Being in the know, when it comes to the latest in fashion matters to me. However, on another playing field, the environment and sustainability are a high priority in my everyday life.

I never thought too much about the way the fashion industry crosses paths with sustainability…until Aesthetic Laundry.

Nothing is more fashionably hot than a company that makes trendy, versatile wears while being environmentally friendly.

I had an opportunity to interview Heidi May and co-owner Joss Scott to find out why Aesthetic Laundry is the new “must have” to be added to every woman’s wardrobe.

Rebecca: Heidi, from what I understand you’ve spent some years in the corporate world of fashion and were unhappy. Leaving and going out on your own must have taken a lot of courage. What gave you the inspiration and courage to make the final leap?

Heidi: Yes, I was designing mens shirts – and although I was super grateful to get the job and get my foot into the industry, it opened my eyes to just how commercial and restrictive it is in terms of design. I got more excited about designing and making my own outfits to wear.

I found that I couldn’t stop thinking about Aesthetic Laundry; I’d wake up, research ideas or sketch designs on my way to work.

It was the eve of my 29th birthday and I was like ‘enough is enough’ – I can’t turn 30 and be in a job/ spend so much of my time doing something that was making me unhappy. I took the leap, quit my job the next day and quite honestly have never looked back!

Rebecca: What brought the final inspiration for Aesthetic Laundry?

Heidi: The idea for my own brand actually came about when I was quite young. I absolutely loved fashion from a young age. Shopping in the 90’s meant there was definitely a struggle to find clothes if you weren’t a particular size.

It was this love for clothes, but hate for the way the industry worked, that inspired me to set up my own business. Aesthetic Laundry was actually born whilst I was at uni - I designed my own clothes, wearing clothes that I felt comfortable in.

Entering the industry after uni gave me access to the industry behind closed doors. Elements I saw, a couple being the exclusivity and lack of inclusive sizing, meant I knew that Aesthetic Laundry would one day have its place.

Rebecca: On your website it mentions you would like to challenge fashion industry morals. What do you feel your moral values are that differentiate you from the standard industry?

Heidi: When Aesthetic Laundry first launched in 2018, I was on my own and designing clothes for myself. Once my co-owner Joss joined, one of the first decisions we made together was our business model “Made to Order.”

By “making orders”, it means that we have no stock on our shelves (except for exchanges and returns). This in turn therefore allowed us to offer a wider variety of styles and also increase our sizing from S - XXL, to XS - 5XL. If we produced stock of all our garments in all our sizes, the amount of stock would just be huge. So by making orders it has allowed us to be inclusive in our sizing but without being wasteful as we only produce the garments in the sizes our customers order.

Rebecca: What do you mean by it allows you to be inclusive without being wasteful?

Heidi: When you produce your clothes in-house, it is impossible to miss the offcuts of fabric that appear as you cut the garments. Turning a blind eye has never been an option for us. The last couple of years we have worked with our team to come up with different sized items that we can make with the offcuts. It is a balance of finding products we can produce in sizes of offcuts, ensuring it is feasible for our team to cut and sew.

Rebecca : You mentioned Joss, can you tell me about Joss and how your friendship turned into a partnership?

Heidi: We met up a couple of times to discuss what we both loved doing. Joss and I share a similar work ethic. I always knew we’d work well together because we both really drive things forward and share strengths in opposing areas.

Joss is GREAT at thinking from the customer's perspective. I am very in the moment and super creative. I can just jump in and out with ideas but have absolutely no idea how to execute them. I want to do everything at once and RIGHT NOW.

Joss is really great at understanding my ‘Heidi brain’ and working through my thought processes. It’s collaborative. I love the fact that when I’m having a wobble of doubt Joss is there to rock and rely on.

Rebecca: I feel your clothing can be work attire or a night on the town. Practical and versatile. Is this intentional for Aesthetic Laundry?

Heidi: I want people to have Aesthetic Laundry in their wardrobe season upon season. It is fashion but it is also about creating transitional pieces, those that you will treasure and wear again and again.

I design with a mix of colours as I am definitely a bold bright kind of girl. However, working with Joss has shown me that others get their confidence from less statements, more subtle hues. I try to include something for varying personal preferences.

Rebecca: You now kicked off a line for children. Can you tell me about that?

Heidi: Oh my gosh, the kids jumpers - they are just SO cute!! The idea for our Zero Waste Kids Jumpers actually came about a couple of years ago. We were looking at the size of varying offcuts from our adult garments and started to look at ideas which could be made from one single off-cut. We put some out to our customers and there was an overwhelming response.

We kicked off the collection with a replica of our adult Whitney jumper (our best selling tassel jumper), even utilising the trimmed down tassel offcuts for the tassels on the kids sleeves. We have extended the offer to plain jumpers and are currently working on some t-shirt options.

