The Babe Cave: Clothing catered to women by women

As customers at The Perfect Pair, a family clothing boutique located at 101 S. College St., walk around and admire the many options of men’s and children’s clothes as well as home décor, they seldom realize The Babe Cave, an area dedicated to size-inclusive women’s clothing and accessories, is located beneath their feet.

The basement level of The Perfect Pair, aka The Babe Cave, houses five different women-owned businesses, all of which are catered to women. Its stairway entrance, located by the left wall near the store’s front doors, is often missed, Perfect Pair owner Cami Karamatic said.

Each business is size-inclusive, offering up to 3XL. The vendors complement each other, but also each offer their own style of clothing, Karamatic said. Originally Amanda, owned by Amanda Tyner, sells home décor, spirit tumblers, spirit T-shirts and business casual women’s clothing. Tyner picks out most of her clothing items with teachers in mind.

“My mom, my grandmother and my aunt are all teachers,” Tyner said. “Anytime I buy something, I think, can a teacher wear this? When my brother and I did back to school shopping, my mom also did her back to school shopping as a teacher, and she always had such a hard time because everything was spaghetti straps or see-through or the jeans were ripped.”

When Tyner’s mom started talking about retiring in several years, Tyner said she could help with the business and pick out clothes.

Athleisurewear, as well as some women’s clothing, is sold by Micole Haywood with her business Colies Boutique.

Frilly Boutique, owned by Lauren Shamblin, offers partywear and other clothing items that’s both bold and colorful and sometimes sparkly or frilly.

Karamatic showcases her women’s clothing from The Perfect Pair alongside the other businesses. She sells classic, traditional business wear and staple items.

Before she started her business, Karamatic worked as a recruiter for 10 years.

“I had a lot of clients that could wear jeans to work, but not a T-shirt,” Karamatic said. “It’s hard to find casual, staple tops that can be worn to work.”

Both Tyner and Karamatic try to carry distressed jeans and non-distressed jeans. Rachel Cox, owner of Girl on Fire Boutique, sells luxury soy candles on various tabletops throughout the store.

The Babe Cave launched Sept. 1 and has become a space for collaboration and community for these women-owned businesses.

Tyner explained how the space is not used for competition, but each owner helps promote each other. “If someone comes in looking for a black short dress, I’m going to take them to Frilly’s section because I know she has a black short dress,” Tyner said. “We have to support each other. If you’re down here, it’s community over competition.”

With no walls separating the vendors, the space feels more open and showcases their collaboration.

When Karmatic opened The Perfect Pair with her mom in November 2020, all of their items were upstairs, and the basement sat empty.

She thought the store would stay upstairs and a photography studio would be downstairs one day.

During the freeze in February 2021, Karamatic posted that her house was flooded on Boutique Hub, an online community for boutique owners. Confidence Shoppe, a boutique in Waxahachie, arrived on Perfect Pair’s doorstep, thinking the boutique had flooded.

“They were literally here in water wading boots,” Karamatic said. “They were ready to get down and help me reopen my store.”

A month later, Confidence Shoppe reached out and asked if they could run their business in the basement level. They stayed in The Perfect Pair for a year before purchasing their own street level space.

After they left, Karamatic thought about opening the space up to multiple boutiques, giving them an opportunity to showcase their side hustle without making the big commitment to manage a storefront. She posted her idea on the Waxahachie Buzz Facebook page to see if anyone would be interested.

Soon, she had hundreds of comments. Tyner saw the post and reached out to her. She pulled to the side of the highway and talked on the phone with Karamatic for an hour about the possibilities.

Karamatic worked with Tyner to create the vision. Tyner answered questions about logistics because she previously was a vendor with a boutique in Ennis.

After interviewing several potential vendors, Karamatic, Tyner and the other business owners transformed the basement into The Babe Cave.

“My goal is that people outgrow the space and use it as a steppingstone,” Karamatic said.

A vendor application will be uploaded soon to their website for anyone interested in joining The Babe Cave.

To shop items from The Babe Cave, visit https://shopthepair.com/ or visit them in person at their location downtown. To stay up to date on their upcoming events, follow them on Facebook @ThePerfectPair. Originally published October 31, 2022 - https://www.waxahachiesun.com/business/the-babe-cave-clothing-catered-to-women-by-women/article_808dbf92-5998-11ed-b101-7f2de1befda5.html