and follow along on Instagram @dailydrills @kennedycrichlow @maryralph.

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Some fun short questions with Daily Drills:

Favorite mantra: Say yes often, but say no often enough to make your yeses count.

Favorite way to spend time alone: A walk along the bluff

Favorite part of living in LA: Being so close to the beach!

An unpopular opinion: Neutrals are boring.

Daily Drills swim or sweat set? Kennedy says sweats, Ralph says swim!

One thing that will always make you laugh: Each other!

Your go-to sweet or salty treat: Acai bowls

If you had a billboard to share one message with everyone in the world, what would it be? Actively search for the good in life!