Going From Solo Maker to Factory Partner: DEHV's FabFitFun Story
Every brand has a moment that changes everything. For DEHV, that moment arrived in the form of a single subscription box.
When FabFitFun selected our Spiced Woods candle for inclusion in one of their boxes, we knew it was a major opportunity. What we didn't fully grasp, not yet anyway, was the scale.
The Order That Changed Everything
100,000 units. Yes- one hundred thousand candles.
We have retailed with Free People, West Elm and some of the largest partners for the candle space. Nothing compared to this purchase order.
Up until that point, every DEHV candle had been hand-poured, in our own studio. That's the nature of a small, founder-led candle brand- you build it candle by candle, order by order, learning the craft as you scale slowly.
FabFitFun doesn't scale slowly. A subscription box of that size meant 100,000 candles needed to be produced, poured, cured, and shipped on a timeline no solo maker could hit alone.
From Solo Maker to Factory Partner
This is the part of the story that doesn't usually make it into the press features: the unglamorous, high-stakes scramble to figure out how to actually fulfill an order of that size without compromising the quality and standards DEHV had been built on.
It meant finding and vetting a manufacturing partner who could:
Maintain the same high quality wax formulations
Use lead-free cotton wicks
Stay IFRA-compliant
Hit a production timeline that would have taken years at my studio's pace
It was a crash course in everything I hadn't needed to know yet- production capacity, quality control at scale, logistics, lead times. It was also the moment DEHV stopped being just a candle I made and started being a brand I had to build infrastructure around.
Sold Out
Spiced Woods sold out completely. Every one of those 100,000 candles found a home.
It validated something I'd believed since day one: that there was real demand for a clean, well-made candle with a distinct point of view- not just within a niche audience, but at a scale that required an entirely different kind of operation to support it.
What It Taught Me
Looking back, the FabFitFun partnership was the moment DEHV grew up. It forced decisions I might have put off for years otherwise. Finding the right (USA based) manufacturing partner, building systems instead of relying on instinct, learning to delegate the parts of the process I used to do with my own hands.
It didn't change what DEHV stands for. The same formulation, the same standards, the same commitment to clean, non-toxic ingredients carried through every single one of those candles. The same integrity. What changed was the infrastructure behind it, and my understanding of what it actually takes to bring a candle from a small studio to a national audience.
Still Growing
DEHV has continued to grow since that moment, with features in Elle Decor, Dwell, Travel & Leisure, Forbes, and the Hollywood Reporter. But the FabFitFun partnership remains one of the clearest examples of what's possible when a product resonates and what it actually takes behind the scenes to meet that moment.
We may or may not be working on something new and exciting with our new friends. I guess you will have to wait and see:)