"Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul."
-Alice Walker
Dearest reader,
I've been mulling over this post in my head for some time now, desiring to share a more personal behind-the-scenes look at the goings-on of my shop, but in a way that's interesting, insightful, and hopeful rather than just fretting about the many difficulties of running a small business. Quite a handful of my followers and customers have become truly invested in what is happening and what is to come with Wilder, which I consider such a sweet blessing and I still find myself in awe that there are women out there who are faithful admirers and actual purchasers of what I create. The world of fashion has SO much competition, and every time an order comes through I find myself a little starstruck that somebody really chose one of my pieces out of all the beautiful garments and shops out there.
At the heart of Wilder is a desire to bring forth beauty to a world increasingly in need of it. For me, this begins first by cultivating beauty in my heart, which outpours next into my home and family, and from there into my business, out of an aim to bring further blessing and fruitfulness back into my home and family. I have no lofty goals to become a billion dollar empire or make the Forbes 500 list. As I write this, I'm interrupted by my toddler handing me his train tracks asking me to "fix it, mama" for the 15th time, and as cliche as it sounds, I wouldn't have it any other way.
I not only have strong convictions about my home and family coming before any business endeavors, but also about how I want this business to be fundamentally ran. It's strange running a clothing shop while simultaneously knowing very well that the world really doesn't need more clothes. Many times I've asked myself, am I just contributing more to clutter, overconsumption, dissatisfaction, and pollution? Does the world really need another clothing company that sells feminine, natural fiber dresses? Am I doing something worthwhile with my precious time, or would my energy be better spent entirely focused on my children with no distractions?
I don't necessarily have solid answers for these questions, and I think they'll be reverberating in my head as long as I continue to run this shop. But I think that's a good and necessary thing in order to continue keeping myself accountable to the way I want Wilder to blossom and grow over the years. Having these uncertainties is what will help me stay on track to the heart of my business, ensuring that every step towards growth I take and every new piece I release is threaded with intentionality, purpose, and care for each pair of hands involved...from the seamstress sewing on the buttons to the customer receiving her dress in the mail.
One of my deepest desires for Wilder is that it would remain a truly slow fashion brand. We're all familiar with the term, and we've all seen companies start out as slow, thoughtful producers, just to eventually begin churning out hundreds of new pieces per season or even month. This is not at all a criticism of other brands who have chosen this path, that is not where my heart is; but I do know that I desperately want to avoid falling into the pit of corporate greed and losing my purpose along the way. If I can't do it right (ethically, morally, with priorities correctly ordered), I don't want to do it at all.
Now that I am on the cusp of releasing this year's first collection, both my biggest release yet (and by 'big' I still mean less than 15 pieces, haha) and first cohesive collection since my first-ever launch in 2022, I'd love to give you a look into the past several years and what its taken to get here.
If you're not familiar with Wilder's history, I actually started as an Etsy shop in 2020, hand making everything myself using linen and cotton fabrics and mostly vintage sewing patterns that I tweaked and altered to be what I wanted. This rather exploded, catching me by surprise and giving me many all-nighters spent sewing orders. After about 8 months of this, I was pretty much over it and loathing the sight of my sewing machine. Hunching over a needle for many, many hours of the day is back breaking work and this has given me the utmost respect for the artisans who now craft my garments for me. There was still a demand for my pieces, but my heart just wasn't in the handcrafting process anymore, so I took a break to pray and research and figure out where I should go from there. At this point I was 19 with zero experience in business or fashion, so I knew if I was going to take this anywhere, it would be completely self-built and with a likely-high amount of trial and error.
By the end of 2022, I had switched from Etsy to a real website, and released my first collection made by an ethical manufacturer overseas in India. While their quality and craftsmanship was incredible, there were a lot of production errors, unmet expectations, and massive delays, with none of this being resolved in a positive, professional manner. I knew that this factory wasn't the right fit for me, so I moved on to searching for a better fit. This search continued for the next several years; trying out new companies, trying to make relationships work through lots of setbacks and second chances, but ultimately having to cut ties and move on again and again. The actual ramifications of this were so, so many styles and entire collections designed and sampled but never seeing the light of day because of huge timeline or quality issues that just couldn't realistically be solved in a way that was worthwhile. While I've managed to release several new pieces here and there over the past 3 years, the reality behind the scenes has been immeasurable amounts of failures and frustrations, plan after plan never coming to fruition, wasted money and time, and temptation to just give it all up.
