Everyone thinks that December is peak "fat pants" month. But I'm going to suggest that March could give December fat pants are run for their money.
In December you're still coasting on the last remains of summer energy: going for walks or riding your bike to work.
But then January.
And God, February!
The bike has been locked up for weeks. Summer energy is a distant memory.
And all that hibernation stuff that I talked about in the chat GPT episode, the slowed metabolism, the inward journey, the quiet season...it's really great for your mental wellbeing but it can take a toll on your waistline. By the end of March, the pinch of those pants, it is too much to bear. You need to let them out.
Enjoying the podcast? I am fiercely independent, and rely on listeners like you to help me stick around.
Can you share the episode on social media, or write a
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review in Apple podcasts?! I would be so grateful.
Everyone thinks that December is peak "fat pants" month. But I'm going to suggest that March could give December fat pants are run for their money.
In December you're still coasting on the last remains of summer energy: going for walks or riding your bike to work.
But then January.
And God, February!
The bike has been locked up for weeks. Summer energy is a distant memory.
And all that hibernation stuff that I talked about in the chat GPT episode, the slowed metabolism, the inward journey, the quiet season...it's really great for your mental wellbeing but it can take a toll on your waistline. By the end of March, the pinch of those pants, it is too much to bear. You need to let them out.
Enjoying the podcast? I am fiercely independent, and rely on listeners like you to help me stick around.
Can you share the episode on social media, or write a
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review in Apple podcasts?! I would be so grateful.
Pure Colour Baby With Lindsay Down
[00:00:00]
[00:00:00] Miranda Black: Everyone thinks that December is peak fat pants month, but I'm going to suggest that March could give December fat pants are run for their money. And why do I think that? Well, my name's Miranda Black. I'm the de-growth diva.
[00:00:15] Miranda Black: And for 13 years I ran a men's tailored clothing boutique in downtown Toronto, and every spring I would see a pretty significant uptick of men coming in with this kind of hangdog look on their face and a bag full of last season's pants. The reason they look so blue? Their pants were too tight.
[00:00:35] Miranda Black: In December you're still kind of coasting on the last remains of your summer energy. Maybe you're still going for walks or riding your bike to work. But then January. And God, February!
[00:00:46] Miranda Black: The bike has been locked up for weeks. The tennis racket or fill-in-the-blank summer sport is a distant memory. And all that hibernation stuff that I talked about in the Chat GPT episode: the slowed [00:01:00] metabolism, the inward journey, the quiet season... it's really great for your mental wellbeing! Check out the episode.
[00:01:08] Miranda Black: But it can take a toll on your waistline. And by the end of March, the pinch of those pants, it is too much to bear.
[00:01:16] Miranda Black: You need to let them out. This was a service I provided at my store because I had a tailor shop and people were grateful to use it because think of all the clothing that gets purged and donated that could have been saved if only it grew with us or shrank with us throughout the year. In case you're wondering, yes, we did frequently take those same pants in again in August or September when you tend to be at your slimmest.
[00:01:41] Miranda Black: So if you find that you fluctuate an inch or so throughout the year, I am here to reassure you, you are not alone. This is not a you thing.
[00:01:51] Miranda Black: This is an us thing. A huge, collective us. The ones of us who live in hibernate-y climates.
[00:01:59] Miranda Black: [00:02:00] I'd love to know if the cycle is true and hot climates that don't have snow. Can you email me and let me know if you have weight fluctuations in the Caribbean?!
[00:02:07] Miranda Black: Anyway, wouldn't it be great if there was something built into the design of clothing that forgave that quiet inch.
[00:02:16] Miranda Black: Well, I found something it's not for adults, it's for kids, but the success of this company means people are interested in clothing that adapts to changing bodies. Kids are actually the perfect test group for this new model because they grow so darn fast.
[00:02:32] Miranda Black: Lindsay Down had always been a sewer, but she realized that with a fast growing baby, She would be making or buying new pants every couple of months.
[00:02:43] Miranda Black: Could she design a pair of pants that grew with her child? Could she design this element into kids' clothing up to age eight?
[00:02:52] Miranda Black: And if she did, how many fewer size ranges would that mean she'd have to make or buy hmmm, carry the one. [00:03:00] K one. Let's see.
[00:03:01] Miranda Black: Well, a parent has to buy 13 size ranges for the average child, zero to five years old. Yup. 13 times, 13 times in five years, you go into your kid's closet, take everything out and then replace it with a bunch of new stuff that's just an inch or two bigger.
