Emily challenges traditional fashion culture and encourages women to discover and protect the truest version of themselves…

Emily creates comfortable, washable skirts that allow women to transition through their many roles, as she transitions through her roles of mother, wife and entrepreneur. 

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Crystal Cave is a celebrity stylist turned style educator and fashion designer. She is the Founder + Creative Director of Poppy Row, a size-inclusive, eco-conscious clothing line. 

Following her employment in branding + marketing, Crystal decided to follow her dream of becoming a celebrity stylist and worked between NY and Los Angeles on the teams behind many major brands including Taylor Swift, Usher, Willem Dafoe, Kate Upton, Mercedes, Billboard Music Awards, among many others. 

After working with women across the globe, she realized there was a need in the marketplace for functional, transitional and stylish staples that were sustainably made, which lead to the creation of Poppy Row, a Los Angeles-based line of size inclusive, modular staples made from eucalyptus, carrying sizes 2-40. 

Crystal’s style advice has been seen by over 1 billion people globally. She’s the recipient of Rent the Runway's Project Entrepreneur Class of 2018 and has been seen in Elle Magazine, Essence Magazine, ABC, NBC, CBS, Bustle, The Boston Globe, Live About, Mind Body Green, Huffington Post, The Curvy Fashionista, and many more.

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Having lost a family member at a young age to melanoma, Christie is passionate about elevating the importance sun safe practices and annual skin checks. After an extensive career as a marketing executive with national and international brands, she decided to co-create a brand with more direct impact and personal meaning. Ultimately, the Sun50 company goal is to reduce the incidence of skin cancer with awareness, education and easy-to-implement sun protection. They are redefining sunblock clothing, so everyone can actively enjoy the sun without worry in the most beautiful eco-conscious fabrics. Christie likes to say, “We design for our customers with our planet top of mind.” Everything we do as humans today, greatly impacts our tomorrows.

Christie’s belief is you must choose an interest, whether a hobby, career or pastime, that aligns with your heart. When you do something you love, there is never enough time in the day. That’s how Christie feels about Sun50.

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Shanna Britta Mellnick is a small business owner who designs and constructs contemporary women’s wear, specializing in customer-focused fit and style. A graduate of the apparel design programs at both Purdue University and the Fashion Institute of Technology at New York University, Shanna also gained exposure to a variety of designers, working with Michael Faircloth, Versace, and Tommy Hilfiger during her education. After college, she helped manage production, pattern making, and design at Linda Segal in Houston, TX. Shanna then moved to St. Louis, MO – her current home – where she joined the design team at Lori Coulter, LLC (now SummerSalt Swimwear), focusing on custom-made swimwear for women. 

Shanna has taken these experiences to her own company with a wide array of products available in her online store, ranging from basic garments for any occasion to elaborate, glamorous pieces for special events. Her clients universally comment on her use of high quality, durable materials and construction, ability to custom-fit a garment to any body type, and fantastic eye for capturing the very best of today’s fashion trends.

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Mary Ruppert-Stroescu is an Associate Professor in the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Art at Washington University in St. Louis. She holds a Ph.D. in Human Environmental Sciences and a MS in Textile and Apparel Management. With nearly 10 years of prior experience working in fashion design and manufacturing in Europe and North Africa, Mary links industry practices and standards with academic analysis and exploration to foster innovation that is useful and meaningful. Her research focuses on the study and application of creativity, sustainable textile and fashion design, and wearable electronic textile-based systems to improve health and well-being. She holds a patent, titled: Textile repurposing and sustainable garment design.

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Katrina Bennett is a Fiber Artist, Fashion Designer, and the owner of Katrina Z'Chori - a brand of handmade wearable art. With over 18 combined years of sewing and pattern making experience, Katrina conceptualizes, designs and produces hand knotted and hand-dyed wearables from natural fibers such as cotton and hemp twine, string or rope and cotton and linen textiles. She’s inspired by natural fibers due to their breathability and ease of care properties. Adding to that, natural fibers like cotton show the vibrancy of Procion fiber creative dyes extremely well when combined with Japanese Shibori hand-dyed methods. Katrina draws inspiration from the traditional yet contemporary and relaxed aesthetic of these materials and how well they hold up over the life of each design piece. Her pieces are designed with the inspiration to travel, attend a festivity, or just stylishly lounge around. In most cases a single design will fit into all of these occasions.