We purposely choose to design our zero waste garments (rather than produce one-offs) as it is important that this element of the business is efficient on a production end and therefore we need patterns and designs for the team to work from.

Rebecca: In my opinion, one of the coolest things about Aesthetic Laundry is not only being trendy, but you use environmental awareness and mindfulness of sustainability in your designs. Can you explain how this idea came about and why it’s important to you?

Heidi: A combination of working in the industry, beginning my own production in house and just getting older(!) have made me focus on the fact that although it is one of the most exciting industries you can be a part of, all fashion retailers (regardless of size) have a responsibility to our planet and people (whether that is the people working in it, or our younger generation we are leaving our planet for) and it is this that Aesthetic Laundry, via A.L Impact must strive to be a part of.

Rebecca: Can you explain what this means to keep the “footprint low” and how you differ from the rest of the fashion industry?

Heidi: One of the main factors in keeping our carbon footprint low, has been ensuring we keep the journey of our fabric limited. A lot of bigger brands produce their garments overseas (such as China and India) and then have the stock shipped to the countries they sell within.

Although it would be cheaper for us to import from another country, we have actively chosen to source our fabric within the UK. We have one main supplier for our fabric (a family run business) who dye and make their fabrics in the UK.

When it comes to sampling new designs and techniques, we have made a conscious decision to utilise End of Roll fabrics from local fabric shops rather than ordering via our UK fabric supplier. We know we are sampling our production, we don’t want to order fabric which would need to be produced (dyed) and instead choose to work with fabrics that already exist and have been rejected / no longer needed by other brands.

Rebecca: Aesthetic Laundry is considered a slow fashion brand. Will you explain that and why it’s important?

Heidi: In a world where the pace of life is so incredibly fast, it is important to stop and take that step back. The fast pace of the fashion industry has resulted in a huge issue with over consumption which is ultimately contributing to our throwaway culture.

We hope that our business model encourages people to slow down and choose the garments that they really want. We release two main collections per year (Spring Summer and Autumn Winter) We commit to offering the styles all season.

Rebecca: Can you tell me about the team at Aesthetic Laundry? How do you empower a team?

Heidi: Oh gosh, we are so lucky to have the team we do.

Currently there are 2 cutters, 3 seamstresses, a QC / Packer and a marketing assistant under myself and Joss. Every person is employed by Aesthetic Laundry and we are all based in the same studio.

This means everyone is a part of the process and growth of the business. As a team we collectively take huge pride in the fact that every single person contributes towards the final garment that a customer receives. Joss and I often say that Aesthetic Laundry wouldn’t be Aesthetic Laundry without the talented team we have around us.

Rebecca: Does Aesthetic Laundry find ways to reinvest in the community? If so, what kind of things does Aesthetic Laundry contribute?

Joss: AL Academy is the new arm of our business which has been in planning for a long time and came into fruition this January. Born from our personal experiences in the fashion industry, Heidi and I have created AL Academy to utilise our business model to create access and insight to those interested in (but might not be otherwise able to gain access to), the fashion industry.

Modelled on apprenticeship schemes the AL Academy took on its first trainee employee this year, providing a training programme with the view to employee full time at the end of this period.

Having provided our first internal role, our next steps are to build up a roster of local schools / youth centres / colleges which we can work with to offer studio tours and workshops. The door of the industry are often so tightly closed and we want to open them up to those who would not necessarily have the opportunity to access and give the younger generation an insight to the world of fashion.

Rebecca: Moving forward, what is your vision for the fashion world industry? How does Aesthetic Laundry contribute to that?

Heidi: There are definitely steps being taken in the right direction by the industry as a whole for a more sustainable outlook on clothing. I hope that these steps get bigger and faster.

Joss and I often internally use the analogy that Aesthetic Laundry is a tugboat, showing the big brands the direction that the industry can move in. It isn’t easy (otherwise the big brands would be doing it already!). However, we truly believe the various changes we have made and will continue to make can be made by others and will impact positively in the future.

Aesthetic Laundry is here to bridge the gap between fast and ethical fashion. We are here for those people who are looking to make changes to their shopping habits, but without increasing the price tag.

We believe that you can know exactly who made your clothes, you can shop in the UK, have both fashionable but also transitional pieces, that you can wear time and time again.

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I have had the pleasure of getting to know these two wonderful ladies better, the power of their words, dedication and creativity of Aesthetic Laundry.

Thank you to Heidi and Joss, we now all have a wonderful excuse to update our wardrobes!

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Background in the video production industry for over twenty years, Rebecca Ann Price continued her passion for story telling by writing and creating Realm Komiks. In addition, she is an active Blogger at www.TheCloverNook.com and writer for Thrive Global. Her specialty is in Keeping You Younger physically, emotionally and mentally as we travel through life together.

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