[00:03:19] Miranda Black: Well, Lindsey's revolutionary design meant the pants she was creating for her kids lasted three times longer than what's on the market.
[00:03:28] Miranda Black: It meant less sewing, fewer textiles, fewer emergency: uh, my kid just grew out of these clothes I bought them last week! Purchases.
[00:03:37] Miranda Black: And way less closet clearing. As you can imagine, everyone in Lindsay's parent groups wanted a pair. So who is Lindsay Down and what is Pure Colour Baby?
[00:03:55] Lindsay Down: Hi.
[00:03:56] Miranda Black: Hi, . Nice to meet you.
[00:03:58] Miranda Black: Nice to meet you as [00:04:00] well.
[00:04:00] Miranda Black: We were a little behind time because we found a bumblebee in our house this morning. Oh no. On the floor crawling around.
[00:04:08] Lindsay Down: Oh my gosh, really?
[00:04:08] Miranda Black: And of course it was drama, right? Like the dog, everybody I'm trying to feed it maple syrup. And I'm just like, This is not what I was expecting today. how amazing is that to find a bumblebee?
[00:04:20] Miranda Black: I don't know if it's the sign of the apocalypse or, yeah,
[00:04:23] Lindsay Down: Okay.
[00:04:24] Miranda Black: What is this place? ?
[00:04:25] Lindsay Down: So Pure Color Baby is a small batch children's clothing company. We have a small retail shop in the front of our studio space where we make all the clothes.
[00:04:34] Miranda Black: You have a special way that you design the clothing.
[00:04:38] Miranda Black: Yeah.
[00:04:38] Miranda Black: That's what initially attracted me to your story. Can you tell me what makes your clothing different from like Joe
[00:04:45] Lindsay Down: stale?
[00:04:46] Lindsay Down: We design everything with what we call a grow with me philosophy.
[00:04:51] Lindsay Down: So every single piece that we manufacture is designed to last and fit about three times longer than a regular piece [00:05:00] of clothing. So, instead of buying six to nine months, nine to 12 , 12 to 18 months, you can buy one garment in six through 18 months.
[00:05:07] Lindsay Down: And through the adjustable features, It's much more practical, much more sustainable. , and yet they're also super comfortable
[00:05:14] Miranda Black: Yeah. And gorgeous too. I'm gonna get, thank you, the designs, in a second. But, when I first had a baby, I was shocked at how fast they grow
[00:05:23] Miranda Black: you get those little teeny things and you think, oh, I'm gonna have this for so long, and it's like, boop, a blink of an eye and it's over.
[00:05:30] Miranda Black: Yes.
[00:05:30] Miranda Black: and I wondered at that time, is there anything that has a, you call it a grow with me philosophy?
[00:05:38] Miranda Black: Yeah.
[00:05:38] Miranda Black: And clearly I didn't look hard enough I saw stuff in Europe, but it was expensive to ship over.
[00:05:45] Miranda Black: Mm-hmm. . Yes. Where did you get your, Were you always a kids' clothing designer?
[00:05:49] Lindsay Down: No. I went through sort of a little bit of a windy career path.
[00:05:54] Lindsay Down: So I've always had my hand in things like photography, graphic design renovation and [00:06:00] construction, but as a bit of a creative outlet, I've always been sewing. And, when I had my son, he was a big baby and I found that the clothes that we'd purchased in the stores just did not fit properly. They didn't fit over his cloth diapers, and he grew very, very quickly. So I thought, well, I can sew. I've been making baby accessories. I can make clothes that fit him better. It started there as a personal project, to develop a pattern that fit better for him and for my niece who, was always really just finding her clothes uncomfortable.
[00:06:29] Lindsay Down: She had really chubby thighs as a baby.
[00:06:32] Miranda Black: Are cloth diapers bigger than?
[00:06:34] Miranda Black: they're much bigger, yes.
[00:06:35] Miranda Black: Oh,
[00:06:35] Lindsay Down: really?
[00:06:36] Lindsay Down: Yeah. When I developed the pants, other moms started asking me, like in the mom group that I was part of. So I ended up making them and adding them to my business.
[00:06:45] Lindsay Down: And then I did a lot of test fitting with other moms that had babies that were cloth diapered, especially to make sure that they would fit over the fluffy bums as people call them,
[00:06:54] Lindsay Down: Uhhuh ,
[00:06:55] Lindsay Down: um, because it was a huge problem for people. And they were having to size up like three or four sizes too [00:07:00] big for their baby in order to get the
[00:07:02] Miranda Black: pants to fit over the diaper.
