How I Started My Slow Fashion Label | Part II

How did I know it was time to leave my secure, full-time, big shot designer role and go all in on my own label?

The truth is it wasn’t a complete light bulb, aha moment where I just stopped what I was doing at my desk, told my boss ‘I quit’ and walked out the front door.

It was lots of little things that fell into place over a 7-8 month period.

Up until this point my nights and weekends were consumed with creating small runs of my Audrey Blouse and Daphne Blouse. I also started getting custom requests (of which I was so excited for so I didn’t think much about my pricing and totally underquoted them)

I was making around 7-8 garments a week in my free time, then spending my lunch breaks at work running down to the post office shipping them out.

I had a little black book where I was constantly writing under the heading ‘How I’m Going To Make This Work’. As in, how I’m going to leave my secure job and make money by making my own clothes for customers.

I listened to SO many inspirational podcasts. I’d be creating CADs at my desk (digital sketches of garments) whilst listening to Gary Vee’s entrepreneurial rants or Alison Rice on Offline the Podcast interviewing guests about ‘when they knew it was time to leave their job’.

So many times I’d pause the podcast, stop and realise I was feeling the exact same way. Uninspired at work, ready for a new challenge and itching to just ‘get out’ and walk my own path.

I also realised that I’ve never enjoyed working under anyone or being told what to do. Whether that was in a job or in school, I’ve always had an issue with being ‘managed’ by others.

Listening to the podcasts, I’d stop every so often and write down notes. I’d try to figure out the bare minimum I’d need to pay rent, bills and food and any other ideas for streams of revenue.

I was also taking any custom sewing requests. You want a custom made aromatherapy heat pack? Sure! A baby head band? No worries.

Any way I could make money from sewing something, I’d do it.

I guess the revelatory moment was at work when I was in a marketing meeting about this new thing called ‘sustainability’.

I distinctly remember the marketing team asking my team leader something about whether we should ‘jump on the narrative’ of sustainability. To which she replied something along the lines of ‘probably best to focus on sales’.

That was probably my lightbulb moment.

I remember how icky it made me feel. That being sustainable or ethical was a marketing choice.
It was all about optics and had nothing to do with wanting to help the planet or the people making our clothes.

Prior to that, I hadn’t really thought about sustainability or ‘fast fashion’.

I would buy 1-2 new pieces of clothing every week (if not more). I’d constantly be checking the ‘What’s New’ page on Zara for anything cute that I could buy.

I never checked where it was made, who was making it or what it was made from.

As soon as I started to educate myself on the effects of fast fashion I couldn’t stop, I had to know more. I read articles, blogs, watched documentaries and listened to podcasts and it infuriated me that I hadn’t thought to research this earlier.

Not just that, but I was actually part of the problem.

It still took me another 7 months to actually get the confidence to resign and leave.

During those 7 months I took on as much work as I could manage, planned even harder and had many difficult conversations with my husband as to whether I should do it or not.

Over Christmas 2019 I knew it had to happen. I was as ready as I’ll ever be, I wasn’t getting any younger, we wouldn’t always have the freedom we did right then (no mortgage, no kids) and above all I couldn’t stomach being a part of the fast fashion machine anymore.

I went into work after the holiday break, sat down with my Design Team boss and told him how excited I was to start on my own path and thank you for everything he taught me.

I mean, what can you say to someone who’s excited to leave and do their own thing? I remember he even said ‘Well, it looks like you’ve made your mind up so I’m not going to even bother hassling you and offering you a pay rise. Go for it!’

When I told colleagues and friends that I had resigned and was starting my own label, they said things like

‘It’s about time!’

When here’s me thinking they’d respond with something like

‘You’re crazy, but okay.’

So that’s it! I resigned and left and finally felt free.

Free of the fast-paced fashion industry machine, free to do what I wanted, when I wanted and how I wanted.

Little did I know there’d be a global pandemic, but that’s coming up next…