← Sustain This!
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- [00:00]
Alyssa
Welcome to Sustain this, a podcast where we discuss mindful consumption, personal style, and the quest for living a more intentional life. I'm Alyssa, a sustainable stylist.
- [00:10]
Christina
And I'm Christina, a shopaholic turned minimalist. Ish.
- [00:13]
Alyssa
And I'm Sina, a color consultant and.
- [00:15]
Christina
Slow fashion style coach.
- [00:16]
Alyssa
Together we will unpack the nuances of what it really means to be a conscious consumer and find more joy in what we have right now. So grab your tea, your coffee, or whatever floats your boat and join us in the conversation. Let's go. Yeah. Hey. Yay. What's the difference between silk and satin? And how bad is polyester really? How can you tell the difference between a poor quality linen or a high quality linen? And what does it look like when a business actually pays their garment workers and has a fully transparent supply chain? It's hard to believe we can answer all of these questions in one podcast episode, but we are doing it. So excited. The only reason we can is because we have an incredibly knowledgeable guest with us today. We are sitting down with Laura Nikolaeva, the designer and owner of the lifestyle and womenswear brand Lara Jean. Laura Jean is based in London, England, and is a brand that seeks to empower and enrich the lives of every woman, from customers to garment technicians and seamstresses who make beautiful clothes. We can't wait for you to learn with us and we think you'll love this episode. Let's get into it. Laura, we are so excited to have you on today. Thank you for being here.
- [01:37]
Laura Nikolaeva
Same, same. Thank you for having me. Welcome, welcome, welcome.
- [01:42]
Alyssa
Laura, just so that everyone knows who you are, can you just tell us why you started, Lara Jean, how it came to be? Maybe give us a little bit of your origin story, you know, did you always start. Start with ethics and empowerment in mind? Tell us, tell us the story.
- [01:59]
Laura Nikolaeva
I will give you heads up. It's not a common story because I still, to this day, I cannot really respond. The question why? I mean, to be honest, it was something that just happened and I went with it. In fact, I actually really wanted to do plastic surgery. That was.
- [02:21]
Christina
Oh, wow.
- [02:24]
Laura Nikolaeva
My mother, I guess she influenced me in some way. This was kind of like the road I would see for myself. And then somehow, maybe because I was modeling when I was studying, somehow, you know, my life took me in a different direction. And then I actually finished marketing and advertising as my first education. And I. I don't. Honestly, I don't really know because then I started doing makeup. I was quite successful, actually. I was working Mostly in Europe and doing really well. But one morning I woke up and I had this brand in my head. And I know it sounds a little bit, you know, woozy in a way and like woo woo stuff, but it's true because it was in my head, it was like, you know, the whole thing, the name, the. The brand, the logo. And I was like, okay, that's interesting. And you know, it was really strange because I found a struggling atelier slash workshop, and he was looking for a partnership. So we started working together and then the rest is pretty much history. Like, it basically just took off. We started selling and I think I found my purpose in it a little bit later, probably a couple years in, when I realized how many women are actually not seeing in this whole conversation and business of fashion. So I think for me, this was. This was something. I usually call it like my vocation is probably something that I had to do and I didn't even know about it. So like, like I said, I just went with it. And here we are almost 15 years later. You know, I was.
- [04:20]
Alyssa
It.
- [04:20]
Laura Nikolaeva
It did change shape. I have to say, it did change shape quite a few times. We used to wholesale. It was a different business model. It was actually a different brand as well. It used to be called Jean only. And then I was working with a PR showroom in New York and it was like two really cool guys. They did some really good stuff for us actually. And he was like, you know what? It's way too feminine to stay that androgenous. And like, we have to have something in the name which talks about you more. And they really pushed me to put the name. I never actually thought about this because I think when I found the purpose in it and why I'm doing it, one of the first things that sort of like appeared in my head was like, actually, I don't have to do this for me. I have to do this for others. You know, for. For women. It's not really. Obviously I see myself in it. There is a lot of me in it in. In all sorts of ways from the values to. To the aesthetics. But I really think that this is a brand made for the women that we serve, rather than for my own expression only. And, you know, I don't have one bit of an ego trip, which is a very common thing in this industry. Right. Like a lot of people do express themselves throughout their work and brand. I'm not educated in design. I never really thought I need to be. I work with various designers. My. Actually my education is mainly advertising and business after that. So I'm not really even interested in the design appeal as much. But when I say that, it's really important to say, you know, I have this theory that in the day of age that we live in now, we don't really need that much of innovative design. You know, we had McQueen, we had, you know, we had Balenciaga, Cristobal Balenciaga. Like, we don't need to reinvent inventory anything new. I feel like the innovation now needs to be in a completely different direction. Whether this is going to be sustainability and ethics or it will be material innovation, I really don't think we need to invent because pretty much everything is invented as well. You know, like, we've had it. So this is how it started. And yeah, here we are.
- [06:57]
Christina
Wow, that's fascinating. Going from wanting to be a doctor, to model, to makeup. So were you always interested in fashion or when you woke up that morning and thinking, I want to start this brand, I have this vision, I have this idea. Was it a piece you had in mind? Was it a problem you wanted to solve? I just find that so cool. You woke up one day and you wanted to do it. I find that's something that I really admire because I feel like we all have great ideas, but it's acting on them and making them happen that can be a lot of, you know, a barrier for a lot of us. So tell us more about that.