[00:07:03] Miranda Black: Yeah. And then you get long legs and that doesn't work.
[00:07:06] Lindsay Down: Yeah. It doesn't work. And it causes issues when the child, like, when they're trying to learn to walk and crawl, cause the pant legs are like causing them to trip and, Aw. So, yeah, it started with the pants. , and then I sort of got obsessed with doing clothes and really never looked back.
[00:07:23] Miranda Black: So , you were in kind of a traditional job. You were an employee of other people.
[00:07:29] Miranda Black: Yes.
[00:07:29] Miranda Black: And then you made the decision to become an employer.
[00:07:33] Miranda Black: Yes, .
[00:07:34] Lindsay Down: I started this and just did it as a side hustle for a while. I never intended at the beginning for it to become my career. there was a couple of times where I thought, oh, like maybe I don't wanna go back to that job after maternity leave. But my business wasn't big enough to support our family at that time, and I thought it was a dream it wasn't going to be possible. So I'd go back to my job and then my career was going well. But I was always more of a small business person. I didn't really enjoy working really corporate jobs.[00:08:00] I, I liked my jobs, but I didn't like the structure, so I always kept thinking, oh, like if I could run a business or work for a small business again, I'd be a little happier.
[00:08:09] Miranda Black: What do you mean by the structure?
[00:08:10] Lindsay Down: All the red tape, all the different layers of management. And I found being in interior design, it doesn't really fit into this nice little box they like jobs to fit into when you're part of a larger corporation.
[00:08:22] Lindsay Down: so Because we were part of this, structure that we had to fit within and there wasn't as much respect for what I did for a job. Mm-hmm. As I would hope there was.
[00:08:32] Lindsay Down: So I never really felt fully appreciated, you know?
[00:08:34] Lindsay Down: Mm-hmm.
[00:08:35] Lindsay Down: had wonderful clients, and that's what I loved about it. but , it's difficult to do a job when you're working really, really hard and it's for someone else and you're not sure that they are really seeing what you're doing and the value.
[00:08:48] Lindsay Down: Mm-hmm. .
[00:08:48] Lindsay Down: and this business was going well and slowly growing and I had been thinking about getting a studio the following year.
[00:08:55] Lindsay Down: I was going to go full-time, run it from home, So one day I was driving [00:09:00] home from work and I drove past the plaza where I'm currently sitting, and there was a for lease sign in the window of a little shop, and I thought, oh, and then I was homesick the next week. And just on, a whim, I contacted the leasing agent and I went and saw the. And then I told my husband,, I think I'm gonna leave my job and open up a shop.
[00:09:19] Lindsay Down: And,
[00:09:19] Miranda Black: wow. So like a real, it was like a real lightning bolt moment for you. Yes. Like arriving past and you're like,
[00:09:26] Lindsay Down: exactly. Not gonna take it anymore. It, my house, I, and I had a, a dinner in January with my two employees. And I'd said to them, you know, I think by the end of this year, , I'm going to try.
[00:09:36] Lindsay Down: Full-time. Maybe we'll get a studio next year, you know? And then literally four weeks later, I was negotiating a lease. It was a bit crazy. My one employee had broken her wrist, so she couldn't work. Oh no, she couldn't sew, she couldn't iron, she couldn't do anything until it healed.
[00:09:51] Lindsay Down: So it was really crazy. But I negotiated the lease and got the keys, opened a store the beginning of May and opened June 1st. So
[00:09:59] Miranda Black: of [00:10:00] what year was that?
[00:10:01] Lindsay Down: Uh, 2019.
[00:10:02] Miranda Black: Dun, dun, dun.
[00:10:04] Lindsay Down: Yeah. So we were open nine months, and then I had to shut it down for Covid. So, it's been,
[00:10:09] Miranda Black: oh my, my God.
[00:10:10] Lindsay Down: It's been a whirlwind.
[00:10:12] Lindsay Down: luckily people are still having babies.
[00:10:14] Lindsay Down: Yes, which is so true.
[00:10:16] Lindsay Down: But yeah, it's been a weird few years,
[00:10:18] Miranda Black: yeah.
[00:10:19] Miranda Black: How, how does, how does your store help with the de-growth movement?
[00:10:24] Miranda Black: And just for anybody who doesn't know,it's just a philosophy of using less.
[00:10:30] Lindsay Down: we kind of implement that into everything we do and I always have. We only use sustainable fabrics from suppliers that I trust.
