In 2025 a Gen Xer Walked into an Ecommerce Platform…
Share
🌊 Salty Kiss Social Club: A 2025 Review (aka: How a Gen Xer Survived the Internet… Again)
Well, well, well. Look who made it through the first 8 months of creating and running a brand, designing shirts, learning platforms built by 23‑year‑olds, and pretending social media isn’t a rigged casino. Spoiler: it’s us. Salty Kiss Social Club. The coastal‑obsessed, trend‑chasing, “sure let’s try that” brand that started as a cute idea inspired by my teenage daughters and somehow turned into a full‑blown lifestyle.
Let’s recap the chaos, shall we?
🌴 The Idea: Because Why Wouldn’t We Start a Brand?
It all began with a simple thought:
“What if we made beachy, nostalgic, slightly unhinged apparel that feels like a vacation and a therapy session at the same time?”
And like any responsible Gen X woman, we said:
Sure. Let’s add that to the list of things we’re doing now.
🎨 Branding: Or, How Many Shades of Blue Exist?
Branding Salty Kiss Club was a journey.
We learned:
• There are approximately 9,000 shades of ocean blue, and none of them look the same on mobile.
• Fonts have personalities, and some of them are rude.
• “Coastal aesthetic” means something different to literally every person on Pinterest.
But eventually, we landed on a vibe:
Beachy, dreamy, a little nostalgic, and definitely created by someone who remembers life before WiFi.
🚗 Trips to the Coastline: For “Inspiration” (and Sanity)
We absolutely had to take multiple trips to the coastline this year. For research. For creative clarity. For mental health. For content. For snacks.
Highlights included:
• Staring at the ocean like it was going to give us branding advice.
• Taking 147 photos of waves and using exactly one.
• Realizing that coastal towns are 80% gift shops and 20% people who moved there to escape capitalism.
But hey — the sea delivered. As she always does.
🛒 Learning an Ecommerce Platform: A Comedy in Three Acts
Act I: “This looks easy.”
Act II: “Why are there 47 settings for one product?”
Act III: “I have broken the entire website and I don’t know how.”
We learned:
• Product variants are a trap.
• Shipping settings were designed by someone who hates joy.
• Every platform claims to be “intuitive,” which is adorable.
But we did it. We launched. We sold. We survived.
👕 Designing T‑Shirts: The Art, The Craft, The Chaos
Designing shirts was the fun part — until it wasn’t.
• “Simple” designs took 12 hours.
• “Complicated” designs took 10 minutes.
• Every time we finished a design, Canva whispered, “What if you changed everything?”
• And of course, the design we loved the most got exactly 3 likes on Instagram.
But the tees? They’re cute. They’re coastal. They’re giving “I vacation in my mind.”
📱 Social Media Traction: The Algorithm Hates Us Personally
Ah yes, social media. The place where:
• A video of a seagull stealing a sandwich gets 4.2 million views.
• Our beautifully curated coastal aesthetic gets 87.
• Teenagers lip‑syncing in their bedrooms are somehow the CEOs of the internet.
We posted. We hash tagged. We manifested.
And the algorithm said: “Try again, sweetie.”
But we’re Gen X. We don’t quit. We just roll our eyes and post again.
👩💻 The Gen X Learning Curve: Steep, But We Climbed It
This year, we learned:
• “Link in bio” is not as simple as it sounds.
• Reels require editing skills we did not sign up for.
• Every platform updates its layout the moment we finally understand it.
• Zoomers think email is “formal.”
But we adapted. We evolved. We Googled.
We became the tech support we were always destined to be.
🌅 Final Thoughts: We Did the Thing
Salty Kiss Social Club grew, stretched, stumbled, glowed up, and found its voice this year.
We learned a ton. We created beautiful things. We embraced the coastline.
And we did it all with the signature Gen X blend of sarcasm, grit, and “I’ll figure it out myself.”
Here’s to 2026 — more designs, more beach days, more chaos, and maybe… just maybe… a little more social media traction.
But if not?
We’ll survive. We always do.