- [07:35]
Laura Nikolaeva
Well, you know what, it wasn't really like just it. I didn't snap my fingers and started working on it, if I have to. If I have to be completely honest, I. I mean, plastic surgery, in a way though, it's a very serious discipline in medicine and it's completely not based on the aesthetic appeals. It still has a lot of aesthetics in it. So I guess in some ways, yes, I've always been interested in, in the aesthetic part of things. I also have a Libra rising, if any of your.
- [08:07]
Christina
Yeah, me too.
- [08:12]
Laura Nikolaeva
That aesthetics and making things beautiful. So I've always, I've always wanted to live in like a more harmonious way, purely aesthetically. So I don't think it was anything new for me. But at the same time, you know, I was also probably lazy to do the medical studies. I don't want to admit that because to be completely fair, my mom was very much against it. She was like, I really don't see you doing this because it's too static. You're someone that moves and, you know, very action oriented person, so you will struggle with this kind of profession. And she was right. You know, I just kind of went with what life gave me and sort of responded to it. But when it comes to the action, I actually, I love this question because I do find it that a lot of people, you know, I now mentor students in from Oxford, and quite often I will get like, students asking me things and entrepreneurs that are starting right now. And, and I just feel like this is probably the biggest obstacle in front of a lot of people, you know, like getting the idea into action. And me, it was always based on, I have to try. I have this belief of mine, which I just feel like, you know, experience is a rumor until it lives in the body. So whatever people tell me, I have to test it myself. I'm just built like this. And I never really put too much thought of, oh, but what if it doesn't work? Because to be honest with you, it doesn't even work like that. Like a lot of things don't work, but some things work and you pivot and you go this way and that way. And generally speaking, what I say to people is just, you know, start quickly, fail quickly, move on, do it again. And I know it's sort of like a cliche, but pretty much every successful person that done something in business will tell you exactly the same thing because failure is such a huge part of your success. Even even though I still don't consider myself, you know, at the point where I want to be, I definitely see myself on the road and on the right path, but I'm still not there and I still do a lot of mistakes. And, you know, I just feel like people have to. If you want to do something, that's, that's basically where you have to start. You know, I will fail. It's inevitable. But I have to start and I have to try because otherwise there is no way I'm gonna know, you know.
- [10:57]
Christina
Yeah.
- [10:57]
Laura Nikolaeva
And especially in this industry, you know, you can't do design on theory. On theory, a lot of things sound very cool and then you make them and you're like, no, that's not so. You know, it's much a practical discipline. It's, it's, it's about moving and changing things, unfortunately, way too fast in the past 20 years. But yeah, still we have to move.
- [11:23]
Alyssa
You said something that I found really interesting when you were talking about how, you know, like, we had the very, like, forward thinking designers that gave us some very unconventional designs and silhouettes, and you said, you know, it's something different, that perhaps we need to innovate, maybe it's sustainability. Maybe it's this. Where do you see Lara Jean contributing to that new realm of fashion? And what is it like? Are you allowed to tell us? Where do you. Where do you think you can contribute best?
- [12:04]
Laura Nikolaeva
Yeah, I, I don't know if this is for me to say because again, this is a brand for others, so I would always prefer people to say how they feel about it. But I can tell you one thing. I wanted to make a brand which feels a fashion brand which feels way more human than anything, you know, and that's why we are always very conversational as a brand. Our all communication is based on listening and having a conversation rather than, okay, this is what we think you should look like and, you know, just sort of like imposing our own vision onto women. So if there is probably one thing I would say is it's, it's the human element from both the supply chain and, and the customer. And in a way, this to me looks like, you know, I always start dressing. Any idea we have, whether it's about the clothes itself or the marketing side of things, it doesn't matter. It's always about dressing and talking to the character before the body. There is about feel before looks. It's always about this in that inner thing that's going on in women because we are so multilayered. You know, we shape shift. We quite literally actually shape shift through our lives, you know, change our bodies, change our. I mean, we are also. So. Yeah, I think probably the best way to describe it is multi layered. So I'm very much fascinated by this inner world and how to dress that rather than reinvent it or, you know, and that's kind of like where my most. Where my forte feels like, you know, I just really want push women a little bit and kind of tell them, can you please just remember how incredible of a creature you are without someone constantly pushing you to buy this dress so you can look 20 pounds lighter or 10 years or, you know, it's just. I'm very interested in that and I've always. It fascinates me in every single day.
- [14:25]
Alyssa
I love that. I think anything that helps. Oh, sorry, go ahead.
- [14:29]
Laura Nikolaeva
No, no.
- [14:29]
Christina
I just think it kind of makes me feel like dressing, like dressing for who you are and for the era that you're in. And like, not. We talk a lot, a lot about that, like within finding your personal style and how you almost dress for a feeling and that's what you want to convey and communicate as opposed to. Yeah, like this latest trend or making your boobs look bigger or your waist smaller. And I think because there's that constant messaging that we get, like, it's always some kind of version of you're not good enough. So get this one. Like, this one more thing is gonna. It's gonna nail it for you. It's gonna be the perfect thing. So I love the philosophy of, like, you come as you are, and how you dress is just another layer of.
