Heidy Rehman feels like the odd woman out at times, she says. After a career in finance, as a stockbroker for nearly 15 years, she decided to quit her high-powered job and become a fashion entrepreneur.
But her startup, Rose & Willard, based in London, wants to do things differently: she does not want to pander to social media influencers with freebies, she wants the company to highlight women of all color, shapes, sizes, and religions in their marketing, she pays her interns, and wants to hire more moms. She’s not for convention. In fashion, one would assume that would not be a problem. After all, this is an industry that seems to attract the most creative types.
But Rehman says it’s not so. “Fashion certainly still caters to certain conventions.”
Her four-year-old, largely self-funded, startup specializes in clothing for the working women, handcrafted in southeast London. The British made label sells an assortment of smart tops, dresses, pants, and jackets that have a modern silhouette but harken an elegance of yesteryears. The designs came to Rehman after years of shopping and not finding the right mix of style and craftsmanship.
“What I found on the high street was either too frumpy, always focused on trends, or really expensive, she says.
To create high-quality products and work directly with seamstresses, Rehman is sticking to manufacturing in London, a radical move given rent and labor costs in the city. And in the process, she’s investing in women.
Two years ago, she interviewed a woman who had just completed a pattern cutting course; despite having worked for 15 years in office administration, she wanted a career change. She told Rehman, she was keen to work with her but there was one caveat — she had two children. So she needed flexible hours.
“To many employers that would seem a lot to ask, especially by someone who lacked experience. However, I liked her enthusiasm and attitude and decided to see if I could find a way to accommodate her needs. Together, we built her working week around her commitments,” Rehman says.
Looking back now, it was the right decision, she argues, and it’s taught her to invest in more moms.
“She’s the right person for the job, but also because she has fine-tuned a highly valuable skill – time management. I’ve found that working mothers operate to a strict timetable – they have to if they are to meet all the demands on their time. This makes them incredibly efficient and productive, and sets a positive example to other team members.”
Add to that loyalty. Women with families stay with a company that’s accommodating to their needs and that helps a company focus on completing tasks, rather than spending time and money on hiring, she adds.
The other aspect of fashion that frustrates Rehman is the excess and waste. Sitting in a coffee shop near King’s Cross station, Rehman points to the countless high street brands at our doorstep.
“There’s just so much stuff being produced every day. And when you think about the number of seasons involved, and the designs for each season, and the number of brands, it’s exhausting. Fashion is so excessive.”
Her brand takes a “less is more” approach, focusing on long-lasting, high-quality products. “I cannot compete with the high street brands. But I’m also not in the business of making what’s in right now. I want people to be wearing this for years, if not decades,” she says.
Given that the production process is in London, Rehman argues that her carbon footprint is significantly less: “We design, make patterns, cut, make samples, manufacture products and distribute from one site in London. That’s very different from a global supply chain.”
They take it further by also repurposing the waste materials, and thinking about how the patterns will fall on a yard of fabric to minimize cuttings.
Rehman doesn’t seem to shy away from any issue in building this mission-driven brand. She’s a confident female CEO and keen to highlight that most fashion brands are owned by large conglomerate companies, like Kering and LVMH, which have boards comprised mostly of women. “That’s a stark contrast when the vast majority of fashion consumers are women.”
And women of all types, she iterates. Last year, Rose & Willard ran a series of campaigns with one-word titles, such as Confidence. It was part of a larger series on Body Language. Rehman experimented with placing women of color, of various ethnicities and religious backgrounds, and sizes on her home page. She got a mixed response from visitors to the site; while some loved the honesty, others suggested that she stick to more conventional fashion models.
“I do this because this is what I’ve longed to see myself,” she says. “As a woman of color from a humble background, I want to open some doors.”
Coming from a working-class background, and having worked in the male-dominated finance industry for years at Citi, Rehman wants more women to rethink norms. “There really isn’t a norm. We put that label on it ourselves as a society. We can want fashion, finance to be whatever we want it to be.”
