Our Nique Clothing Partnership & The Importance of Collaborating in Business

Our very first year of business was a year of experimentation with upcycling. The number of alterations or modifications that can be done to repurpose a garment is so vast. Think about painting, embroidering, distressing fabric, dyeing, or any alteration like shortening, cutting out and the list goes on and on. We didn't have consistency, as well as a clear brand identity. Then, in September last year, we thought let's just work with buttoned-up shirts and elastics and explore the relationship. The reason why we choose them was the large availability of deadstock, their simple cut and the low number of variants (they don't vary much in cut or shape, just in terms of fabrics and colors). They are just like a white canvas, you can do so much with them. Upcycling is not as easy as cutting a pattern and sewing up the pieces. It takes a lot of trials and errors, so each style needs multiple fittings and modifications before you get to perfection or to what you envisioned. Sizing is also challenging when upcycling a garment. But after some time we came up with a small number of styles, The Re Shirt Collection! Delicate, because of the lightweight cotton, but feminine and daring, because of the cutouts and the elastics.

 

At the time we were just looking for feedback on the collection on Facebook groups (and if you are a woman in business I strongly recommend joining this one: Likeminded Bitches Drinking Wine https://www.facebook.com/groups/LMBDW/). We often make the mistake of undervaluing our work and you just keep seeing it so many times that you can't look at it from a fresh perspective. Nique commented on one of our Facebook posts and got in contact with us. We had been Nique fans for some time. We love their simplicity and the quality of their garments. Nique Clothing has been collaborating and supporting artists for some time, and they wanted to support us. Recycling week 2019 was coming so we partnered up and created the same Re Shirt collection with Nique stock! The collection was then made available for sale at their Fitzroy store and then at Melbourne Central as well as online ( https://www.nique.com.au/) It was our very first one, but it was a success. 

This experience made us reflect a lot about the importance of collaborations in the fashion industry.Let's be honest here, fashion is a really tough environment! It is competitive and you need a huge amount of money to make it happen or many connections in the industry. But not if you collaborate. When collaborating with other brands or artists you don't just exchange a product or service. You learn from each other, reach audiences that you can't reach alone and you also split the costs (which is very important when you don't have much capital as a start-up or independent designer)! It can also actually improve the quality of your work. I like to make this clearer with a parallel with music. Do you ever listen to a song and then a remix and you like the remix more? Sometimes we don't even get to listen to the original! Or we listen to the original and we think "WHAT IS THIS?". This means that different artists have been working on the same track. It was because of a different interpretation of the original artwork that the song became so famous! So, don't be afraid to collaborate in any of these ways: share your work and get honest and constructive feedback, create something different with other artists or let other people re-work what is yours. So we strongly recommend collaborations, always! It doesn't matter whether you are just starting out or you are an established business, there must be somebody out there that inspires you, or you look up to or simply has an aesthetic and vision/mission that really resonates with you, so reach out. Just go for it! We are always on the lookout for new artists, or brands to collaborate with. This is our way to do business at the moment!

 

We are still figuring out what is the purpose of our blog, so please send us an email if you appreciated this content or if you have suggestions for improvement! If you got to read this sentence it's a huge success for me, first of all, I hate writing, second I really suck at it. So GRAZIE!