#603 Unlocking the Secrets of Apparel Manufacturing

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Business can be a lonely game, but it doesn't have to be. Welcome to Boutique Chat where we explore community over competition and how to scale your company with the balance and the happiness that we all seek. We'll hear from product based businesses of all types, retailers, e commerce and wholesale brands, along with industry experts shaping the future of our industry. I'm your host Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub. I'm and I can't wait to chat.

Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast this week. I am so excited for this conversation. Pippa, you and I have nerded out behind the scenes many times on the industry and where it's headed and I can't wait just to get to pick your brain about all the design and behind the scenes things that most people don't know go into this industry. So welcome to the podcast.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm actually so excited to be on this podcast. I was really looking forward to it to just, you know, talk about the industry, answer all your questions. I think there's so much misconception about things and also what really goes into a garment is so underappreciated and once you start it on your own, you really will know what goes into that, you know. So I hope we get a chance to talk about that.

Absolutely, we will. Well, let's get started here. Take me back to how you got started in the industry. What led you here? I know you have some family history that plays into it, so bring me up to speed until this point in time.

Yeah. So I make a long story short because so I was born and raised in Germany and I graduated when I was 19 and I had a year between university and college and. And I got the opportunity to come to America because I had some extended family here and it was a German American family. And so they wanted me to talk German to the kids. And then in order to stay in America, I had to go to college for a student visa. So I thought to myself, so what am I going to study? You know, my mom, she was a costume designer in a seamstress in our local theater and that was her absolute dream. So I, you know, got to see a lot of that and a lot of sewing at home. And I remember every single costume we had going to school, she would make for us. So she was some sort of definitely my role model. And then my dad, he was very into interior design. Furniture. He was a furniture designer. And it was funny, the other day I was in Europe and I posted a picture of his House. And everyone was like, who lives there? Who's this person? I was like, well, my dad is kind of like an Andy Warhol kind of person. He lives nice. He's a little crazy. He's an artist. He paints. And then my. My parents got a divorce early on, and my uncle actually took care of us a lot. And he was an illustrator, so we got to doodle with him all the time. And I got to spend my summer vacations at his atelier. We call it atelier. It's like at. There were so many artists in there, and I was just always inspired by that. And that's how I, you know, when I had to make the decision of, like, what do I want to do? My life, where do I want to go into? I pretty knew already it was fashion, you know, or some like, something artistic. I took some illustrator classes, but really it was just, in the end, it was fashion for me.

What a perfect storm for you. That's incredible to be surrounded by so many artistic people.

We.

Did you feel like when you were growing up, like, even in your own sense of style, in your own wardrobe, do you feel like that led you to experiment more than others just because you had an appreciation for it?

Definitely. I mean, if you would ask my mom, you know, there's pictures of me at home. I would always wanted to wear the same skirt or the same hat, and I was always into it somehow, you know. And my mom actually made her own clothes this to this day. And that really inspired me too, you know. Yeah.

That's incredible. So when you started, you decided, right? So then you started to go to fashion school. You went to a couple different schools, if I remember right. Tell me about that. And then your first jobs out of school as well.