- [15:15]
Laura Nikolaeva
That and remembering that you are already this amazing person, regardless if you're like a size 3x or x s. You know, like, someone asked me on. On another podcast, someone asked me what do I think personal style is. And for me, personal style is basically your character visualized. You know, it's like, yeah, that simple. For me, I'm much more interested. And probably that's a bit of intellectual take on things, but I just feel like we have so much to offer and the industry have pushed us to constantly, like you said, think of ourselves as not enough in some way. And I just really want to change that narrative if.
- [16:06]
Christina
Yeah.
- [16:06]
Laura Nikolaeva
You know, if the gods are with me. Yes.
- [16:12]
Christina
Sending out the vibes. Yeah.
- [16:16]
Alyssa
Yeah, definitely. Oh, I love that. That also made me think of your. The humanistic approach to fashion and design and just running a business. There was a really good podcast episode. Did you. You probably heard it, Laura, like the. With Brunello, Cucinelli and business of fashion. It was. I think you would love it. It was very, very good. It was like the humanistic approach thing. So it's really cool.
- [16:40]
Laura Nikolaeva
I didn't. But yeah, I mean, I just. I just feel like this is where we need to innovate. But I agree. And really from all sorts of angles, not just the customers, because this is where fashion fails massively. You know, we are always talking about the customers and, you know, obviously the balance of power is always on that way. And I just look at the whole circle because the women, mostly women in this industry that make your. Should not be less powerful that the women wear them. You know, it shouldn't be the case. And I just feel like we have to innovate in that direction way more than cutting new, you know, jacket.
- [17:23]
Christina
Yeah, yeah, I love that. As fast as possible. Like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can we talk about that? How you. What are your values of Laura Jean? Is. It sounds like the. One of the main ones is empowering women across the entire supply chain, not just at the end user and the customer at the end. So can you talk about that and how you kind of made sure when you were creating your business that all of Those kind of boxes were checked from start to finish.
- [17:52]
Laura Nikolaeva
You know what, I don't know if you can check all the boxes at all times. You have these on. And because I'm very straightforward and I always try to approach any conversation with honesty, you know, and people, you know, we can talk about certificates and all these things until the end of days. But the truth is this is a very human thing. Clothing is a very human thing. It's a very human business. Like 70% of anything that we do is connected to humans. Whether you look at it from a perspective of material making or garment making or even like consumers again, you know, logistics, it's all very much. And obviously this is not only industry doing that, but here is like very labor intensive and human centric. So I think for me it was much easier than a lot of other people simply because I come from Bulgaria, which is a small country in southeast Europe. It's a garment hub. It's always been a garment garment manufacturing hub. Especially like after the second World War, you know, we pretty much do any brand you can think of or some parts of it, you know, so it's much easier to have direct access and a direct conversation with the factories, with the people that make your stuff. Actually, when we started, we had our own workshop. It wasn't really, and I still have a small workshop, just it changed shape in a way. So it's. You have a much greater visibility than a lot of other brands. Then, for example, a great designer in Canada who really cares about those things, but they physically cannot be, be present in the factory or they cannot go because especially when it comes to smaller businesses and brands, it's so difficult. You know, people, especially on social media, there's like this narrative, you should be doing this, you should be doing that. But people really don't get the practicalities on, on the back. I personally know many small business owners which would love to fly and see their factories, but it's not as easy because you're one man standing trying to fix it all and jack of all trades. So I think for me it was very, very easy. And especially when you have your own workshop, you have such a close daily contact with those people, so you very quickly understand how simple it can be and how they want exactly the same things as you. They want the same security, the same life. They want to go on, you know, vacation, like very basic things. Then we started working with factories scaling up and you, I mean, things have changed quite massively in the past 10 years. It's, it's become very Difficult to find trained, skilled personnel overall. So, yeah, I think for us, it was. It was really easy, you know, and also, I'm a woman. I can easily empathize with another woman, regardless what does she do in her life? So I think it's, you know, that's. That's a perspective that we rarely touch base on. But at the same time, if you look at it like most of the owners in the fashion industry are men. I'm talking top. Top executive. Despite. This whole industry is fueled by women's labor. And it's always like this everywhere in the world, not just Bulgaria or Asia or anywhere. So I. Yeah, I just. For me, it was always the same. I never thought about it as a marketing thing, you know?
- [21:46]
Christina
Yeah.
- [21:47]
Laura Nikolaeva
Sustainability wasn't a thing when I started at all. I mean, it was. So suddenly I caught myself waking up in a world where people were talking about things that we used to do seven, eight years before it was a conversation at all. And we didn't have the terms for it. We didn't. You know, it wasn't. It wasn't a thing, really. So I often even, like, try to avoid using those terms all the time, simply because I think a lot of people get confused. You know, just this loaded language doesn't do much. So I try to actually even oversimplify it and get them back to the human element. You know, it's. It's just another woman somewhere on the other part of the world, and she wants exactly the same thing as you. You're buying what she can make, she's making what you can buy. It's that simple. It's a human conn. So I always try and get the conversation back into this frame, which is easily digestible. And, you know, anyone can relate to that because it's so human. Yeah, this was the ticking of boxes for me. But again, I want to say that, you know, though we are B Corp certified, we have all the credentials and stuff. You never know. And it's a constant thing, and you check and you make sure that people are safe. And it's. It's part of your business. You know, you always have one eye looking at these things.
- [23:17]
Alyssa
That's pretty amazing. That was actually. You kind of already answered one of our questions, or one of the questions we had about how you work so hard to pay everyone in your supply chain fairly. You know, I know it. At Christmas, you. You spotlight the seamstresses and the garment technicians and everything like that. When you were. You mentioned. When you were scaling up, was that difficult? Was it Difficult to scale and still find the expertise and be able to pay people what you felt was fair and right?