[00:10:38] Lindsay Down: Most of them are GOTS certified
[00:10:40] Miranda Black: I'm just going to pop in here for a second to explain the terms Lindsay's using. So GOTS certified means the global organic textile standard don't fall asleep. It's like the stamp of approval that organic food gets when it's truly organic. You can't just say this apples, organic, you have to get [00:11:00] certification that you used organic materials on your apple farm for fertilizer and getting rid of bugs.
[00:11:06] Miranda Black: You didn't use pesticides. When you find the gots label in your clothing, that piece has to have a minimum of 70 to 95% organic fibers, but the standard, it doesn't stop at the content gods also sets requirements for the working conditions of the factories based on stuff like the United nations human rights standards. So, you know, that piece had no forced labor, no child labor, and there's a bunch of other minimum requirements that they have to meet on.
[00:11:37] Miranda Black: On top of whether it's organic or not. And it really, it should be the standard for all textiles. I mean, Maybe not the organic part, but at least the human rights part. Like, can we just make that a global standard? And check this out. I was looking at their website to make sure I got the wording correct for this. And they've made this set of exceptional rules for textile makers in Turkey [00:12:00] after the
[00:12:00] Miranda Black: devastating earthquake there in February. Stuff like giving extensions to factories that need to get their gods recertified. You don't just get certified and then that's it. You have to keep up with your standards and send evidence. They're providing virtual audits. If the auditors are unable to physically get to the factory.
[00:12:19] Miranda Black: It was a reminder of just how much textiles come out of Turkey and how vital Turkey is to the textile industry. And just to maybe. Give your Turkish made clothing a little love today. Lots of genes textiles come from Turkey. Even if something is made in a different country, the chances are that some part of your clothing you're wearing right now passed through Turkey at one point.
[00:12:44] Miranda Black: The human component of our clothing is what drives me to write this podcast. To remember the people behind your clothing.
[00:12:51] Miranda Black: Anyway. Back to the show.
[00:12:52] Lindsay Down: so there's no harmful chemicals there's nothing nasty in there because these are going on baby skin, which is super important.my [00:13:00] son had eczema. . he can't wear synthetics.
[00:13:02] Lindsay Down: Mm-hmm. Otherwise his skin would just break out. , So using sustainable fabrics,
[00:13:07] Lindsay Down: and
[00:13:07] Lindsay Down: very low waste production techniques. So we reuse, almost all of our scraps. Because how do you users in-house. We use our scraps in so many ways. we make little accessories, things like teethers, washcloths, and then any pieces that are too small for us to reuse we've made doggy beds, so we'll stuff like a giant bag that we sew full of tiny scraps of fabric, and we donate it to the local humane. Oh
[00:13:31] Miranda Black: my God, I
[00:13:32] Lindsay Down: love that. Love it. So it's great. So it's durable. It's, comfortable for them to lay on and it's a great way to use the scraps as stuffing.
[00:13:39] Lindsay Down: And so we've also made things like little, foot stools with the poof, stuffed, with fabric scraps. Oh yeah. And then I also bring them over to the. When they're doing, crafting or there's a fashion class at my daughter's high school and they use up some of the smaller pieces as well for projects.
[00:13:55] Miranda Black: Those are some great ideas.
[00:13:57] Lindsay Down: Wow. It's hard to keep on top of it all, but we [00:14:00] have very little to start with, because we cut our own pieces in house and we can be creative in how we use our fabric yardage.
[00:14:07] Lindsay Down: Mm-hmm. ,
[00:14:07] Lindsay Down: so that also helps cut down on the waste significantly. Right.
[00:14:10] Miranda Black: And then our, those are designed, yeah.
[00:14:12] Miranda Black: Oh. Go on,
[00:14:13] Lindsay Down: go on. . Our clothes are designed to fit for so long, so, customers can buy less. 10 to 13 sizes,, is what you would normally have to purchase from newborn through about five years, which,
[00:14:24] Lindsay Down: oh, really,
[00:14:24] Lindsay Down: if you think about it, is, is a crazy amount of clothing, right? If you think about each season, , of the child growing through, you're buying 10 to 13 sizes as they grow.
[00:14:34] Lindsay Down: in our collection, we only have four sizes between newborn and five, so Wow. It's crazy. The difference. Yeah. And how many fewer garments you need to get through those stages,
[00:14:44] Miranda Black: Yeah. And also all the work involved as a parent, like going through,
[00:14:48] Miranda Black: Clearing giving away mm-hmm. and trying to figure out a place to put so much clothing in those years. Yes.