Yeah. So, you know, when I became an au pair here, I started at Santa Monica College and I had a. Actually really great program for fashion design. It was fashion design and merchandising, actually, so both perfect. So I finished after four years. I took my time because also, you know, me and the family got along great. They were like, well, how can we keep you a little longer? So I just studied two semesters a year, you know, the long one, spring, fall. And then by the fourth year, I was done. So the question came around, like, how do you keep your visa? I tried, actually. California State University. I hated their fashion program. Don't go there. It was nothing, hands on. Like, it was so far off. And now that I work in the industry, I was just like, what was I doing there? So that's Why I left early. Anyways, my dream was always to go to New York. And it was. My mom talks about this to this day. I was like 6 years old. I drew this picture of the Statue of Liberty, a little hamburger on the side and something else. So that was my idea of America. But, you know, I always had this dream of, like, New York is the fashion capital, and one day I want to go. So my visa expired. I actually landed back at home in Germany. I was super depressed. I was like, my dream just popped. You know, I never got to work in the industry. I just did all this for what? Nothing. And I actually just quickly. In between, I lived in Switzerland for a year. I was doing an internship there in the fashion industry. I worked for this tiny little boutique, and they had some vintage stuff. And then I worked in a restaurant to save up for college. So I finally got accepted to New York. And, yeah, so my mom, you know, in Germany, I come from such a village, so she had pretty much no money. And she gave me anything, everything she had. And she was like, the best investment I could do is for my. My kids. And I still have goosebumps talking about this. And she gave me, I think back then, €20,000. And my semester itself at FIT was like 8,000 a semester. And I was like, well, how long will this last me? You know? So anyways, I had this dream. I had this mission. I was like, I want to accomplish this mission. I. You know, and I wanted to do it for my mom and for, of course, for myself too. But I absolutely enjoyed my time there. I learned so much. I got to intern for Micah course. Then when I graduated, I. I got my. You have to take this opt. So you work in the industry for a year. I got to work at Theory and Helmut Lang. I learned a lot there. But it was very. You know, when you work for someone big in the industry, you have a very small role, so you don't really get to see everything. You're just like, this is your little job. You know, you're doing tech packs all day. And that's. That's that. And I got to go to a few fittings, but that was it. That year went by really fast. And then I moved back to Los Angeles in 2014 because back in the day, me and my husband already had started dating. And then I had to leave. And then, you know, he contacted me back while I was living in New York. So I moved back. 2014, I was back in LA, and I remember I interviewed for is now my business partner and we go way back. It's been now 10 years. And. And I started to work for him as an assistant designer in. Actually I worked for him domestic. So we had an in house team there. We had a 40,000 square foot warehouse, we had our pattern room, we had our sample sewers. We had fabrics everywhere. And here I am. I was like, wow, I get to do this. I get to design. So from quickly being an assistant designer, he's like, okay, so we are doing. Sam is the biggest dreamer and. And he, he get. But he gets it done. So he was like, so we're gonna have all these lines. I want you to take on this line. I feel like you would fit in perfectly. It was called Etheria and it was more like the modern contemporary one. And then also on top of that, he was like, well, this is how you do production. I was like, wait a minute. I thought, you know what I learned from theory in Helmut Lang, you have like a production department. You have a fabric department. You have a department for everything. No, no, no. He was like, this is how you do it. You know, he taught us. But then he let us run with it. And that's the best thing he could have ever done for me because I was so. I was first afraid. I was just like, is he crazy? He lets me do this, you know, Like, I remember we got an order for a little bit. That's it. Yeah, yeah. It takes a little bit of craziness actually to be in this industry, right? So he gave. I will never forget, we had this order, it was like 250,000 pieces for TJ Maxx. And he's like, so this is how you calculate your fabric based on this pattern. So you calculate the yield. And I was like, wait, you let me order this fabric right now.

Like, what?

You know, so I got to really learn the ins and outs. And then I did the domestic part of it, I did the import part of it. And then soon, soon after he. We started just like more brands and we opened up an office in. Because, you know, we realize that once you go to a factory and you, let's say in the wholesale word, you produce a lot of samples because you want to see what sells. So you take them to a show, you get a count on it, and then you see, well, do we drop this style or do we move forward with it? Have we created a bestseller here? And once you have, you know, you go to your factory and you start asking them to make samples, they're expecting an order and you want to make sure you're not losing your relationships because they're like, wait a second, we put in so much work into let's say 15 or let's say a total of really 50, 60 samples a month. And then you just move Forward with maybe 30. You know, they're like, this is a waste of our time and you want to make sure you have great relationships. So we started having our own China office and that helped a lot with. And we still have it there. We have a sample room there. They're excellent at sourcing because, you know, we trained them to a point where like, they knew exactly what they were looking for in terms of fabrication. They knew exactly what we were looking for in terms of the aesthetic for each line we had. And yeah, that's pretty much how this whole thing came together. Yeah, that's where I learned the most.

It's incredible. And for those of you who are listening, who don't know who Sam is, who she's referring to, Sam was also recently on the podcast, so you guys can check out his episode as well. And, and those of you in the Hub who have been a part of our Mastermind and retail boot camp, you've had a little bit of access to Sam and to Pippa as well. So love to see that full circle. And it just goes to show, like the relationships, the power of relationships in our industry as well. Okay, so of all of this process of you learning hands on. Right. And kind of getting thrown to the wolves to figure some things out, you have a massive appreciation, like you said, for what goes into a garment. What are some things you wish more people knew about overall, how the industry works that you think would give them more of an appreciation for what goes into all of it?

