Latest news with #fashiondesigner
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Wardrobe malfunction that helped inspire 26-year-old's entire business
The cost of living crisis has made most people reevaluate their spending, and a young Aussie has pointed out the common cheap act that is costing us more in the long run. Maddie Langshaw, 26, was earning more than $100,000 working full-time in social media and marketing when she decided to start her slow fashion brand Audrey Atelier. It wasn't just her love of fashion that spurred on the decision — she said she also came to the realisation fast fashion was a rort. 'It feels cheap in that exact moment but the cost builds,' she told 'Whether it's the constant need to replace poor quality items, or the environmental damage, or just the mental clutter of owning too much that doesn't mean anything.' Ms Langshaw said the danger with embracing fast fashion was you were always left wanting to buy more. 'It encourages this mindset of constant consumption, where clothes lose all meaning. It's not fashion, it's waste,' she said. 'It's also emotionally draining, because it keeps us in a loop of wanting more but never feeling truly satisfied.' The fashion designer understands the perils of fast fashion because she's been a consumer in the past. 'I definitely fell into it in the past, buying things just because they were cheap or trendy. But over time, the charm completely wore off,' she said. 'The clothes didn't last, and honestly, I didn't feel like me in them. Now, my wardrobe is 90 per cent thrifted or second-hand. 'If I do buy something new, it takes me at least five or six rounds of research. I want to know who made it, what it's made of, and whether it's something I'll love long-term.' Ms Langshaw argued that fast fashion created the illusion that more was better and clothes were disposable. 'It's a trap that keeps us buying and never feeling fulfilled. Once you shift the mindset out of it, you save more money long term and invest in pieces that you have forever,' she said. She's also had some horror experiences with fast fashion, where the lack of quality led to flat-out wardrobe fails. 'I've had seams unravel after one wear, things shrink beyond saving, and fabrics pill within days,' she said. 'Once, I wore a dress to dinner and the hem literally came undone mid-meal. I remember thinking, 'Why am I putting my money and energy into clothes that don't respect me back?'' she said. 'I have removed the majority of the fast fashion brands from my wardrobe due to this, the fact they don't ever last infuriates me, and over time I spend the same for less cost per wear thrifting.' Ms Langshaw isn't the only one rethinking how she's spending her money on clothes — and she wouldn't have started her business if she was. Her marketing background helped her notice a big shift in consumer habits, with Aussies being more 'conscious' about where they spent their money. 'I think there's this amazing shift happening. Fashion isn't just about the look anymore, it's about the story,' she said. 'Conscious shoppers are choosing meaning over mass production.' Ms Langshaw's been thrilled but unsurprised to see how shoppers have embraced her brand Audrey Atelier, where a blazer might cost $150 instead of $30 from a retail chain, but it is created to last. 'Even with tighter budgets, people want to feel good about what they're buying; they want pieces that last, feel considered, and come with a story,' she said. 'It's not about buying more, it's about buying better. Audrey Atelier connects with that craving for intention. 'It's a small, quiet revolution, and I'm so proud to be part of it. I have had overwhelming support from the community, with most of the buyers saying they want to support small, slower fashion.'
RNZ News
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
From fast-fashion to self-made advocate: designer Tara Viggo
Kiwi fashion designer Tara Viggo has returned home to Dunedin from a high-flying overseas career to champion slow fashion. Her big break in the industry in London saw her working for lists of major brands, but it was there she saw firsthand the tonnes of new, almost perfect clothes being thrown out. Disillusioned and bitter about the industry, Tara started making her own patterns with the intention to encourage more people to make their own wardrobe, and slow down their consumption. A jumpsuit pattern blew up online and her business Paper Theory has been selling patterns to a dedicated audience ever since. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Can Small Sustainable Fashion Brands Survive Trump 2.0?