[00:14:56] Lindsay Down: It, it takes time. You don't have .
[00:14:59] Miranda Black: Yeah. You're [00:15:00] so overwhelmed with everything. Anyway, I'd be like, oh my God, I gotta do this again.
[00:15:03] Miranda Black: I feel like I just did it. Yes.
[00:15:05] Lindsay Down: And the worst part is like you're trying to dress a fussy baby and you pull something out of the drawer and it's too small and you're like, You, you fit in these last week. Like, oh my God. yeah. Where are parents that fit you? We have to leave in five minutes, right?
[00:15:17] Lindsay Down: Yeah. It's nothing
[00:15:18] Miranda Black: more frustrating. it's a de-growth of a parent's time or regrowth of parent's time, as well as, a de-growth of the amount of inventory that you have. I think of my cl the clothing in my house as
[00:15:30] Lindsay Down: inventory. It's true though. Yeah.
[00:15:32] Miranda Black: and I would like less inventory all the time.
[00:15:35] Miranda Black: Yeah.
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One of the things that I love on the major look website is being able to ask real time questions to actual staff working the floor of the website. Just like you're walking into a real store. You can ask anything like how heavy is that bracelet? Will that ring fit? My fiance's finger? What gems go best with pink hair? Hint. Hint made you look jewelry for all the Jenny's and Johnny's from the block who love feeling good about their rocks.
[00:16:27] Miranda Black: I was wondering if you've thought about this or not. How would. How does a sustainable, you're like small batch clothing. do you have any ideas of how to scale up a business and keep it sustainable. Do you have thoughts about scaling up
[00:16:44] Miranda Black: how do we grow with de-growth?
[00:16:48] Lindsay Down: I think that in my mind, growing a little bit more slowly and definitely more thoughtfully, thinking about each step say customers are requesting a new product or if I'm feeling creative and I [00:17:00] really wanna develop a new product, I think about what would it take for us to develop that?
[00:17:04] Lindsay Down: Is it going to take more resources, more time? is it helping add to their wardrobe and add to the joy of dressing their baby? Or is it just creating, you know, new packaging we'd have to develop or we have to get new shipping materials.
[00:17:16] Lindsay Down: So I'm always. Thinking about those things in terms of sustainability, in terms of cost as a small business, , and trying to make sure that what we do makes sense. So while I, I have a lot of ideas and I always want to create new things. I have to step back and go, no, we're trying to do things mindfully.
[00:17:34] Lindsay Down: We're trying not to create extra waste, and we're trying to be super practical about what we do produce so that we're not contributing to. Of problem that is the current fashion industry. Yeah. It's, it's hard though. It's hard to, sometimes I think, why am I doing this? Why am I creating more product, right?
[00:17:48] Lindsay Down: Mm-hmm. . But our product has so much value and can decrease so much waste so that our customers are buying so many less pieces. And then they maybe supplement the wardrobe with [00:18:00] pieces that are thrifted or that are hand me. , so they can still buy those special pieces, come in our shop and pick out something really cute for a baby shower gift or a birthday, that they can feel good about buying.
[00:18:10] Miranda Black: So, yeah. I'm definitely picky about, interviewing stores that produce new because I don't see a huge place for it anymore in the world. You know, like we have enough clothing on the planet to last us for. Exactly. Decade. Yeah. But I do see a need for baby's clothes because, their skin is so delicate.
[00:18:32] Miranda Black: Yeah. And also there is a, a desire as a parent mm-hmm. to buy something new because you have a newborn.
[00:18:39] Lindsay Down: Yes. So it's a special time. Right. Yeah. So you, that's part of, nesting, it's part of being pregnant and getting excited for your child to arrive and, that is really exciting.
[00:18:53] Lindsay Down: Yes, it's great when people have hand me downs, but often new parents don't know what they need. And I love being able to find , a mom [00:19:00] that comes in, say when they're pregnant and they have not tried grow with me clothing yet. And I say, okay, if you're not ready to, dive into this world yet, here's our website.
[00:19:09] Lindsay Down: You can learn a little bit more about it. This is how the clothes work. And I can sort of show them on a mannequin, the adjustable features. And then usually, someone will gift something to them, even if they haven't purchased it themselves, and then they come back and they're like, oh my gosh, this is amazing.
[00:19:23] Lindsay Down: I couldn't unders. Stand it until I had the baby. Yeah. Um, but it means so much to them and then they can start purchasing at the early end of the size range so they get the maximum usage out of the clothes. Mm-hmm. . And now that I've been in business this long, I have customers who will send me messages they'll send me pictures too, which is amazing.