Absolutely. Honestly, that's my favorite question to answer because, you know, as I'm working with clients, just in general, I see their idea of how things should be right. They, everyone comes in with a certain expectations and expectation and they're, they're thinking, they have this idea about it that is oftentimes I have to prove them wrong. And it's a little bit of an uncomfortable part because, you know, from the pre production to the production phase, it really takes you six, I would say four to six weeks. And just that understanding that it takes that long. They don't know why, you know, and they're, they might think, well, is, is she slow or, you know, how is that? But there is so much that goes into it. You know, I have to send the same I, I spec the sample, which is the measuring part of the sample before I send it to China. If we do have a reference sample, if not, we have to create this tech pack. That tech pack is super detailed. It's your blueprint that will run you through the entire production part. So there can be nothing wrong there. You know, so. And then once it goes into production, it really, you know, you really have I would say three to four samples and I would say two pp samples, if not, if everything goes great and you know, your top of production sample. But even that sometimes they don't understand why do you have that many samples? And then it could also be that sometimes they're overly giving comments. They're finding every single meticulous measurement that needs to be fixed, that doesn't really need to be. I mean there's ways to say like, hey, we can approve this with comments, but because they don't have the relationship or the trust behind that, it will go right. They're just over commenting on things and then it takes longer. But then they're also not taking in consideration that every time they ask for a new sample, it will add on three to four weeks. So if you're on a tight timeline, how are you gonna finish your production? You know, or especially if you have already sold that style and you're just doing the finishes and getting this into production, you're running late. And so I actually recently, besides from, you know that we did the course together, which is so, so incredible because we got to pass on all the knowledge we gathered or you know, Sam and I. Sam has been in the industry way longer. He has made way more mistakes. I was just there to witness and learn from him. And then all the successes he had, you know, but just the appreciation of what goes into this process and you know, what, what the cost that a garment, you know, cost to make, the time you're investing in it.

Yeah, yeah.

There's sort of an under appreciation and a weird expectations about things. So I started learning from my clients because I wrote down pretty much when they came back to me with questions, I wrote it down and I have, I almost wrote like a handbook for them that will answer all the question of why things can happen, you know, and production is like such a, it's such a process. It's no linear line. There is so many ups and downs. The most unexpected things are happening, you know, and in the end you just see that, that product on a hanger, you don't know what goes into it, you know.

Yeah, there's definitely a misconception that fast fashion that it's so fast. And so when you're somebody who comes in on the other side, whether you've been a retailer or you're developing a brand, whatever, and you think it's going to happen fast for you too. I mean, there's a lot of slow that goes into it to make it look fast at the end of the day. So something you mentioned, and I'll link this up in the show notes for you guys in case you aren't aware, but Sam and Pippa and myself put together a masterclass all about apparel production. And this is really whether you're just trying to have a greater understanding and appreciation for the industry to make you a better business owner, or whether you're looking to do some private label work or you're deciding like is white labeling and, and then doing some private cuts with an existing vendor. Right. Me, or am I ready to go create my own capsule collection? We try to, you know, pack all the details in so you guys can learn from everyone's collective knowledge. But I do specifically want to speak to that question. Pippa, you and I talk about this a lot. If I'm, let's say I'm an influencer and I'm wanting to create a brand, or I'm a retailer, you know, with a pretty substantial customer base and I'm looking to create my own pieces, how do you think the decision is made of when do I private label versus when do I go to a vendor I have an existing relationship with and ask them to do a few cuts for me versus when do I go all in and say, okay, I'm going to work with Sam and Pippa and create all of my own pieces for a capsule collection, how do I make those determinations?

Yeah, I feel like, you know, you will know once you know the risk you want to take. Because starting your own brand is very, it's very risky. There is a lot of money that goes into it. Right. So I would, for somebody that doesn't have the entire background and knowledge yet of how to create a brand, I would say, why not starting with white labeling? You know, you, you, you're going to be the, the buyer of your own. I would say when we, when, when I go shop, for example, I know exactly what I'm looking for. Right. I'm the buyer of my closet, of course. So if you know you have a certain style and you know your target customer who you're buying for, but you don't want to dive into the absolute deep risk of doing your own production because there is a Lot of mistakes that can happen along the way. Then I would definitely say you're the candidate that should first try out working with, just, sorry, buying and then white labeling it, you know, and see how that sells to your target customer. Like, do tests, test runs of styles of, am I targeting the right group? You know, start with that. You don't have to dive in this deep and do your own production. And then if you done that and now you have built relationships with your vendors because you bought from your vendors, you're, you know, white labeling. Then I would say, you know, slowly dive into contacting your vendor and say, hey, could you produce this style for me? Can I piggyback on your order? Um, is it possible that you could produce the style for me in a different color or in a different print? Um, you know, I realized that would be better for my target customer.

