{"id":278862,"date":"2026-05-04T23:38:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/278862\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T23:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:38:19","slug":"fort-worth-high-school-grad-growing-startup-apparel-business-gets-a-partner-her-mom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/278862\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth high school grad growing startup apparel business gets a partner \u2014 her mom"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Scott Nishimura, Fort Worth Report
May 3, 2026<\/p>\n

Just before her high school graduation last year, Marielou Melchiors made a choice: turn away from college applications and instead continue growing startup apparel business Marieloulou<\/a>, which she ran out of her family\u2019s eastside home.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollege is out of the question now,\u201d Marielou, 18, who graduated a year early from Fort Worth ISD\u2019s I.M. Terrell Academy, said. \u201cI\u2019m doing Marieloulou full time. I just learn by doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marielou has a lot of familial help. Her father, Matthijs Melchiors, is a Fort Worth architect and developer. Marielou\u2019s mother, Jie Melchiors, is a Las Colinas-based furniture designer with the Hulala Home, Karat Home and Z Gallerie brands. Working with a majority partner in those brands, Jie Melchiors says the enterprise grew to earn $100 million to $150 million in annual revenue. Now, she is exiting that partnership to go into business full time with her daughter.<\/p>\n

In June, it will be two years since Marielou took over a website of her mother\u2019s, rebranded it marieloulou.com<\/a> after her nickname \u201cLou Lou,\u201d and began selling sweatpants and hoodies she designed and produced under the Homebody and Cloud N9ne labels \u2014 \u201cdope\u201d streetwear she couldn\u2019t find anywhere else.<\/p>\n

\"\"Marielou Melchiors models one of her Homebody hoodies and a pair of chaps, a new line she’s about to introduce. (Scott Nishimura | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n

Marieloulou is growing, with expanded product lines and demand driven by social media that\u2019s often gone viral. Within the last month, the company hired a full-time web designer and a part-time order fulfillment worker, its first employees. Earlier this year, Marielou moved her inventory out of the family\u2019s Central Meadowbrook home into 600 square feet of office space at Connex, an office park at Evans Avenue and East Rosedale Street in Fort Worth\u2019s Historic Southside that Matthijs Melchiors designed and built out of shipping containers, opening in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like moving (the business) out of the garage,\u201d Matthijs Melchiors said.<\/p>\n

Marieloulou\u2019s growth has provided the impetus for the family to develop a 10,000-square-foot lot they own next to Connex. Later this summer, they plan to break ground for a single-story 6,400-square-foot commercial building to be built on the site.<\/p>\n

The family views the new building next to Connex as a first step for Marieloulou.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that that building will probably suit you guys for the next maybe year, year to two years, and you\u2019re going to outgrow it, for sure,\u201d Matthijs Melchiors said to his daughter during the Report\u2019s interview.<\/p>\n

\u201dSo this is just a stepping stone, just in order to allow you to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

He declined to estimate how much it will cost to construct the commercial building.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Melchiors family plans to erect a 6,400-square-foot commercial building on a lot next to their Connex office park make of shipping containers at the Evans Avenue and East Rosedale Street intersection. (Courtesy renderings | Matthijs Melchiors)<\/p>\n

It will become the new home of Marieloulou, with space to carry inventory, fulfill orders and produce creative media. It also will have room for a retail space, which Marielou and her mother will use to open the brand\u2019s first retail store of sorts. The shop will keep limited standing hours \u2014 maybe two hours per day \u2014 and open for pop-ups, Marielou said.<\/p>\n

Marieloulou has sold its products solely through its website so far.<\/p>\n

The Melchiors see the new venture as an opportunity to test the viability of retail at other possible locations, Marielou said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be refining it, just so we can practice a little bit before we open other retail stores,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The development will provide another piece of good news for the Evans and Rosedale corridor, which is slowly evolving after years of decline.<\/p>\n

A city-led development is moving forward<\/a> in the corridor. The city continues to study potential uses<\/a> for undeveloped acreage south of East Rosedale; organizers of the planned National Juneteenth Museum continue to raise money<\/a>; and development and investment interests are betting<\/a> on the Historic Southside neighborhood.<\/p>\n

The 7,500-square-foot Connex is about two-thirds occupied, Matthijs Melchiors said.<\/p>\n

Marielou \u201ccertainly is going to add to the momentum here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"AJie and Matthijs Melchiors stand on the second floor of the building their firm, MEL\/ARCH Architecture designed called Connex. The business office space complex, located on 1201 Evans Ave., is made out of shipping containers. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) <\/p>\n

The business has evolved significantly just in the last year and a half. Marielou has moved from hand-sewing many of her own pieces to having them made at a plant in China that she found while exploring the Alibaba e-commerce site. Today, she designs and sews only mockups, digitizing them and sending them to manufacturers to produce samples, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was way too much demand for what I was able to sew, and my hands would get blisters,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Marielou has added spring and summer lines of apparel to complement the heavier original hoodies and sweatshirts. She\u2019s about to introduce a line of chaps. And she’s switched factories to obtain higher quality for her lines.<\/p>\n

Her mother estimates Marlieloulou.com<\/a> has sold close to a total 7,000 units of apparel since her daughter started the company.<\/p>\n

Marielou has honed her brand messaging, adding the \u201cConformity Kills\u201d for her slogan, a nod to her life choices and those of many in her generation.<\/p>\n

Her original intention \u201cwas just to sell clothes,\u201d she said. But with growth, she sought to add more meaning behind the brand. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to inspire people to step outside their box and to just inspire like what\u2019s nontraditional in a sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marielou\u2019s social media following has expanded to more than 60,000 followers on Instagram<\/a> and TikTok<\/a>, from 4,000 in late 2024. She estimates her customers range between 17 and 25 years old, and are equally women and men.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve also had a lot of collaborations with artists and people with a big platform,\u201d she said, \u201cA lot more notable people<\/a> have started to wear<\/a> my brand, which is cool to see.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Marielou Melchiors stands inside a room with much of her company\u2019s inventory. (Scott Nishimura | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n

Jie Melchiors is looking forward to working more closely with her daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a parent, I don\u2019t want to give too much (of) my ideas to her,\u201d she said. \u201cShe\u2019s already figuring it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott Nishimura is a senior editor for local government accountability and a Fort Worth City Hall reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Reach him at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/05\/03\/fort-worth-high-school-grad-growing-startup-apparel-business-gets-a-partner-her-mom\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;quality=80&amp;ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n

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