[00:19:40] Lindsay Down: Mm-hmm. , um, of some of the pieces that are 5, 6, 7 years old and they're still being worn and used. So they've passed it on to, their younger children as they've had more babies. Mm-hmm. . And then they've passed it on to their sister or their brother-in-law and they've used it for their kids.
[00:19:55] Lindsay Down: So our pieces have gone through sometimes three or four kids and they're still in good [00:20:00] shape, which I love hearing. And that's what keeps me going and makes me, think, okay, this, there is a place for this. Right. So.
[00:20:06] Miranda Black: Yeah, for sure. And it seems, I mean I obviously, I haven't felt the the fabric yet, but what I've seen on the website, it just looks like stuff that's time.
[00:20:15] Miranda Black: Yes, and, and well-made stuff lasts so long. People underestimate how long cotton a pair, a pair of cotton pants. They do. lasts. Yes, they do. For sure. Can be here for 50 years easily. Yeah.
[00:20:30] Lindsay Down: I know. My husband was joking one day. He is, well, these jeans, I guess I should buy a new pair these are over 10 years old.
[00:20:36] Lindsay Down: And I said, so And they looked at you? Yeah. Yep. Okay, great. I'm like, they're, unless they're worn out. Just because they're old doesn't mean that there's something wrong with them. Right? Yeah. But it's not his natural kind of mindset to think that way. and even with my dad, you know, my kids were saying, well, grandpa's been wearing the same outfits, since we've known him.
[00:20:56] Lindsay Down: Right? ? And I said, well, grandpa's not going to throw something [00:21:00] away just because it's a little bit older or maybe a little bit out of style because he still finds it comfortable and he's still wearing it because it's still a good, and grandpa's not growing and grandpa's not growing like the kids are, right?
[00:21:11] Lindsay Down: Yeah. And . I have a 16 year old whofor years she's been helping out with my business and I've been trying to instill the values in her that, you know, don't shop fast fashion, you don't need all of these things.
[00:21:22] Lindsay Down: And she's currently still in that phase. Mm. , Which is difficult, but yeah. I'm sure you know, most of us had that phase when we were in high school. School Absolutely. Or college. so that's where she is right now. And she does know how to make her own clothes. So I've given her those skills and she does go to the thrift store a lot and buy really cute things there.
[00:21:40] Miranda Black: Well, that's, that's good. Yeah. Which is
[00:21:41] Lindsay Down: great. at different stages there's different, evolution of how we think about the things we're purchasing and what we're wearing,
[00:21:47] Miranda Black: , it's sort of like healthy eating. As a parent you do what you do. Yes. And then when they're teenagers, they're gonna eat the Fritos and the Ding Dongs.
[00:21:56] Miranda Black: Yes. with all
[00:21:58] Lindsay Down: that stuff.
[00:21:59] Miranda Black: then it'll [00:22:00] swing back, right? Like , you have that foundation, so
[00:22:03] Miranda Black: she'll likely swing back into sustainability. Yeah, because it's really big for teens. Too. It is, yeah. The sustainability movement.
[00:22:11] Miranda Black: as a business owner,
[00:22:13] Miranda Black: what was the superpower that gave you the strength to make the leap to do your own thing?
[00:22:20] Lindsay Down: Uh, so I think that it was really difficult for me to make the jump from a good career, , that paid well, But I think because I had done my business for so many years, part-time, I really understood what I was doing.
[00:22:34] Lindsay Down: I mean, there's still never any training to be, an entrepreneur , but, I realized that if I didn't jump in and do my business full-time and give it a try, that I would probably regret it. Mm-hmm. So while I'm not a huge risk taker, I, had enough of, a desire to try it and see if I could do it. and I never thought I was, I don't really have entrepreneurs in the family, but I never really thought, That [00:23:00] it was that difficult to do. Like I thought of it as something I could possibly try in the future. So yeah, I, I sort of just jumped in and I was a little bit brave and a little bit bold, and it was really, really difficult. you'll see a lot of people give advice on, oh, you know, save up six months of expenses and do all of these steps and that just was never gonna happen for me.
[00:23:18] Miranda Black: No. So it never happened for me when I had my own, my store, I never had six months.
[00:23:24] Lindsay Down: I had to just do it. So you hear all these things and so yeah, then I delayed and I delayed.