Yeah.

Yeah. So I feel like it. It's. And then, you know, if you're fully ready and you have done all that you've experienced, the white labeling, the working with your vendor, and then you're saying, you know what? I think now I'm ready to dive in this deep that I want to do my own production. That's when, you know, you would either come to us or you would get our course, because then you would understand. But, you know, overall, I would always say knowledge is key. You know, knowledge is wealth, and knowledge is power. So whether you. You are unsure if you even want to start production, you should. Should still take this course to find out what really goes into this. If. If that means, are you. You're ready to do this, you know, or not. And then you're like, you know what? That seems so overwhelming for me. You know, I don't think I can handle all these tasks that go into it. And that's out of this necessity of. I understood that fear of people of starting their own brand and, you know, thinking, I need to hire a designer, I need to hire a fit technician, I need to hire fit models, I need to hire a production person. I need to hire, you know, like, this whole overhead thinking of who you need because you don't have the knowledge yet. That's kind of why I created Creative Culture Consulting, you know, because I. I caught myself one time myself, where I was like, I was fresh out of school, and I was like, man, my biggest dream would to have my line one day. And then. But the thought to, where do I get my garments made? How do I do it? You know, I feel like when you come out of school, you have A basic understanding. But then, you know, when I really was on the job, that's where I absolutely learned. And that's exactly, you know, what it was for me, where I was like, here is something where I can help somebody else. And I enjoy that so much. Like, it's like so passionate for me because I see how I can. You know, people come with a vision and an idea and when they see their first sample, their eyes are glowing like it's something that it's Christmas, you know, and then they're really like, they're saying, you know, this is my baby. This, this brand is my baby. And that's how I take care of them. You know, I really teach them along the way. And, and I do a lot of hand holding because I think it's so necessary to do that. It's just, it's, it's, it's been great so far. Honestly, I really enjoy it. And the teaching aspect I think is, is a much a better approach for me than working just for a brand because, you know, it can be so tiring to create. I would say we had to do 60 designs a month. And that's. That can be burn. Burn can burn you out.

That's a lot.

It's.

There's so much that goes into it. All of those samples. That's incredible. Have you ever been curious about what.

It takes to manufacture your own products? Maybe it's not full on manufacturing and you want to create an entire line.

Maybe it is.

Maybe it's you working with your vendors to create a few custom pieces along the lines of your bestsellers with your existing vendors. Or maybe you're just exploring is white labeling and private labeling right for me? Wherever you're at in this process, we created a brand new program at the boutique hub called the apparel manufacturing Masterclass. I've teamed up with two of my dearest friends in the industry, my friend Sam and Pippa, who have many, many years between the two of them in apparel manufacturing, building many different types of apparel brands of all types, from athleisure to T shirts to children's to women's contemporary. They understand design and everything that goes into working with factories and building tech packs, importing and exporting, and the entire process of getting the exact products that you love. So if this sounds like you and you're curious, you feel like you've built a business that has an existing customer base that is hungry for more unique products and, and you want to explore what it takes to get more profit margin out of the products that you're selling on a regular basis. Check out this product, the apparel manufacturing masterclass. I've got it all linked up for you in today's show notes. Let me know if you've got any questions.

So when you see individuals decide, okay, I want to start cutting my own pieces, and they're. They're venturing out on their own, and maybe they found themselves, landed on Alibaba and they're searching for vendors and they're like, okay, trying to analyze the question cost of what does it take to get into this? There's definitely some things to be aware of and some pitfalls to avoid when you're making that decision or you're trying to just, like, discover what factory am I going to work with in China? Whatever country you're sourcing from. Can you talk about some of those things to look out for and some, like, pitfalls to avoid?