Mara Hoffman is glad she got out when she did. 'I remember, the day after the election, being like, 'Oh my God, thank you that I don't have to sell a dress or a bikini today,'' the fashion designer said from her home in upstate New York, where she has been meditating on her next steps since the seismic closure of her eponymous brand nearly a year ago. Hoffman doesn't regret the decision, which many bemoaned as the beginning of the end for independent, sustainable fashion. Spending time with her family and her new puppy, a dachshund named Keanu, she's more reassured than ever that she did the right thing. More from Sourcing Journal Tariffs Tank China's US Exports, but Southeast Asia and India Cash In Deda Stealth CEO Explains Why Tariffs Made This Year the Right Time for U.S. Expansion Maersk Cuts 2025 Container Outlook: China Capacity 'Not Available Elsewhere' Hoffman still gets a lot of questions about why she ended something that was such a central part of her life for 24 years. The simple answer, she said, is that it was time for that iteration of herself to end. The more nuanced one is that she had grown out of some of the themes of that life, including what she calls the 'scarcity story.' 'The money—it was hard,' she said. 'It's hard for independent brands, and then to have to put the sustainability piece on top of all of this. You get to a point where you're like, 'Is this my theme song?' We don't have enough money. How am I going to do this? Should I take out a loan? Do we get investors? And I felt what that was doing to my system. And I was like, 'God, I've been singing this song for a long time. This can't be who I am.'' Hoffman's song has become a symphony. With their limited capital flows, challenges with customer acquisition and head-on collision with ultra-fast fashion competitors (and sometimes copycats), smaller, ethically focused brands were struggling long before Donald Trump entered the White House for the second time. Now, the market volatility wrought by the current administration, despite the 'America First' promise behind the so-called 'reciprocal' tariffs, threatens to do them in. That is true even of businesses that manufacture in the United States. 'It's interesting because 90 percent of our collections are made here in the U.S., and I don't think people realize that that we're also affected by the tariffs,' said Shobha Philips, founder of Proclaim, an 'earth conscious' Los Angeles-based intimates brand that uses a local cut-and-sew facility and textile mill. The problem, she said, is that the Tencel and spandex fibers that go into her bras, undies and slip dresses hail from abroad—Asia, specifically—which could result in a significant jump in her fabric costs if Trump's country-specific 'Liberation Day' duties push through in July, when the 90-day pause ends. Philips said it's difficult to prepare because she doesn't know what she has to prepare for. 'It's about time to restock right now, and I'm not pulling the trigger on it,' she said. 'Essentially, as a brand, I'm caught in a holding pattern where I'm just waiting to see what happens, and it's affecting our future planning. This isn't a time to innovate or invest in R&D. We're just trying to survive. We're not able to kind of grow and innovate in the way that I thought we were going to.' Hoffman was around for Trump 1.0's first round of Chinese tariffs. Some of her best partners were in China, she said, and the stigma that products from the country are either inferior in quality or otherwise lacking is a misguided one. The factories Mara Hoffman worked with cared about their 'waste systems, their dyes, their employees, all the parts to this,' she said. 'And I remember that hitting and being like, 'Oh, your price points are going up, and then you're competing with companies that are able to keep their prices lower because they're not making those commitments.'' Manufacturing in the United States, in the areas where expertise still exists, is also expensive. Is it possible to reshore? Hoffman asked. Yes, it is. Will it be most costly? Absolutely. Are customers willing to pony up? That's debatable. It's going to be a few years of upheaval for everybody, she added. 'People just don't want to pay for it,' said Marci Zaroff, founder and CEO of sustainable clothing and home lifestyle brands such as Yes And, Farm to Home and Seed to Style. At one point, she oversaw a 40,000-square-foot factory in Virginia that was the world's only producer of turnkey-finished Cradle to Cradle-certified garments. Plenty of big-box retailers came to visit. Few bit. 'A the end of the day, the consumer has been so trained on pricing that to all of a sudden double their prices is just not going to happen,' said Zaroff, who now contracts most of her production to Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, which are looking at 37 percent, 26 percent and 44 percent tariff rates, respectively, if deals aren't mustered in time. For now, the 10 percent 'universal' tariff is still O.K. 