The Sill

The Sill is a New York City-based direct-to-consumer retailer of houseplants and related products, founded by Eliza Blank in 2012. It sells hundreds of plant varieties — including monstera, snake plants, pothos, fiddle leaf figs, orchids, olive trees and fruit trees such as Meyer lemon and kumquat — along with planters, potting mix, fertilizer and other plant care essentials. Products are grouped for shoppers by use case, such as indoor, outdoor, pet-friendly, easy-care, low-light-tolerant and large floor plants.

Beyond product sales, the company positions education and customer support as core to its model: detailed care instructions, a blog, online care resources, and virtual and in-person workshops under its Plant Parenthood branding. Customers can reach plant specialists by chat, phone or email. Orders ship nationwide with free shipping over $99 and a 30-day happiness guarantee under which plants that do not arrive healthy are replaced. The site also supports gifting, including gift messages and scheduled ship dates, and a Plant of the Month subscription club.

Alongside e-commerce, The Sill has operated brick-and-mortar retail, opening its first store in Manhattan's Chinatown in 2015 and later expanding to seven locations across New York City, San Francisco, Chicago and Bethesda, Maryland.

Founding story

Eliza Blank conceived The Sill after moving from rural Massachusetts to New York City for college and finding houseplants hard to buy — they were not sold online and local garden stores did not serve her demographic. The idea took shape by her 2007 graduation, but she first worked in brand strategy at the beauty brand Living Proof to learn how businesses are built, concluding she wanted to avoid raising venture capital too early. In February 2012, at age 26, she quit that job to pursue The Sill full-time from borrowed office space in a Chinatown walk-up, inspired in part by her mother, a Filipino immigrant who stayed connected to her roots through gardening. Blank and an initial co-founder recruited from Living Proof each contributed just under $10,000 of savings, and an April 2012 Kickstarter campaign raised its $12,000 goal, giving a combined starting budget of roughly $32,000. The company launched in June 2012; the co-founder relationship was dissolved within months, and by October 2012 Blank ran the company alone.

Business model

The Sill sells plants, planters and plant care supplies directly to consumers through its e-commerce site and physical stores, supplemented by a monthly plant subscription club and gifting purchases. It sources plants domestically from growers and sells planters predominantly manufactured in Southeast Asia by a female-owned company; early on it bought planters in advance and plants as orders came in.

Revenue comes from one-off product sales of plants, planters and care accessories online and in retail stores, a recurring Plant of the Month subscription, and gift orders. Individual plants are listed from roughly $39 to $149 and the subscription club starts at $69; shipping is $19 and free over $99.

Traction

The company recorded over $2 million in sales by 2016, grew from a roughly $32,000 starting budget to a multimillion-dollar business, expanded to seven retail stores, and says it has helped thousands of customers begin caring for plants over more than a decade of operation.

Latest developments

The company's current catalog spans indoor and outdoor categories, including outdoor trees and shrubs with growing-zone guidance, rare plants such as Monstera Thai Constellation and variegated philodendrons, orchids, and a Plant of the Month Club, alongside virtual workshops and plant care content.