Yeah, definitely. I'm. I myself, I'm actually terrified of Alibaba. I mean, it's just like, you don't know what you're going to get, you know, And I have a lot of clients that said, I did this on Alibaba and I just realized it's not what I expected or, you know, there was it. This is how they get you. So they get you by low moqs. And they say, I just had a client last week. She said, you know, I found a factory because she asked me for a low moq. And I said, I have a couple of factories that say, hey, we can cut just one fabric roll and reach the fabric minimum and do the production for you. Or we could do, you know, 200 is the lowest for anything that's dyed, anything that's a sweater where there's a lot of work that goes into it. And then so she came to me, she said, I found some. I can do 50 pieces. So I wondered to myself, how did this conversation start? Because she, you know, it also depends, like, how many sizes are you doing? Does this factory already know you're doing seven sizes or you doing just the normal five sizes that they actually see as a standard? You know, and then they will get you. So they say 50 pieces. And then they will get you by upcharging because no factory makes money on 50 pieces. And that might be their, like, first introduction to, like, hey, we can do 50 pieces for you, but trust me, they will not do this again. They. They just want to lurk you in. Yeah. And then you go to checkout, and by the checkout is where they charge all of it by Shipping. And if you do 50 pieces, your shipping amount will go up significantly. Because what people actually don't know is the more you ship at once, if you can fill up a container, the cheaper, cheaper shipping gets for you. Because yeah, once you can fill up a container. So oftentimes when I produce, I ask my clients, hey, can we do the same ship date? Because I know they can fill up the container and that makes it, you know, less costly. And so with Alibaba, it's like they lurk you in on the low quality quantity. First of all, you have never done anything with them. So I highly suggest if you want to try this, like ask for samples, ask for references, ask for who they have worked with before, and ask them to send you. Sent you samples, you know, and then also make sure you're negotiating that you're doing seven sizes instead of five, because then slowly they're starting to. Oh, okay, seven sizes will. That's then a hundred because we can only do 50 with four or five sizes for you. So there's always a catch 22 that I don't think you are aware of this in the moment, you know, and it becomes very like wonky in the conversation because they over promise and under deliver, you know. Yeah. So yeah, there lots of ways to.

Get in over your head. There. Are there other good questions you would suggest people in this process would ask when they're qualifying?

Okay.

You know, I'm still dabbling and I'm trying to find if this person is right for me. Other questions that would be, you know.

Qualifying, I would say, well, definitely, you know, so make sure you're contacting a factory that is specialized. So for bikinis and activewear, you want to make sure that they're not also doing denim because trust me, they cannot do it all. They will tell you they can do it all. It's a, you know, it's a mentality of theirs, but they can't and you really gonna pay for it, you know, so make sure you want to do denim. Just go with the denim factory and find out if they're also doing something else. Because if they're doing something else, that's already too much, like really go for the. The. How can I word this? You know, for. How can I say this? Go for the factory that is specialized specifically for that design, you know, and like a seamless factories. That's actually a good, good example because I feel like everyone is looking into the seamless market right now, especially after skims exploded. I have so many clients that I want to do seamless, you know, but I want to just test it out. Seamless factories, they immediately have a higher moq because they have to set up the machines that are specifically catered to the seamless market. And that too, you know, like someone that is specialized in seamless because nobody else can do it. They don't have the machines. I don't know. They will come up with something to make it look seamless, but it's not, you know. Yeah, yeah. And then what other questions to ask? I mean, definitely. Oh, I think LDP and FOB pricing. Because when you usually work with Alibaba, well, they have to ship it to you always. But when you work with factories in general, LDP means landed duty paid. That means that your factory takes full liability. When your goods are on the boat and something were to happen, they have to take liability. They, they schedule also the trucking company for you that will pick up your goods from the port, delivers it to your warehouse. If you do FOB and you do it, that means they give you a lower cost. But then you have to take care of your entire shipping, which means also, how do you do clear customs? How do you, you know, how do you organize that someone is picking up your goods from the port? Like, how do you put all, all the little logistics pieces together? You know, I'd rather. Usually they charge around $2 to $3 depending on the heaviness of your garment. On shipping. Invest that. Don't start, don't start going cheap and saying, well, I'll hire this logistics company that will do it for me. It just ends up in a disaster. So just go straight with. Ask them. If they say FOB, say, can you please offer LDP for me? I'd rather pay 2 to $3 more on the piece. And I know these goods are getting to my warehouse safely, you know. Yeah.