- [23:51]
Laura Nikolaeva
Yeah, it's. Nothing in this business is easy, I promise you. But yes, it's, it's very, very difficult lately it's becoming even more. Because you sort of like miss the middle tier of factories. So 10 years ago you started. More than 10 years ago, you would be able to find small facilities like let's say 10, 15, 20 people, you know, that could make smaller quantities and you work with them closely and it's like, it feels like part of your team in a way. Now it's, it's becoming more and more difficult. The last year in Bulgaria probably, I don't know, probably hundreds of factories closed because there's so much garments and there's so much brands and everyone is trying and not everyone is thinking, do I actually need to do this? Does anyone need that? So a lot of them fail, you know, to pay things and that really kind of sort of, I mean, eliminates everyone on the supply chain. You have to be very strong. So it's, it's a poly crisis anyway, in the world and not isolated from it. So yeah, it's, it's, it was hard, now it's harder. But also now we've changed the way we work. So a lot of it is like on pre order and we have a small team and we do that we believe are actually going to sell this way we address the waste that we actually create, the overstock, the over consumption problem. And at the same time we try to, you know, make things which we know are going to work and, you know, easier, like especially for the knitwear, because in the knitwear you can't really do pre orders. So it's a slower journey. It's a much harder journey. But you know what, we have to start from somewhere. Yeah. Have to somehow start from somewhere. We can't keep on saying, oh, but that's impossible, that's impossible. Well, how do we know we are not here? You know, So I still, some days I'm, I'm still very much like, is it even possible? But then the fact that we have been growing consistently for the past five years since we changed into direct to customer, kind of gives me some hope. Yes, you own the conversation. It's slower, it's harder, it's more difficult, but at the same time it moves. So as long as it moves right, there is something to explore further, you know, so maybe we fail forward.
- [26:28]
Alyssa
Yeah.
- [26:29]
Christina
The doing and the trial and error, I love it. So it's like, that's that same theme from the beginning, you know, like. Yeah, you don't know until you try.
- [26:37]
Alyssa
Laura, do you want it? Switch gears a little bit. You do this, you do these series. You talk about this often in your tick tock and ig about like fabrics and, you know, why silk is really good and strong and durable and all these things. You're like a, you're like a lexicon of fabrics. I feel like. I just think they're so valuable and useful to listen to. Can you give us like a, A, a fabric rundown? Like, which are the best fabrics for durability, wearability? Which ones do you like to work most with, most with and why? And then maybe we can even talk about some of those, like, subtle differences, you know, like, people often think silk and satin. Like one is, one is synthetic and one isn't, or they're the same thing, which is not the case at all. It's just a weave, difference in the weave. But like, can you, can you go through some of the main points that you think everyone should know when we're looking at textiles and fabrics?
- [27:41]
Laura Nikolaeva
I mean, I, I'm gonna try to simplify it again simply because, you know, I'm, I'm not one of those people who will. I actually really am against the shaming the conversation of sustainability. I do not believe in it. I think we are actually got this very wrong simply because people should not know. All the professionals know.
- [28:05]
Alyssa
Yeah.
- [28:06]
Laura Nikolaeva
Especially in this business where it's like so much, I mean, I know about silk, but I might not know about, you know, cotton enough. Like, yes, it's an ocean of things. So I'm very much against actually, you know, the righteousness approach where. Oh, but you shouldn't know. Yeah, you shouldn't. I'm not an I lawyer, so I don't know that.
- [28:30]
Alyssa
How, how are we supposed to know?
- [28:32]
Laura Nikolaeva
Exactly. Yeah, I, I really try to simplify it. And there is a very way to approach. So there is two types of fabrics. If you look at it like fibers generally. One is man made. Something that we make from, you know, artificial materials, petroleum based polyesters, nylons, viscose, which is then natural, and there is natural fibers. So you don't need to know too much more. But essentially you have man made fibers and natural fibers. All of them are made by men because, you know, even the natural fibers, we have to harvest the cotton, then we have to process it, then we make a fabric out of it. But essentially this is how you divide them into two groups. And anyone will tell you that natural fibers are by far superior because of many things. The feel, the. Mostly the feel, to be honest with you, because at the end of the day, clothing is the closest thing to you at all times. So you want to feel great in it. So obviously we're talking breathability and, you know, in some cases thermoregulation actually. Like silk, for instance, or wool. So generally speaking, you have those two groups and anyone that knows anything about fabric will always tell you you go with natural fibers. And I'm not different than that. For me, silk is my preference. And it always been. Again, I don't have like a particular answer on that. I think it's just the feel and how it fits the way I see things. You know, the way it drapes. Silk has something very specific compared to a lot of other fabrics. It doesn't like to be cut. It doesn't like to be cut too much, you know, so generally speaking, you're looking at something drapey and easy that makes shapes by itself. It doesn't want to be stumbled into stitches. So it's a, it's a beautiful material and it requires a bit more thinking rather than technical knowledge. Before the technical knowledge, I would say it needs more thinking. How do I make this without cutting it? And it's, it's a bit of a challenge. So obviously this is my personal preference, but at the same time, I've said it 1,000 times. It's the most durable fabric that we know. So all the nonsense you will come across, that you should wash it, you should be very careful and all these things. It's, it's essentially part of the marketing narrative because it was always pricey. It's a very labor intensive material. It was always used for, you know, gowns and like occasional wear, even back in the day, a millennia ago, when it was used. You know the story of the emperor's wife finding the, the, the threat Caterpillar.