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Heidy Rehman feels like the odd woman out at times, she says. After a career in finance, as a stockbroker for nearly 15 years, she decided to quit her high-powered job and become a fashion entrepreneur.
But her startup, Rose & Willard, based in London, wants to do things differently: she does not want to pander to social media influencers with freebies, she wants the company to highlight women of all color, shapes, sizes, and religions in their marketing, she pays her interns, and wants to hire more moms. She’s not for convention. In fashion, one would assume that would not be a problem. After all, this is an industry that seems to attract the most creative types.
But Rehman says it’s not so. “Fashion certainly still caters to certain conventions.”
Her four-year-old, largely self-funded, startup specializes in clothing for the working women, handcrafted in southeast London. The British made label sells an assortment of smart tops, dresses, pants, and jackets that have a modern silhouette but harken an elegance of yesteryears. The designs came to Rehman after years of shopping and not finding the right mix of style and craftsmanship.
“What I found on the high street was either too frumpy, always focused on trends, or really expensive, she says.
To create high-quality products and work directly with seamstresses, Rehman is sticking to manufacturing in London, a radical move given rent and labor costs in the city. And in the process, she’s investing in women.
Two years ago, she interviewed a woman who had just completed a pattern cutting course; despite having worked for 15 years in office administration, she wanted a career change. She told Rehman, she was keen to work with her but there was one caveat — she had two children. So she needed flexible hours.
“To many employers that would seem a lot to ask, especially by someone who lacked experience. However, I liked her enthusiasm and attitude and decided to see if I could find a way to accommodate her needs. Together, we built her working week around her commitments,” Rehman says.
Looking back now, it was the right decision, she argues, and it’s taught her to invest in more moms.
“She’s the right person for the job, but also because she has fine-tuned a highly valuable skill – time management. I’ve found that working mothers operate to a strict timetable – they have to if they are to meet all the demands on their time. This makes them incredibly efficient and productive, and sets a positive example to other team members.”
Add to that loyalty. Women with families stay with a company that’s accommodating to their needs and that helps a company focus on completing tasks, rather than spending time and money on hiring, she adds.
The other aspect of fashion that frustrates Rehman is the excess and waste. Sitting in a coffee shop near King’s Cross station, Rehman points to the countless high street brands at our doorstep.
“There’s just so much stuff being produced every day. And when you think about the number of seasons involved, and the designs for each season, and the number of brands, it’s exhausting. Fashion is so excessive.”
Her brand takes a “less is more” approach, focusing on long-lasting, high-quality products. “I cannot compete with the high street brands. But I’m also not in the business of making what’s in right now. I want people to be wearing this for years, if not decades,” she says.
Given that the production process is in London, Rehman argues that her carbon footprint is significantly less: “We design, make patterns, cut, make samples, manufacture products and distribute from one site in London. That’s very different from a global supply chain.”
They take it further by also repurposing the waste materials, and thinking about how the patterns will fall on a yard of fabric to minimize cuttings.
Rehman doesn’t seem to shy away from any issue in building this mission-driven brand. She’s a confident female CEO and keen to highlight that most fashion brands are owned by large conglomerate companies, like Kering and LVMH, which have boards comprised mostly of women. “That’s a stark contrast when the vast majority of fashion consumers are women.”
And women of all types, she iterates. Last year, Rose & Willard ran a series of campaigns with one-word titles, such as Confidence. It was part of a larger series on Body Language. Rehman experimented with placing women of color, of various ethnicities and religious backgrounds, and sizes on her home page. She got a mixed response from visitors to the site; while some loved the honesty, others suggested that she stick to more conventional fashion models.
“I do this because this is what I’ve longed to see myself,” she says. “As a woman of color from a humble background, I want to open some doors.”
Coming from a working-class background, and having worked in the male-dominated finance industry for years at Citi, Rehman wants more women to rethink norms. “There really isn’t a norm. We put that label on it ourselves as a society. We can want fashion, finance to be whatever we want it to be.”
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