So important. That could be a huge disaster for somebody not knowing that. Yeah. And if anyone is listening and you're like, what are these acronyms? These are all new acronyms for me because they were for me too, when we first started working together. We have a free download, so I'm going to link that up in our show. Notes, Pippa, of all of the production key terms. So if you guys want access to that, it's free, we'll link it up and you guys can learn more about all those terms as well. So really, the two main reasons you would want to create your own pieces at the end of the day are higher quality pieces and to really increase profitability in your business. Any tips for those listening if they're dabbling in this, in this process of how they can achieve both of those things, things to really achieve higher quality and to achieve higher margin and more profitability at the end of the day.

Yeah, I mean, in the end of the day, to achieve higher profitability, you kind of do have to cut out the middleman. Right. And you also have to make sure, of course, is this profitable to my business? Do I have already an established client base that would buy this? You know, let's say you want to go and say, like, I want to create a small capsule collection. I'm a boutique owner and I want to set myself apart from other boutiques. So I'm going to, you know, start my own label. It's called something something boutique, you know, the exclusive or something, you know, but just make sure you are hiring somebody along the way, you know, and if, let's say you can afford our service to do the production for you, you can always hire us as consultants. Just, you know, take the course, because I have so much knowledge in this course. And then in terms of quality, well, you're really only in control of your quality when you do it yourself. Because, you know, when we produce, we have someone doing the QC in China and then someone doing the QC once again in our warehouse to ensure that, you know, before everything gets shipped out and the customer gets it, they look good, that there's no mistakes on it, you know, and mistakes happen. They happen all the time.

Yeah.

You know, and that, that's something too, that I really wanna stress about on, because it's, it's. You ha. You will come in with this expectation and then these little mistakes happen here and there and you learn, you're gonna learn how to tackle them and you're gonna learn how to find the best solution for it, especially before, definitely before they go to your customer, you know, but, yeah, mistakes happen all the time. Just be aware of it and, and, you know, just. Yeah, make sure, make sure you. You have the understanding that there's only so much you can control during this process, too.

So good. So important, because mistakes happen to everyone. Everyone I've talked to in this process that I've ever had on the podcast or in the hub that manufacture their own goods. They can always tell you that one horror story of when something came in completely wrong or spelled wrong or upside down or what, you name it, all kinds of things happen. But that is definitely part of this game. One other thing I want to mention, Pippa, is when you were talking about Just being cost effective as well. I want to stress this so I make sure this is not misunderstood in this interview is when you're deciding in your boutique owner, is this for me? I don't see this happening in our industry where a boutique will come in and go, okay, great, I'm going to manufacture all of my own pieces now and completely not be working with vendors. I don't think that's sustainable or realistic at all. I think the question is more what are my best selling pieces that I really know? You know, my customers will buy this day in, day out and I can order the greatest quantity in. That's where you really want to focus. That's where the fruit is. And then your existing vendors that hopefully you've built tremendous relationships with with help you to continue to fill out your collections and your assortments and to build a well rounded brand at the end of the day.

100%. I don't think that any boutique, because you are a Boutique, should go 100% into doing your own because then you, you essentially start your own brand, you know, and that goes, that goes. That's a monster. To create your own brand is an absolute monster. And I feel like the beauty of having the boutique is that you, you can, you know, you, you're your own shopper, your own buyer, and you can have some sort of, you can also be a little bit of the designer here because you know your client base and that's the beauty of it. And using both, utilizing both references, right? Like your vendors, they're there because they have the designer and you're picking from them because you know you can sell it and you know your, your customer is looking for, for it. So I would never say, you know, just wipe out your vendors and just do it all yourself. Absolutely, absolutely. The beauty of this, the boutique industry, I think, is that you can do both. You, you, you do both and you have the versatility in this, you know?

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, I have a couple quick designer questions for you. So from your vantage point, what is your favorite fabric to work with that you just admire? Like, it might not be the easiest, but it's a fabric that you just personally love the most.

Fabric, I think a good rayon model jersey, I feel like goes a long way. You know, you could create beautiful dresses and you know, something that's very body hugging and body conscious, but you could also use it more in terms of loungewear, you know, and, and, and having a little bit of an oversized, but it feels so soft and it's body hugging and comforting. And it's relatively cheap, and I feel like you can really create some beautiful pieces either way, whether it's loungewear, whether it's. It's more the body hugging piece and yeah, again, like, it's. It's a low cost fabric. I feel like that one is good.