- [31:29]
Alyssa
The thread.
- [31:30]
Laura Nikolaeva
Exactly. Yeah. But it's not, it's the most durable material. It's much stronger than polyester as well. Like, these are facts, you know, I'm not. Yeah, opinions. These are basic facts. But then also, you know, linen is, is great in terms of durability. It's a staple fiber. Shorter. So you can easily break a material from it, for instance, especially when it's cut. But at the same time, it's one of the most durable fabrics. Same for cotton. Same for, I would say, you know, pretty much anything, which is natural fibers has great abilities in different ways. So I would Always say to people, if you have the option, go for natural fibers. Yes, it takes a little bit more care from your side, but at the same time, it gives you, you know, a completely different experience in your own body. So I think it's the personal experience is a personal. Sorry, I meant it's a personal choice where. Whether you want to go for this or that. I mean, if I have to do a scale of, like, what's the most durable? You. I think you're looking at silk at the top of the. At the top of the chain. Then it. Polyester, actually, which was created to mimic silk, so it can be used to bond fabrics and stuff. Nylon, I think, is after that here. I might be a little bit wrong, but essentially it's polyester, I'm pretty sure is after silk. And then you will see it like, virgin wool and linen. Cotton might be a little bit down from that viscose. I think that that's pretty much the scale. But then, you know, it's very hard to say to people, go for this or for that, because especially in this day of age, a lot of young people have not ever touched silk or even, like, virgin wall. So when you talk to them, they're like, what does that look like? And that's why, you know, the Saturn versus actual silk comes so easily, and people are so easily sort of like, you know, scammed. I'm gonna say the word. Scam. Yeah, scammed. I was looking for something a bit milder, but they are. But it's just a marketing tactics. You know, you have a material which is way less expensive, way easily done from something from a raw material that you have in abundance. And we know how politics and all of that, like, international trade works. So you need people to believe that it's better, you know, And I think it's about time we really stop buying into it. I don't know how to scale that message, but I'm trying. And that's why we talk about fabrics all the time, because it's extremely frustrating to see so much lies, straightforward lies, all over the Internet, you know, because.
- [34:45]
Christina
There'S a. I think in the last few years, the conversation of, like, almost like the battle between natural fiber versus synthetic fiber has kind of really come to the forefront. A lot of people talk about that now, or there's a lot of folks talking about, like, you know, I'm switching over to a fully natural fiber wardrobe, things like that. So. And it's true, like, I guess the more you like, I still have some synthetics in my clothes. For example. But, like, you can feel the difference. You could like a silk dress versus a satin dress. I'm like, why am I sweating? Why does this feel, like, scratchy against me versus a silk dress? And it just feels, yes, luxurious, but, like, you could breathe. It just feels more gentle on your skin. But you don't know until, you know, I guess.
- [35:31]
Laura Nikolaeva
Oh.
- [35:31]
Christina
So I. I find it, like. I think it's a good thing that we're having this conversation, but, yeah, it's going to take time to, like, transition that way.
- [35:38]
Laura Nikolaeva
I agree. I mean, we see. We see it as well. We see a lot of people being more aware, you know. So, honestly, this argument with the satin vis. Real silk is something that I feel like I've said like, a million times. You know, at some point you're like, like, oh, my God. Like, do I have to say it again? And then you. Something a piece of content out there, and it again, has such a huge reach and, like, people, oh, my God, really? And you're like, yes, we're talking about this.
- [36:10]
Alyssa
Yes.
- [36:11]
Laura Nikolaeva
How do we change that? Yeah, essentially. But, you know, it's. It's. It's really, really simple. It's. You have fabric weaves, the way fabrics are weaved into you, something, and then you have fiber content. These are two different things. So satin in particular, you can make only from silk. It used to be the case before polyester was invented, because you need a long fiber to make it. You can't do it with the short fiber. And polyester really took over price point. Completely different than silk. You know, it's like, I think 80%, in the best case scenario is 80% less dense than actual silk. So it's just. It's that simple, really. And it can go for a lot of other things. Organza, crepe, you know, it's all weaves. It's the way you make the fabric, get those fibers on the machine so it can become something, and then it's the fiber content. So if people really kind of, like, try and remember that you just look at the fiber content, they're supposed to, by law, give you the actual.
- [37:23]
Christina
Yeah.
- [37:25]
Laura Nikolaeva
So when you look at that, you're like, okay, I know what I'm buying. But, yeah, I. I think we have more to walk on this path.
- [37:37]
Alyssa
What makes a good quality fabric versus a poor quality fabric? Because I, you know, it's one thing for something to be natural or, like, we look for a natural fiber. But then I've been to some places and, like, I. I find linen is the best Example of this, like, there's def. I find there's definitely higher quality linens versus, yeah, poor. Like, how do. Is it just a hand feel thing?
- [38:08]
Laura Nikolaeva
You know what? That's probably the hardest question. And I'll tell you, I. I have to be honest because I didn't know I have that until a couple of years when I was working in the business. And you go to trade shows, you choose materials, you start, like touching things. Even professionals very rarely have that ability of the hand to tell brick is good or not. So I have that, which I've seen in few other people. But generally it's not something I think you can learn. Sure you can. You know, it's not something you can learn simply because when it comes to a field, I can show you polyesters, which is gonna blow your mind. Yeah.
