How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Alison Hoenes | women's apparel patternmaker
126 episodes
1 day ago
How Fitting® is the podcast for slow fashion designers who want to create clothing and grow a business that fits their customer, lifestyle, and values. In biweekly episodes, hear how relatable fashion entrepreneurs (the kind who run their businesses from kitchen tables and cutting tables, not boardroom tables) navigate the fashion industry with integrity and define success based on their own principles.
In each conversation, host Alison Hoenes (a freelance women’s apparel patternmaker) explores the things that all slow fashion business owners experience: the vulnerability of launching something new, the deeply empathetic process of designing clothes that fit a niche market, the challenges of pursuing both financial and environmental sustainability, the late nights of reckoning with your values that make you consider shutting the whole thing down, and the rewarding moments that make it all worth it.
In addition, hear from experienced fashion industry resources that are helping indie designers make a difference and a profit – like low MOQ factories, fashion marketing and business coaches, or sustainable fabric suppliers.
How Fitting® offers validation that you are not alone in your fashion entrepreneurship experience, ideas to try on in your fashion business to create a better fit, and a curious look into how other slow fashion brands are making it work. How fitting is that?
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How Fitting® is the podcast for slow fashion designers who want to create clothing and grow a business that fits their customer, lifestyle, and values. In biweekly episodes, hear how relatable fashion entrepreneurs (the kind who run their businesses from kitchen tables and cutting tables, not boardroom tables) navigate the fashion industry with integrity and define success based on their own principles.
In each conversation, host Alison Hoenes (a freelance women’s apparel patternmaker) explores the things that all slow fashion business owners experience: the vulnerability of launching something new, the deeply empathetic process of designing clothes that fit a niche market, the challenges of pursuing both financial and environmental sustainability, the late nights of reckoning with your values that make you consider shutting the whole thing down, and the rewarding moments that make it all worth it.
In addition, hear from experienced fashion industry resources that are helping indie designers make a difference and a profit – like low MOQ factories, fashion marketing and business coaches, or sustainable fabric suppliers.
How Fitting® offers validation that you are not alone in your fashion entrepreneurship experience, ideas to try on in your fashion business to create a better fit, and a curious look into how other slow fashion brands are making it work. How fitting is that?
Consistency or Newness: What It Takes To Get To A Decade In Fashion Business with Erin Gray Morton of erin gray
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
1 hour 20 seconds
2 weeks ago
Consistency or Newness: What It Takes To Get To A Decade In Fashion Business with Erin Gray Morton of erin gray
Newness builds excitement, but consistency builds trust. Which one will get your brand to a decade in business? Erin Gray Morton just celebrated ten years of her gold-filled jewelry and premium tee shirt line erin gray. The brand has grown to being stocked in over 800 boutiques. To get there, Erin and her team have prioritized relationships while figuring out how to make each wholesale show feel new with basics products that are more timeless than trendy.
In episode 125, hear the ways erin gray builds trust with customers and the boutiques that buy wholesale from them, how Erin keeps herself from a lifestyle of overworking even when she loves what she does, and how Erin structured the business model and pricing from the very beginning to allow giving back to causes she values.
erin gray is a female-owned and operated brand from Atlanta designing elevated essentials with a touch of luxury. Their customers primarily love them for two things: their cult-favorite Pima cotton tees and refined tops that offer high-end style at accessible prices and our 14k gold-filled waterproof jewelry, which wears like solid gold without the high cost.
Erin built this brand from the ground up and the brand is now featured in more than 800 boutiques nationwide. Giving back is our heart - Erin lost her mother to cancer, so supporting cancer research is at the core. The atmosphere at erin gray's Atlanta warehouse is fun, respectful, flexible, family-oriented and customer-focused. The team gets things done without compromising the things and people who matter to them the most.
This episode explores:
Fitting the customer
The ways erin gray builds trust with customers and the boutiques that buy wholesale from them
The effort that went into developing the best basic white tee (because simple is never simple!)
How erin gray creates newness at each wholesale market with a basic, timeless product
Why Erin thinks wholesale shows will never go away
Fitting the lifestyle
What they did differently when erin gray introduced apparel alongside their jewelry line
How Erin keeps herself from overworking even when she loves what she does
How Erin has expanded her team over the years
The benefits of a long wholesale design and development calendar
What to do when you get bored of your product before it even launches
Fitting the values
How Erin structured the business model and pricing from the very beginning to allow giving back to causes she values
Ways your business can give back to causes you care about beyond cash donations
Why customer service is so important for the success of erin gray
People and resources mentioned in this episode:
Erin Gray website
Erin Gray email
Erin Gray Instagram
Erin’s LinkedIn
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How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting® is the podcast for slow fashion designers who want to create clothing and grow a business that fits their customer, lifestyle, and values. In biweekly episodes, hear how relatable fashion entrepreneurs (the kind who run their businesses from kitchen tables and cutting tables, not boardroom tables) navigate the fashion industry with integrity and define success based on their own principles.
In each conversation, host Alison Hoenes (a freelance women’s apparel patternmaker) explores the things that all slow fashion business owners experience: the vulnerability of launching something new, the deeply empathetic process of designing clothes that fit a niche market, the challenges of pursuing both financial and environmental sustainability, the late nights of reckoning with your values that make you consider shutting the whole thing down, and the rewarding moments that make it all worth it.
In addition, hear from experienced fashion industry resources that are helping indie designers make a difference and a profit – like low MOQ factories, fashion marketing and business coaches, or sustainable fabric suppliers.
How Fitting® offers validation that you are not alone in your fashion entrepreneurship experience, ideas to try on in your fashion business to create a better fit, and a curious look into how other slow fashion brands are making it work. How fitting is that?