'I think a little creeping up of price based on the tariffs overseas is probably a little more manageable,' she said. 'But things are changing so fast. And I think the biggest challenge that we have as an industry is the uncertainty, because it makes it very hard to plan and to be strategic. Sustainability is still seen as a little more of a nice-to-have than a must-have as it relates to economic priorities.' On Jan. 6, Kristen Fanarakis, founder of the made-in-L.A. brand Senzo Tempo, sent an email she hadn't expected to. 'There's a saying in financial markets, where I spent my career prior to launching Senza Tempo, that you can't fight the Fed,' she wrote. 'It means you can't fight forces that are much bigger than you as an individual investor. No matter how great, planned, and executed your idea—the market is bigger than any individual investor. The same can be said for running a small business.' Fanarakis said she was tired of waiting for a breakthrough—or for customers. It was time to call it quits. She quoted Winston Churchill: 'Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.' 'I do think pricing is part of it,' she said. 'Everybody thinks that the $48 American Giant T-shirt is expensive. But I worked at Gap in high school. And if you adjust the $19.50 pocket tee that was made in the U.S. for inflation, that T-shirt would be $48 today.' Fanarakis said that the problem with Trump's tariffs is that they haven't been paired with specific incentives to boost American manufacturing. Elon Musk's Department of Government of Efficiency, in fact, has defunded some Manufacturing Extension Partnership centers, which provide support to small and mid-sized manufacturers in every state, on the basis that their work no longer aligns with government priorities. 'U.S.-based factories and brands will need government assistance in some form: tax credits, grants, etc., in order to spark a revival,' she said. 'We have all been operating at a distinct disadvantage, generally on shoestring budgets, simply trying to survive. The idea that a tariff alone could help turn the tide in U.S. manufacturing—especially for the small and medium-sized firms that dominate the apparel industry—is naive at best.' Another question is who is going to man these production lines that Trump sees humming away. Even the most automated state-of-the-art facilities will not be able to fully replace the human touch that garment production is reliant on. 'I just don't see, especially with immigration getting cracked down on too, the labor force being available for our industry at a minimum wage,' Zaroff said. 'Parents are trying to get their kids beyond just working in factories. And I think that's why a lot of manufacturing went offshore. For high-road businesses, it's almost impossible—not without changing the business model.' In December, Joshua Katcher closed Brave GentleMan, an ethical and vegan men's wear brand that he founded in 2010. He wasn't able to attract the interest of major retailers, which he said was humbling. But he also sees a larger problem with what consumers value. 'We're seeing an intersection of really difficult conditions where supply chain costs have gone way up, whether it's materials or labor, and we're seeing consumer behavior going the opposite, like going down,' he said. 'That's a really dangerous combination for brands that already pay a premium for sustainable, ethical, next-gen, circular, fair labor and wages. For brands that make that part of their bottom line, there isn't much wiggle room. There isn't much built in to withstand those kinds of disturbances or fluctuations.' Katcher was shocked when he heard about Mara Hoffman shuttering. So was everyone else he spoke with. 'It sent shock waves,' he said. 'And everybody was like, 'Wow, if she can't do it, then who can?' For a brand like ours, the department stores are in trouble. They're not buying from companies.' His current gig at the forestry nonprofit Canopy, which helps companies scale deforestation-free innovations, has been instructive, even though there isn't much overlap between sustainable viscose and the bovine leather alternatives that Brave GentleMan touted. 'I do see the larger conversation around circularity and sustainability and fashion in general as something that has needed serious analysis—economic analysis, supply chain analysis,' Katcher added. ' There's been a lot of misunderstanding from the investor side about what these companies need. I think that's something that's been overlooked—and a missed opportunity for a lot of the bigger companies—as we are seeing all of these smaller companies go under, and it's a shame to lose them.' Trump's policies could cause further shakeups, said Zaroff. With the closure of the de minimis exemption to goods from China, cost-sensitive consumers could turn more to the thrifting and swapping economy. Her advice to small sustainable brands: cut costs everywhere you can just to make it through. This is not the time to be aggressive. 