- [38:52]
Christina
Yes.
- [38:53]
Laura Nikolaeva
Amazing. They're higher end.
- [38:55]
Christina
Obviously, an acrylic sweater feels fantastic the first time you try it on. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [39:01]
Laura Nikolaeva
But when you wear it for a bit of time, you know, so there is obviously, like, technical ways to. For instance, like when people say, oh, but what's the burn test like? Yes, it's a burn test. Yes, it really is. You know, polyester melts, really, so it's that simple. And that's pretty much valid for every other natural fiber. It's just they smell differently. So, you know, if you burn a wall, it's going to smell like actual, you know, sheep.
- [39:31]
Christina
Yeah.
- [39:34]
Laura Nikolaeva
It burns. So there is not like an easy answer to the question simply because it's something that I feel like. It's. It's. It's like one of those things where you, you know, just have the ability to choose something when I. Unfortunately, we also have. We don't have the ecology anymore to produce things that we were able to produce 20 years ago. And it's because of the impact that climate change has on our world. And I know this is a very sad thing to say, and I'm usually a very positive person, but at the same time, you can't sugarcoat things as they are. And I'm not the only one saying it. I'm not inventing anything. It's just the facts. You know, you now have completely different temperatures. The water integration. Sorry, the water interrogation changed. Like, a lot of things changed due to climate change. So we don't have the same actual fibers produced by nature to make that level of materials. You can feel it in some ways. In other ways, you know, mills and. And companies are trying to tackle it, but I think it's going to become Worse, unless we start doing something about it. And obviously none of us can do anything alone, so it needs to be regulations and all these things. Things. But I would probably say for people as a practical advice to know if a fabric is good or not, just, you know, sort of try smaller brands because they, they're so dependent on their final customer staying with them and being happy with their purchase that a lot of smaller brands will actually do a lot more tests. They will wear it themselves. You know, I'm, I'm coming from my own experience, but though we are not perfect and there is a mistake that can happen at any time, you know, a lot of the clothes that we actually make, I wear them myself for a while. I test the material. Sometimes it doesn't work really well and it's quite pricey and expensive as an exercise. But at the same time it paid off because a lot of our customers, when they get something, they actually stay with us and you know, come for more. And so I would just, just basically say go to smaller brands that do natural fibers, talk to them, even like ask, you know, and also take care of your clothes properly because the amount of times that, you know, people will come and say, oh, but I put it on 90 degrees and it shrink and you're like, well, you know, I mean, basically what it does, like high temperature. So yeah, yeah, that's, that's the practical side of it. Everything else is going to confuse people if we dive deep into like. But I feel like that's, that's something everyone can do.
- [42:41]
Alyssa
I love that. Laura, what a great point. I've never thought of it from that context. Like, you know, we talk about shopping. Shopping. Small and smaller brands do offer so much just on, in terms of, of, you know, economic, economic output in local communities and offering, you know, like really unique perspectives and designs and all of these things. But what a great point in that the, like, a small business cannot afford to lose a customer. The value of one client for a small business is so much greater than for the like, giant corporations of the world. And I think, yeah, from a client perspective, that's huge.
- [43:35]
Laura Nikolaeva
Yeah, I mean, think about it. If you have a small business, in the best case scenario, small even to medium, they have somewhere between a thousand, five to five thousand, in the best case, ten thousand customers. I'm talking regular customers obviously. So, you know, every single one of those customers is like, it's like the golden goose for them. You know, obviously some buy more, some buy less. You always have a mixture of things. But I, even when we Brief with the technical team and stuff. And we try to like, improve some part of the quality in some way because we don't do luxury, but we do like meat to premium. So we cannot, like always do the most high end, not just in materials, but like also make and finishing. But we're always trying to stay in, you know, quality clothing as the main base of everything we do. But even when we talk between ourselves, we're like, okay, but if we do that, it's gonna make it even better so people will feel better. Just for the sake of example, this season we've turned all shirts, cotton shirts. We eliminated the overlooking, which is these, you know, like the stitches which are. Could be scratchy. And we put like a French seam, which is essentially theme. So it's so much nicer on the body. And yes, they cost like ten pounds more. But at the same time, we now know that our people will be fine with that, especially if you buy it. So pretty much every small business out there thinks in that sort of way. Obviously not everyone. I don't know what people think, but I'm pretty positive that a lot of people like, like, for me, customer retention is the most important thing because I can't afford, you know, I can't afford to lose 50 people. This is, for me, basically one of the month's salaries or something.
- [45:26]
Alyssa
Yeah.
- [45:27]
Laura Nikolaeva
So it's a good. It's a good way of approaching even buying garments, you know.
- [45:33]
Alyssa
Yeah. I. I just have to interject and challenge you, Laura, on one thing you said, which was that your clothes, clothes, you're not at the luxury sector, I guess, maybe traditionally, but if you've ever worn one of Laura's pieces, you will disagree because it feels like luxury when you put it.
- [45:53]
Laura Nikolaeva
Yeah, I. I meant as a price point, though. Yes.
- [45:55]
Alyssa
Okay, great.
