A Belated Anniversary Post

This is kind of a belated anniversary post on my shop... It has been an emotional two years, but I'm still growing, both as a person and a Designer/Maker, and my style has changed throughout my time of selling online.

I have always been a somewhat creative person, and I had become more expressive within my Art during my year at London College of Fashion, where although I was really happy experimenting with my sketchbook and stuff, the design aspect was really difficult, as there was a sense of restricted freedom. I knew from this point that I disliked fashion, not in the sense that I didn't have any passion for it, but because the pressure to come up with something that was original, yet in trend was too much, and I've never followed trends!

This was one of my designs that I had designed for a shoot for a class magazine, which didn't get featured. The model that I worked with, had said that she loved my style and I should sell my designs. This was like a light bulb moment in my head, so I had finished my foundation, started job hunting and doing volunteer work at my local charity shop.

I didn't find any jobs, and after randomly searching on Google, I stumbled across Etsy. After looking at people's shops, I was like "I could sell my designs here, the community on here seems so amazing!" So I collected as much clothing as my Manager at my charity shop would let me have for one month, and through a  bit of trial and error, created 6 pieces for my shop. Here are some of them:

   

I have faced many challenges first hand whilst getting the hang of things in the shop, such as customer issues, pricing issues, and photography issues. As a 19 year old, I had no idea about running a business, it really was a scary thing, but I know I would get there eventually. The worst thing that did happen was when I got into a £2,000 debt, due to a flawed plan, and it was hard to get the business to grow when I owed so much money, and living by myself for the first time, it really saddened me to be in so much debt on my 21st birthday. Luckily, thanks to student finance, my parents, and my agency work, as well as my business, I have been able to pay off 2/3 of my debt, and lived kind of comfortably for the year I was away from home.

Now I have so much more passion for handmade, indie businesses, especially my own business, and I know that in a few years, I will be a lot more successful! I also have gained a lot more skill and more creativity since running my shop, and although I'm not the most religious person, I thank God for every sale and opportunities that he has brought me and I hope I get a lot more!

Have a great evening!

Katherine