'This is a time to be extremely conservative and anything that's a nice-to-have right now should just be put on hold,' she said. 'I think this is a time to find collaborations and partnerships, because one of the things I've always said is one plus one equals 11. We're collectively and exponentially stronger together than we are apart. So we need to figure out how we can leverage each other's strengths to keep things moving forward.' Hoffman also sees fashion as a collaborative effort, but one that requires greater buy-in to overhaul so brands aren't constantly at the whims of a broken system that is vulnerable to the slightest deviation from the status quo. 'I think it all sort of translates back to the disease we're in,' she said. 'We're suffering as a species. We can't be fed enough. The system was built from the very beginning on oppression, on this idea of growth and profit. And that's why I'm saying, in order to do this right, you have to build a whole new system.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Sun
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Watch moment Bake Off star Prue Leith's husband makes very racy comment on live TV as he shares rare insight into relationship
BAKE Off star Prue Leith left This Morning hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary in hysterics with a racy comment live on TV. The restaurateur, 85, appeared on the ITV show on Friday with her husband of nine years, John Playfair. 4 4 The conversation then turned to Prue's catwalk appearance during London Fashion Week last September. The TV star ditched her colourful outfits and statement glasses and opted for a black skintight leather dress with red stitching and long latex gloves. Prue was seen modelling the look for the designers Vin + Omi's 20th anniversary show. The chef and broadcaster added a pop of red lipstick, plenty of dark eye makeup and rocked a spiky hairdo. Joining the presenters on the sofa, Alison asked Prue's partner John what he thought of his wife wearing latex when she swapped the kitchen for the catwalk. Retired fashion designer John replied: "Well I wanted the costume to go in our dressing up box," which left Alison in howling with laughter. A stunned Alison said: "There's a dressing up box?!" Alison complimented her, saying: "Prue, you looked fabulous." Prue Leith's Bold Fashion Statement at London Fashion Week Prue revealed she met fashion designer Omi on a train and he later invited her to take part in the sustainable fashion show. Who is Prue Leith's husband John Playfair? Born in England, John Playfair is a retired English fashion designer. The pair met in 2011 when Prue was 76 and he was 70. Unlike his famous wife, John tends to live a quieter life away from the spotlight. Meanwhile, Prue is a celebrity cook who is best known for being a judge on The Great British Bake Off since 2017. When did they get married? The happy couple got married in Scotland in 2016. Speaking about her marriage, she told The Jonathan Ross Show: 'I had to get married in Scotland, because he refused to wear a kilt south of the border. "I was determined, if I was going to get married this guy had to be in a kilt. "So we went to Scotland where he was prepared to wear one. He won't wear one south of the border, he thinks it's naff. He's got a very good undercarriage." The married couple lived a unconventional life together at first, as they both decided to live separately after they wed. They waited until they bought their first house together in November 2020, before moving in together. Prue's reasoning behind this was the fact they could have their "personal space" and then come together to enjoy "quality time together". In an interview with The Telegraph, Prue expressed how happy she is with their decision to finally move in together, she says: "John calls our new home our 'retirement home'. "We have to face the fact that we're going to live together for the very first time. It just feels like the right time now." Do they have kids? Prue has two kids from her previous marriage to South African author Rayne Kruger. The pair were married for 28 years, from 1974 until his death in December 2002, aged 80. Rayne fell ill with emphysema, which caused a lung infection. The pair had a son named Daniel, who is now a Conservative MP, and also an adopted daughter Li-Da. It's unknown if John had any previous marriages or children before Prue. The couple have no children together. 4
