BTS: Launching the 2020 Fall/Winter Collection

If you remember, during our spring/summer launch, we mentioned all of the behind the scenes work it took our design team to get to there. In the past, an Effortless Composition collection had begun with our local artisan and their specialization. For SS20 we asked one another "what if we lean on our customers to be our artisans?".

The data we complied from the prior years had shown what our customers were searching for and what products were getting the most hits. Months of research resulted in a 100+ piece collection that we were more than proud of. We had planned to have enough product on hand to sell through August.

Then our world, along with everyone else, was rocked by a global pandemic. For us, this meant our lead time to take a product from ideation to production was extended by 3-6 months.In the beginning, we were ok with this, we knew our selling trends and felt we had enough goods to meet our core customers.

Then, millions watched another black man be murdered by the police. How this resulted in hundreds of black owned business being supported is beyond the scope of this post and my understanding. If anyone asked me, I would have preferred justice and nationwide change to the system that makes it ok, over and over, to undermine black individuals. Instead, going back to the comment above, hundreds of black owned business were supported more than ever before. It was beautiful and painful to watch/experience.  For us, we sold out of almost every item from the SS20 line much faster than we anticipated. We saw outlets respond to our emails and acknowledge our work without hesitation - they knew about us and finally decided we were good enough (lol). It was quite a lot. 

Interestingly enough, while everyone was taking note of how they could do more to make a difference in this very taxing climate, we were too. We weren't exempt from this mass awakening either. We were able to donate to a couple of organizations that we believe in to keep the fight going, long after it is a trending topic. More importantly, we were able to find a local Los Angeles organization that we will partner with long term (details coming soon).

During all of this, we were receiving emails daily asking about restocks. Our weekly team meetings had went from joyous idea sessions to frantic 'how do we get products' sessions. After weeks of stress, fights, and cancelled orders we decided we couldn't forget how we got here.

The best part of this job, for us, was the curation and design process.

We knew our customers deserved more than a rushed collection that was responsive rather than innovative. Our 'ah-ha' moment occurred when we remembered that.

What makes us different is we do the hard work. We do the hard work of sifting through thousands of fabrics, hundreds of trends, and design aesthetics to bring only the most timeless, statement making goods to our customers. Then we make sure that each item is beautifully styled and documented so we can provide every single customer with a personalized consultation. If we were going to skip those steps just to be quick then we might as well tell our customers to go to HomeGoods. We love it there, but we know why your here, so we will pass on that one.

So, after about 2 -3 months of being sold out, our Fall/Winter collection is here. For this collection, we were inspired by the organic textures and floral's of fall. The effortless beauty that encompasses the season speaks volumes and we wanted to bring that aesthetic home.

During our fabric scouting we were laser focused on floral print - from Japanese traditional to old school homage.  We also wanted to highlight our dining/entertaining essentials. With everyone quarantining at home we wanted to make sure our customers could continue to showcase there awesome style via a virtual brunch or socially distanced dinner. 

We hope that you love this one as much as we do!