- [45:57]
Laura Nikolaeva
I don't want to do luxury, actually. I feel like everything. I mean, listen, I know that we are not even affordable for many people at this price point because everyone is struggling in a different way. But at the same time, this is where if we go down, there's no point of doing a business, you know, So I just feel like it needs to be fair, you know, And I feel like luxury lost that as well.
- [46:27]
Christina
Yeah, especially in recent years.
- [46:29]
Laura Nikolaeva
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Not by coincidence. Everything is going down because they lost most. Like, is it fair for us to charge, you know, 800 pounds for a scarf polyester because we put a log on it, you know. Now I feel like a lot of brands have under underestimated people's ability, intellectual abilities, you Know, and I'm not suggesting that everyone. But, like, I'm gonna say it. I feel a lot of runs are taking the piss.
- [47:04]
Alyssa
Yeah.
- [47:07]
Laura Nikolaeva
And honestly, I'm just. There was the other day, a friend of mine sent me a dress which was at 7,5 5 pounds. It's on our social media, on IG.
- [47:21]
Alyssa
Okay.
- [47:21]
Laura Nikolaeva
If you go look at it, it's. It's disturbing. And I'm the first one to go and defend the small business. I will always be the first one to be like, you know What? We have five people looking at these things. We don't have 500. We can make a mistake. We can miss something. We. You know, I would be the first one. But this is just a level where you're like, you cannot simply do this to people. You know, you simply cannot just go see it. And I'm sure you'll be as baffled as I am. So. Yeah, I feel like brands needs to go back to. Is it fair? You know?
- [47:59]
Christina
Yeah.
- [48:00]
Alyssa
What a great question. Okay, well, we'll find that and link it. Yeah, we're both like, excuse me. We'll both look at that and we can link that down below because it's such a great conversation. Christina, did you have any questions, Any additional questions, or should we do our little rapid fire.
- [48:20]
Christina
Let's do the rapid fire. I think it was a great conversation.
- [48:23]
Alyssa
I felt so ready. Sorry, Laura, I did not put this in your brief, but we normally end.
- [48:33]
Christina
Up.
- [48:34]
Alyssa
We're throwing you a curveball. Don't worry, they're easy.
- [48:37]
Laura Nikolaeva
Lisa, I've known you for a while. There's nothing that would bother me with you. If you're linked with Christina, I'm guessing I'm looking at the same.
- [48:49]
Alyssa
Yes, 100%. Oh, I'm so glad you feel that way. Thank you. What a wonderful thing to say. Okay, so we normally end our interviews with these, like, rapid fire quick questions. So quick question, quick answer. And if you don't even, like, agree, you could just be like, nothing. You know, like, answer whatever. First. First comes to mind.
- [49:12]
Laura Nikolaeva
Okay. All right.
- [49:13]
Alyssa
Okay. First question is, what is your favorite fashion show to watch? Fashion show or, like, who's the designer that you are? Like, if you. If you even watch, like, fashion Weeks or anything like that, do you have a designer that you like to see their work?
- [49:32]
Laura Nikolaeva
I watch things, but generally no. And I'm one of those people that try to stay away from it because it influences me too much. So I usually watch them after a certain amount. I do love watching a couple of things lately. London. I want to see what she does to it with. I think she's great.
- [49:51]
Alyssa
Yeah.
- [49:51]
Laura Nikolaeva
So, you know. Yeah, great.
- [49:54]
Alyssa
Good answer. That's perfect. Dresses or pants?
- [49:59]
Laura Nikolaeva
Pants.
- [50:00]
Alyssa
Okay.
- [50:01]
Christina
Me too. Same.
- [50:03]
Alyssa
I think all of us here are like, trousers. Trousers people. The most powerful garment a woman can own.
- [50:16]
Laura Nikolaeva
Oh, my God. That's a really difficult. The power. The most powerful.
- [50:23]
Alyssa
And it doesn't have to be like a specific piece. It could be ambiguous. If you like.
- [50:28]
Laura Nikolaeva
I have to say the one that's not done by exploitation, you know, can be anything, but it has to. That's not done by exploiting another human or the environment. And for me, that's the answer.
- [50:44]
Alyssa
Beautiful.
- [50:45]
Christina
Wow. Love that.
- [50:46]
Alyssa
Love it. That's what.
- [50:47]
Christina
I'm powerful.
- [50:49]
Alyssa
I was kind of hoping that that's how you would answer. I'm glad that that's the. Like, that was your.
- [50:54]
Christina
I was gonna say like a blazer.
- [50:56]
Alyssa
Yes. Okay.
- [50:57]
Laura Nikolaeva
So that was the first thing in my head as well. But then I was, hey, it is a blazer. But, you know, the. The most powerful blazer was created by McQueen. I don't think you can choose, you know.
- [51:09]
Alyssa
Yeah, no, good.
- [51:11]
Laura Nikolaeva
So we are just following, you know, we're just following by.
- [51:15]
Alyssa
Okay, good.
- [51:16]
Laura Nikolaeva
Yeah.
- [51:17]
Alyssa
I'm so glad.
- [51:18]
Laura Nikolaeva
I thought.
- [51:18]
Alyssa
I knew that. I was really hope. I was like, oh, if I know Laura, like, she's going to answer it this way. So this is good.
- [51:23]
Laura Nikolaeva
Good.
- [51:23]
Alyssa
I'm so glad. This one a little bit more, like, lighter. What's your go to power color?
- [51:32]
Laura Nikolaeva
Power color? Black. I. I actually would say black because I don't wear black often.