[00:23:28] Lindsay Down: And I thought, no, you know what? I have to do this before I change my mind and get stuck in a job that I'm there for, you know, the rest of my career, unhappy, right? Mm-hmm. . So I'm really glad that I made the jump. I mean, I still miss my old job occasionally,
[00:23:43] Miranda Black: but, um, what do you miss? What do you miss
[00:23:46] Lindsay Down: about it?
[00:23:46] Lindsay Down: I miss a little bit, like more of the design work and I do miss having, coworkers to bounce ideas off of.
[00:23:52] Lindsay Down: Oh yeah, me, me too. That part I miss. I don't love working alone, all the time and I'm not, but currently one employee is on vacation, so it's pretty [00:24:00] quiet around here and I'm finding that I'm missing her and I'm listening to more podcasts and, you know, , while it's quiet in the studio while I'm working.
[00:24:08] Lindsay Down: But I'm really glad to chat with other entrepreneurs who are trying to make the jump into full-time I'm always happy to talk through ideas with them because I feel like we all need to come together as a community and help each other grow and collaborate.
[00:24:21] Lindsay Down: So I, I love the community of makers and small businesses that I've met over the years like those people are my people. Right.
[00:24:27] Miranda Black: So. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have a way to get together as a group? Is there a group of couple sustainable entrepreneurs that
[00:24:35] Lindsay Down: I can join.
[00:24:36] Lindsay Down: So I am, I'm talking to someone in Ottawa that's putting together a little like online group. But every year when we go to the one of a kind show, It's like a big get together for all of the makers.
[00:24:46] Lindsay Down: And it's people that I see every year when we go. they're your friends that you meet at the show and we talk business, we talk, creativity, and it's almost like no time has passed when we all get there. So, yeah. It's, it's amazing.
[00:24:59] Lindsay Down: And last [00:25:00] November I was able to introduce, my friend who's the illustrator who does our fabric designs.
[00:25:04] Miranda Black: Oh yeah. I wanted to ask about
[00:25:06] Lindsay Down: her. Yeah. Wow. So she's amazing. Her business is called Found and Lost Art. I've been wanting to collaborate with her for years. So now she works with us on designing our custom fabrics
[00:25:16] Lindsay Down: Does
[00:25:16] Miranda Black: she print your fabric?
[00:25:18] Lindsay Down: No, she does not print our fabric. She does the illustrations and then, we have it sent away to be printed, on the organic cotton fabric, so Oh, wow.
[00:25:27] Lindsay Down: It's a lot of a process. . Yeah, it's a lot of work.
[00:25:30] Miranda Black: Where do you get the fabric printed? Is it here in Canada or do you
[00:25:33] Lindsay Down: have to ship it overseas? So we had to get it done in Europe previously. Oh gosh, gosh. But I'm really, really excited because, well, Europe had the best, best quality, and they were the only ones that could produce things that were going to have the longevity we needed and have the GOT certifications that were produced sustainably and without any toxic inks or dyes. but I have just found, , about a month ago, an amazing business in the US that prints on, [00:26:00] American grown and milled cotton. It's all organic and I'm testing their swatches now. Oh, wow. But I'm, I'm super excited because they're not very far away and they're a small family owned business.
[00:26:11] Lindsay Down: And they brought in all the digital printing machines and they produce in smaller batches. So I'm thrilled. I've been searching for .
[00:26:19] Miranda Black: Yeah, that's a game changer
[00:26:20] Lindsay Down: for someone to print in North America for a long time, and I could not find the quality. Almost every company in Canada prints overseas in China.
[00:26:28] Lindsay Down: So, um, I wasn't willing to do that. It's just not part of our business model, so it doesn't work for us.
[00:26:34] Miranda Black: Our prints are, are really popular because there's so much work put into them, they're very special to us, right? Mm-hmm. , so like our kids help with the design elements in the prints and give us ideas for them. You know, I have a little girl coming in and saying she loves ferries and we heard that a few times. We produced a fairy print. It's really fun to be able to do that.
[00:26:53] Lindsay Down: But we do have a basics collection of solids, so that we can mix and match. So because we custom design our [00:27:00] prints, we design those with the colors of our solid fabrics so that everything is really wardrobe friendly and able to be mixed and matched with the different colors.
[00:27:08] Miranda Black: if they love the dragon pants, the dragon pants match with three or four of our different tops. the Grow With Me idea it's actually really good for adults as well, to be honest. Oh, definitely. Yeah. At my menswear store. The men were always like people think that men are just happy with their bodies but they have just as many body image, issues as women I find.