This all sounds incredibly pessimistic, but through it all I have learned so much about tenacity, as well as striking the right balance between self-responsibility and surrender... dedication to my endeavors and also keeping open hands to what I cannot control and what may not be the right thing for me. I've had plenty of moments where I watch other clothing startups seemingly explode overnight and knock it out of the ballpark with their growth, and it's easy for the insecurities to creep in, but this is where I remind myself that this isn't my story and that's okay. Our path has been a little slower, admittedly more troublesome, but hopefully resulting in the same positive outcome in the long run; and until then, every little success feels incredibly sacred. My devotion remains: to have fruitful hands, to foster creativity and inspiration in my soul (and teach this to my children), and to make the world a little more beautiful with what I put forth.
All of my failures have in their own way pointed me again to the heart of what I'm seeking to build; not an empire, not just another corporation encouraging fast consumption and greed, but a family industry that can bless those immediately around me, as well as those that pour into each facet of it...even if it takes many slow, slow steps to get there. Worthwhile things take time, and I hope that this year's product releases will be a reflection of that.
Moving forward, I'm hopeful that I've left most of the intense trial and error behind me, and have reached a point where I can consistently-but slowly-bring you new and beautiful things. I have no intentions of ever releasing a new collection for every season; what feels most attainable for my lifestyle and aligned with my values is a twice-yearly launch, one for Spring+Summer and one for Fall+Winter. This pattern will likely start in 2027, as this year is still mostly a "comeback year" for me and I am still in the transition period between factories, so this year's collections will just be released when they are ready. I am hoping and planning for a June launch, and to encourage utmost intentionality with your purchases, I intend to begin first with publishing the lookbook, then releasing preorders once the products are at around 75% completion, followed by actual shipments several weeks later.
On that note, if you've ever wondered why companies do preorders, the main reasons are that they are immensely helpful with both gauging demand for styles, as well as covering at least some of the upfront cost of inventory. For an extremely small, completely self-funded business like mine, I can't stress enough how helpful preorders are in this season of really trying to get my shop off the ground and build some stability after a very difficult several years. I don't say this to try and push anyone into preordering, but just to reiterate my gratitude for those that do. Most likely I won't always do a preorder system, but in this stage of business it's completely necessary and I'm so thankful for the support in this area.
Thank you to each one of you who has taken the time to read this and to engage with my shop, whether that be through a comment on social media or an actual purchase...it truly means more than I can express. I hope you'll stick around to see all the lovely things in the works for this year and next, and that this sweet community will only grow and blossom, as does Wilder Collective.
With love and warmth,
Emma
When Slow Fashion is Really Slow
"Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul."
-Alice Walker
Dearest reader,
I've been mulling over this post in my head for some time now, desiring to share a more personal behind-the-scenes look at the goings-on of my shop, but in a way that's interesting, insightful, and hopeful rather than just fretting about the many difficulties of running a small business. Quite a handful of my followers and customers have become truly invested in what is happening and what is to come with Wilder, which I consider such a sweet blessing and I still find myself in awe that there are women out there who are faithful admirers and actual purchasers of what I create. The world of fashion has SO much competition, and every time an order comes through I find myself a little starstruck that somebody really chose one of my pieces out of all the beautiful garments and shops out there.
At the heart of Wilder is a desire to bring forth beauty to a world increasingly in need of it. For me, this begins first by cultivating beauty in my heart, which outpours next into my home and family, and from there into my business, out of an aim to bring further blessing and fruitfulness back into my home and family. I have no lofty goals to become a billion dollar empire or make the Forbes 500 list. As I write this, I'm interrupted by my toddler handing me his train tracks asking me to "fix it, mama" for the 15th time, and as cliche as it sounds, I wouldn't have it any other way.
I not only have strong convictions about my home and family coming before any business endeavors, but also about how I want this business to be fundamentally ran. It's strange running a clothing shop while simultaneously knowing very well that the world really doesn't need more clothes. Many times I've asked myself, am I just contributing more to clutter, overconsumption, dissatisfaction, and pollution? Does the world really need another clothing company that sells feminine, natural fiber dresses? Am I doing something worthwhile with my precious time, or would my energy be better spent entirely focused on my children with no distractions?
I don't necessarily have solid answers for these questions, and I think they'll be reverberating in my head as long as I continue to run this shop. But I think that's a good and necessary thing in order to continue keeping myself accountable to the way I want Wilder to blossom and grow over the years. Having these uncertainties is what will help me stay on track to the heart of my business, ensuring that every step towards growth I take and every new piece I release is threaded with intentionality, purpose, and care for each pair of hands involved...from the seamstress sewing on the buttons to the customer receiving her dress in the mail.
One of my deepest desires for Wilder is that it would remain a truly slow fashion brand. We're all familiar with the term, and we've all seen companies start out as slow, thoughtful producers, just to eventually begin churning out hundreds of new pieces per season or even month. This is not at all a criticism of other brands who have chosen this path, that is not where my heart is; but I do know that I desperately want to avoid falling into the pit of corporate greed and losing my purpose along the way. If I can't do it right (ethically, morally, with priorities correctly ordered), I don't want to do it at all.