- [51:39]
Alyssa
Okay. Okay, great. Cool.
- [51:42]
Laura Nikolaeva
Yeah. So when I need to toughen up, and I've always felt like going to black.
- [51:48]
Alyssa
Love it.
- [51:49]
Laura Nikolaeva
Okay, idea.
- [51:50]
Christina
Why can't go wrong? I love black. Favorite color, right?
- [51:55]
Laura Nikolaeva
Yeah.
- [51:56]
Christina
Yeah.
- [51:58]
Alyssa
One thing you want all women to think of when they get dressed themselves.
- [52:06]
Christina
Yes.
- [52:08]
Laura Nikolaeva
I don't want to say anything else. Themselves.
- [52:10]
Alyssa
Great. Love it. Simple.
- [52:12]
Laura Nikolaeva
It's about you. Please. It's not about others. It's always about you. You know, no one can love you as you. Huh?
- [52:20]
Alyssa
Yeah, 100%.
- [52:22]
Christina
Oh, I love that.
- [52:24]
Alyssa
So we should just keep going. Like Paraby with Laura.
- [52:27]
Laura Nikolaeva
This is awesome.
- [52:28]
Christina
Yes, that's right.
- [52:32]
Alyssa
Heels or flats?
- [52:35]
Laura Nikolaeva
I am almost 6ft tall. Flats. I feel like the Eiffel Tower if I put heels. So for me, it's always flats.
- [52:45]
Alyssa
Flats. Great. And last question. What are you most hopeful for? For the future of fashion.
- [52:54]
Laura Nikolaeva
To become fair. I'm really hopeful that we'll become more fair because we've been so unfair to everyone, you know, to everyone, but even customers. I just wanted to be a bit more fair. Not a bit more, a lot more. But, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try and be not as, as challenging as I usually would be. Just. I really hope we'll go back to thinking about everyone involved because again, it's such a human centric business, you know, like, we need humans and they are so involved in everything, just like we are. Because when you wear something yourself, you know, there is so many human hands that done this for you. So if you can just imagine, like, you know, the. I think the Average is actually 27 people. 27 people. Arms are touching one garment on average until it's yours. So imagine this is 44 right now, 54 hence behind you. If you just for one second imagine this, you're like, whoa, this is actually quite powerful. You know, we. And it's not like I can't ignore, I can't ignore anymore. How are those hands? What are they doing? How are they feeling? You know, all the this. Yeah, human bits.
- [54:20]
Alyssa
Love that, Laura. Thank you.
- [54:22]
Christina
That's definitely, definitely something to think about because I think, yeah, it's. It's almost like we're so disconnected from everything. From our, like where our food comes from, where our clothes come from, even each other. Nowadays. The sequence of events until it gets to you is such a huge. It's a great reminder.
- [54:39]
Laura Nikolaeva
Okay. As well. And I am sorry if I'm a bit too chatty, but I know. So we're gonna edit anyway. Whenever it feels like too long, you will chop it.
- [54:51]
Christina
Oh, no, no. This is a great conversation.
- [54:54]
Alyssa
It was great.
- [54:55]
Christina
And before we go, tell us where.
- [54:57]
Alyssa
That's right.
- [54:57]
Christina
Everyone can find you.
- [55:00]
Laura Nikolaeva
So so far we're mostly online for the international audience, which is the bigger audience we have. But also in, in England we are starting to have a bit more. Our spots where you can find us in like physically. Yeah. Hopefully this year we will be opening our own flagship store. We don't know yet.
- [55:23]
Christina
Wow.
- [55:24]
Laura Nikolaeva
Yeah. Because, you know, it's. It's difficult and it has to be the right partnership. So obviously we're looking for funding, but it will hopefully happen, if not this year, next year. So really cool stuff. Stuff. But we have, we have a couple of stores in London. We are looking into a few more just because London is so big. So you kind of try to cover, you know, different south and the north. And we also have a shop in Tokyo which has been there for a very long time. Very few people know, but we are still back from this season onwards. Last season actually and we are talking to a couple of places in New York. I mean I'm. I'm really hopeful that we'll be able to find good partners because when you stop wholesaling, it's a very different conversation. Unless you obviously invest in your own chain. You have to work with people and it's harder. It has to be the right match. Especially, especially with everything I just said. Yes, online we have a great customer service. That's what people say, not my words. And it's very intentional. So anyone that has issues with, you know, sizes or anything like that, we are there. We love chatting to people. We go on zooms with them. So it's open minded and, and very open conversation kind of brand. So yeah, if you want just hit us with the message and we will.
- [57:01]
Christina
Sounds good. We'll make sure that we link everything in the show notes for you. So definitely, definitely check it out. And the Instagram too.
- [57:07]
Alyssa
Amazing. Well, thank you. Thank you so much for coming on. Laura.
- [57:12]
Laura Nikolaeva
Thank you for having me. Anytime.
- [57:15]
Alyssa
Thank you so much for joining in.
- [57:17]
Christina
Our conversation this week. If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple and and leave us a rating and review. It's one of the best ways to support the Sustain this podcast at zero cost to you. We're also a community led podcast so if you have any questions for us, topic requests or even guests you want to hear from, please send us a DM on Instagram. @ Sustain this podcast we read all of our comments and look forward to hearing from you.
- [57:45]
Alyssa
We hope you join us again next Tuesday where we'll talk about so much more than clothes.