[00:27:30] Miranda Black: And they were like, oh, I just wish these pants would grow with me, like grow out in the winter. So true. And yep. And I was like, you know, if there was a technology out there to make a suit that. Grow with Yeah. People. It, it would just save so much resources, but also the time of going to get all your pants altered and then you gotta Exactly.
[00:27:50] Miranda Black: Take, bring them back to get them taken in in the spring. Mm-hmm. , uh, I think the grow with me clothing I wish that it were more
[00:27:57] Lindsay Down: mainstream. Yes, I [00:28:00] agree. There is a brand in the US and she doesn't call it Grow with Me, but there's a brand in the US and it's called, Sotela, run by a woman named Hannah.
[00:28:07] Lindsay Down: her concept is that she creates designs that will sort of grow with you as your body changes throughout, you know, periods of your life, whether it's postpartum or whether you gain a bit more weight in certain seasons, or your weight fluctuates with your hormone levels, things like that.
[00:28:24] Lindsay Down: Mm-hmm. So her concept was to create garments that will not accentuate that or, will, will make wearing them still comfortable in those different phases so that you're not always having to buy different sizes. it's really, really interesting. She does beautiful pieces in linen and.
[00:28:39] Lindsay Down: Her work is really, really well done and all manufactured in-house. but yeah, she did that concept for women and I think she has a few gender neutral pieces, it's really interesting how she approaches it to see it. Yeah. From an adult, adult
[00:28:50] Miranda Black: perspective. Yeah. I mean how many things do you give away?
[00:28:54] Miranda Black: Yes. that it's just an inch off. an inch is huge. Exactly. In [00:29:00] clothing and, I hope that's on the horizon. . Okay.
[00:29:03] Miranda Black: I think, I've taken enough of your time, . Is there anything I've missed about what this place is
[00:29:10] Lindsay Down: I just love that we're able to bring something new and different, that doesn't already exist.
[00:29:15] Lindsay Down: I love seeing like grandmas come in and show me pictures of their grandbabies wearing our outfits. it gives me, the energy to sort of keep going even when it is really difficult.
[00:29:23] Lindsay Down: So, yeah.
[00:29:24] Miranda Black: I appreciate that. how hard business is these days
[00:29:27] Lindsay Down: for small business. Yeah. I'm glad we're still here, . Yeah. So we're same. I'm hanging on. Stubborn.
[00:29:32] Lindsay Down: I have some spring designs that will be released. At the end of next month.
[00:29:35] Miranda Black: Okay, well I'm gonna look out for that. Thank you so much, Lindsay.
[00:29:38] Lindsay Down: . Thanks, Miranda.
[00:29:39] Miranda Black: All right. Take care. Bye. Okay, bye.
[00:29:41] Miranda Black: Lindsay down shows the success you can get from starting with a small idea for just a couple of clients, her son and niece at first for free, and then taking that idea to more and more people growing slowly. With intention, she was ready for that for lease sign. When it presented itself to her, she really [00:30:00] reminds me of that saying that luck is just opportunity meeting preparation.
[00:30:05] Miranda Black: Next week. I talked to Caitlyn Martella who had never really considered thrifted or pre loved clothing before she had her children. And now not only does she shop pre loved, she has a pre left clothing business that is booming. But prior to that, well, here's a sneak peek.
[00:30:24] Caitlin Martella: it really took me probably making 3, 4, 5 purchases from some of those stores to realize that I was actually getting, in many cases, better quality than what I would get from some of the big box stores that ship to your door in a couple of days. ,
[00:30:40] Caitlin Martella: So yeah, I definitely wasn't a secondhand shopper before for my kids, but I would say now it's, 95% of their wardrobe is, is secondhand. And then It's funny, I also was never,
[00:30:51] Caitlin Martella: a secondhand shopper for myself, you know, if I see something I like secondhand, on a third party sort of site or through,
[00:30:58] Caitlin Martella: a thrift store, then I will [00:31:00] absolutely buy it for myself, whereas I
[00:31:01] Caitlin Martella: probably wouldn't have considered it.
[00:31:03] Caitlin Martella: Four or five years ago.
[00:31:04] Miranda Black: I was really keen on interviewing Kaitlyn because I frequently talked to people who've shopped pre love forever since they were teens. And I think there's a lot that can be learned from people making the transition to sustainable clothing a little later in life.
[00:31:16] Miranda Black: For more de-growth and sustainable fashion advice. You can follow me on Instagram at what's this place podcast. And give me a review on apple podcasts. Wherever you listen to this program, I will see you next time.