Okay, next.

Much good stuff out there, but that one, I think, is my favorite.

Okay, what is your favorite? I'll say, like, favorite and most challenging type of embellishment.

I would say embroidery. I love embroidery. You know, we do. Whether you do embroidery for embellishing a top, by the way, I would definitely go to India for that. They're incredible for that. Embroidery, beading, all that. But, you know, a lot of times, too, we do hats or just T shirts with a tiny little logo. Yeah, I love embroidery. Most challenging. Did you say challenging?

Yeah, most challenging. I want your favorite and your most challenging.

My most challenging. I feel like, to be honest, everything in activewear and, like, the nylon spandex, where it has to be so on point with the fit, you know, and you have to place the seams in a certain way that they're not uncomfortable in places that's. It's definitely a challenge doing that. Yeah. Yeah.

Perfect. Favorite garment to design, period.

I think dresses. I think dresses. Yeah. I feel like, you know, you could turn first. There's so much versatility in it. Like, any top I can see, I was like, oh, you could make this also into a dress, you know, and that's how you kind of design collections, because. Okay, you see the. The top and you're like, okay, so have this space. I already have an idea of this design. So I could also turn this into a dress, and you could make it long sleeve, short sleeve, maxi dress, midi dress, mini dress, you know, so versatile.

Yeah.

So that's why I was. I think I love the dress. Yeah. Perfect.

All right, last question. What is a brand or brands that you admire most for their level of design and the detail that goes into their design? So if you see this brand, you're just like, oh, I have to go touch it and feel it. Because I just know their work is incredible and you really admire it.

Yeah. I would probably divide that into some categories, because, like, for an athleisure wear brand, you know, I. I used to have my own athleisure wear brand with Sam, actually. Yeah. It was honestly the most incredible experience I've had. Just to give a quick background, but we landed the first order for, I think $250,000 for. With anthropology, and we were at the Grove here in Hollywood and then online, so amazing experience. I really admire aloe yoga. I feel like it's very versatile. It's, you know, you really. From working out to wearing it all day to. Even now they're going more towards the fashion direction, I feel like. And it's like simple pieces, dressing up and down and. Yeah. So that. And in terms of quality, I think that's what I also personally wear the most when I work out or just hang out at. At home, you know. And then in terms of more like the young contemporary side, I like when it. When it comes to, like, more boho and that look, I love free people. I think they have great quality. They have a lot. Sometimes I do get overwhelmed by the amount they have, so I actually prefer going to their store because then I can see it. Because when I go online, I'm like, can this page end? I'm on page 300 over here for dresses, you know, so that's that. And then, you know, I. I recently explored the brand viori. Oh, I don't know.

They're my favorite. I love Yori.

And so their fit is absolutely incredible. But that actually goes back to more the athleisure side of things, you know? Yeah, their fit is incredible. Their fabrication is amazing. So I think that's. That's where I'm heading with this.

I see a trend. I Athleisure. It's a trend for you.

I love that. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we started hologram before alo yoga, and we always said, like, if we would have kept going, you know, but yeah, an experience to learn from is we started hologram and social anthropology. And then we, you know, we were so proud of this line. We showed it to all the buyers, and one of these buyers was like, TJ Maxx. And once you, you know, you're starting to create your brand and you want to be recognized for your brand, if someone offers you, hey, you can also, you know, we want to carry this in TJ Maxx because it's such low price points, then you cannot sell your high price points anymore on your website. And you have welcome. Ruined your brand, you know, because you can't do that. So you have to establish are you going to build a brand or are you going to, you know, initially then do wholesale again for the big box buyers and stuff like that. But yeah, yeah, so many different angles.

Like that we don't even know exist in this industry. This is incredible. Thank you for taking us behind the scenes today on. I mean, if you didn't get a greater appreciation for this industry after listening to this. Wow. There's always something to learn. I can firsthand attest. I've learned so much from you and Sam. I'm so grateful for you both here in the Hub. I know so many of us are. So, Pippa, thanks for your time today. We will be seeing you around in person, I'm sure very soon, but can't wait to see what comes next.

Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. And I'm looking forward to the masterminds and you know, just being around. Pick my brain for questions and I'm always here to help. Yeah. Love it.

Thank you so much.

Bye.

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