Now that I am on the cusp of releasing this year's first collection, both my biggest release yet (and by 'big' I still mean less than 15 pieces, haha) and first cohesive collection since my first-ever launch in 2022, I'd love to give you a look into the past several years and what its taken to get here.
If you're not familiar with Wilder's history, I actually started as an Etsy shop in 2020, hand making everything myself using linen and cotton fabrics and mostly vintage sewing patterns that I tweaked and altered to be what I wanted. This rather exploded, catching me by surprise and giving me many all-nighters spent sewing orders. After about 8 months of this, I was pretty much over it and loathing the sight of my sewing machine. Hunching over a needle for many, many hours of the day is back breaking work and this has given me the utmost respect for the artisans who now craft my garments for me. There was still a demand for my pieces, but my heart just wasn't in the handcrafting process anymore, so I took a break to pray and research and figure out where I should go from there. At this point I was 19 with zero experience in business or fashion, so I knew if I was going to take this anywhere, it would be completely self-built and with a likely-high amount of trial and error.
By the end of 2022, I had switched from Etsy to a real website, and released my first collection made by an ethical manufacturer overseas in India. While their quality and craftsmanship was incredible, there were a lot of production errors, unmet expectations, and massive delays, with none of this being resolved in a positive, professional manner. I knew that this factory wasn't the right fit for me, so I moved on to searching for a better fit. This search continued for the next several years; trying out new companies, trying to make relationships work through lots of setbacks and second chances, but ultimately having to cut ties and move on again and again. The actual ramifications of this were so, so many styles and entire collections designed and sampled but never seeing the light of day because of huge timeline or quality issues that just couldn't realistically be solved in a way that was worthwhile. While I've managed to release several new pieces here and there over the past 3 years, the reality behind the scenes has been immeasurable amounts of failures and frustrations, plan after plan never coming to fruition, wasted money and time, and temptation to just give it all up.
This all sounds incredibly pessimistic, but through it all I have learned so much about tenacity, as well as striking the right balance between self-responsibility and surrender... dedication to my endeavors and also keeping open hands to what I cannot control and what may not be the right thing for me. I've had plenty of moments where I watch other clothing startups seemingly explode overnight and knock it out of the ballpark with their growth, and it's easy for the insecurities to creep in, but this is where I remind myself that this isn't my story and that's okay. Our path has been a little slower, admittedly more troublesome, but hopefully resulting in the same positive outcome in the long run; and until then, every little success feels incredibly sacred. My devotion remains: to have fruitful hands, to foster creativity and inspiration in my soul (and teach this to my children), and to make the world a little more beautiful with what I put forth.
All of my failures have in their own way pointed me again to the heart of what I'm seeking to build; not an empire, not just another corporation encouraging fast consumption and greed, but a family industry that can bless those immediately around me, as well as those that pour into each facet of it...even if it takes many slow, slow steps to get there. Worthwhile things take time, and I hope that this year's product releases will be a reflection of that.
Moving forward, I'm hopeful that I've left most of the intense trial and error behind me, and have reached a point where I can consistently-but slowly-bring you new and beautiful things. I have no intentions of ever releasing a new collection for every season; what feels most attainable for my lifestyle and aligned with my values is a twice-yearly launch, one for Spring+Summer and one for Fall+Winter. This pattern will likely start in 2027, as this year is still mostly a "comeback year" for me and I am still in the transition period between factories, so this year's collections will just be released when they are ready. I am hoping and planning for a June launch, and to encourage utmost intentionality with your purchases, I intend to begin first with publishing the lookbook, then releasing preorders once the products are at around 75% completion, followed by actual shipments several weeks later.
On that note, if you've ever wondered why companies do preorders, the main reasons are that they are immensely helpful with both gauging demand for styles, as well as covering at least some of the upfront cost of inventory. For an extremely small, completely self-funded business like mine, I can't stress enough how helpful preorders are in this season of really trying to get my shop off the ground and build some stability after a very difficult several years. I don't say this to try and push anyone into preordering, but just to reiterate my gratitude for those that do. Most likely I won't always do a preorder system, but in this stage of business it's completely necessary and I'm so thankful for the support in this area.
Thank you to each one of you who has taken the time to read this and to engage with my shop, whether that be through a comment on social media or an actual purchase...it truly means more than I can express. I hope you'll stick around to see all the lovely things in the works for this year and next, and that this sweet community will only grow and blossom, as does Wilder Collective.
With love and warmth,
Emma