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Taylor is the co-founder and lead designer at Taylor Tall. For tall women seeking clothing thoughtfully sized to fit them, Taylor Tall is a consciously crafted clothing line that designs and produces timeless basics, customized for a true fit.

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Daphne Benzaquen is the creative designer, CEO and founder of daph., a St. Louis-based fashion and lifestyle brand inspired by her Peruvian heritage.

She was inspired to start daph. while pursuing her M.B.A. at Washington University’s Olin School of Business. After having trouble finding a backpack that was functional, high quality, and fashionable, she decided to design her own bag, incorporating the unique materials and craftsmanship of Peru, and daph. was born.

Founded in 2016, daph. is one of the only U.S. fashion and lifestyle brands that solely combines modern, timeless designs with Peruvian resources and handcraftsmanship.

Daphne is passionate and committed to giving back, donating a portion of all daph. sales to support children with special needs in Peru. She also supports local charities in daph.’s headquarters, and is actively involved in the St. Louis fashion community, helping to mentor and support other designers and entrepreneurs, as well as serving as the marketing committee co-chair for Fashion Group International, Inc. Additionally, she serves on the Young Professionals Board for Annie’s Hope.

In 2019, Daphne was named one of St. Louis Business Journal’s ’30 under 30’, and has been featured in many local media publications and news outlets, including St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Riverfront Times, Ladue News, Town & Style, Fox 2 News, ‘Show Me St. Louis’, STL TV, and more.

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After watching the fashion documentary "The True Cost", Jessica couldn't "un-see" the facts about the impact of the fashion industry on the world. That began her journey to examine her own relationship with fashion and eventually start her brand, Mount Indigo, to spread awareness and advocate for a more sustainable fashion future.

Jessica currently splits her time between a corporate job in fashion as the Associate Manager of Brand Marketing for Soft Surroundings, a volunteer position as the Regional Director for Fashion Group International of Saint Louis, and growing her sustainable fashion startup brand, Mount Indigo. She specializes in fashion marketing and public relations and is very passionate about creating a more sustainable fashion industry.

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Hello and welcome to the How Fitting podcast. I’m Alison Hoenes. On this podcast, you’ll get to hear from independent fashion designers and entrepreneurs about how they grow their business making clothes that fit their customer and values. 

I’ll be your host for this show, but I’m also a freelance patternmaker who helps independent womenswear brands keep control of product development without the technical hassle.

As a patternmaker, I care about how clothes fit. There is something special about how well-fitting clothes make us feel. But even beyond how a garment physically fits a body, I think our clothes should also fit well with our lifestyle and values. Clothes affect our view of ourselves and others and how we go about manufacturing and buying them reflects what our values are. How do my designs fit with my market niche? How do I make this specific style or trend fit my customer? How do I find a factory that fits my business needs? How do I find fabrics that fit with my brand’s value of sustainability? How do I make sure my designs really fit an inclusive size range? These or similar questions are things you’ve probably asked concerning your own brand.

And you’re not alone. I have conversations about these topics all the time with fashion business owners. These conversations are what inspired me to start this podcast to share these "fitting" stories and questions from independent fashion businesses. While the answers to these questions, the exact business values, and specific target markets are slightly different for each brand, I think there is alot that can be learned from seeing how other brands fit it all together. My goal is that you’ll find these stories inspiring and insightful and they’ll help you find the right fit for each area of your fashion business.

So, again, welcome! I’m glad you’ve joined me and I hope you are as excited as I am to hear these conversations. 

To make sure you never miss an episode, go ahead and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, or Stitcher and visit howfittingpodcast.com for show notes and links to resources mentioned in each episode. 

I’d love to hear from you as well! What questions do you have? Do you have a fitting story you’d like to share? Reach out to me anytime here.

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