Alison Hoenes shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Alison, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
People who aren’t in the fashion industry assume that my job is highly creative. Their only reference to this industry is reality fashion design TV shows. Those in the industry assume that my job is all technical. There is creativity involved and it is very technical, but I don’t think that fully captures it.
As a patternmaker and technical designer, my work is to figure out how to make something instead of figuring out what to make. It is very relational. I have to figure out the relationship between the designer’s vision and the physical properties of the materials, the relationship between the target customer and the shape of the pattern that will fit them, and the relationship between quality and production efficiency. It is like putting together a puzzle with hundreds of pieces that all have to fit together in just the right places to complete the picture!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am a freelance patternmaker and I help women’s slow fashion brands get their designs to production without compromising their fit, vision, or values. I’m obsessed with fit! But I believe fit isn’t just about fitting clothes. It is about fitting the person, their lifestyle, and their values. That’s where I always start with my work. Who are we fitting? What do they care about? And what do you care about as the designer and brand owner? It has to start with the people first.
I also host the How Fitting® podcast – a show for slow fashion designers who want to create clothing and grow a business that fits their customer, lifestyle, and values. Each episode explores how relatable fashion entrepreneurs (the kind who run their businesses from kitchen tables and cutting tables, not boardroom tables) navigate the fashion industry with integrity and define success based on their own principles.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who taught you the most about work?
In a foundational sense, it was my parents that taught me the most about work. Neither of them work in the fashion industry nor are entrepreneurs, but they modeled work ethic, scrappy resourcefulness, openness to new ideas, and a curiosity to learn.
My mom homeschooled me and my siblings until we went to college. In addition to our academic work, we were encouraged to pursue topics and activities that interested us. My parents taught me to try different things, but also put in the work towards a long-term goal. From a young age, I was always interested in sewing. It was a hobby at first, but became my summer jobs in highschool and college.
As a young teen, I was interested in graphic and web design. I got a book on html code from the library and learned how to make my own website. I wrote various blogs over the years. My parents supported me in these interests growing up and what I learned has definitely fed into the work I do today.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Empathy. It is easy to judge people when you don’t understand them or don’t acknowledge their humanity. It is hard to do so when you look that person in the eye and recognize their suffering. Even if we haven’t experienced the same kind of pain, we are more alike than different. When I’ve experienced business, personal, or health challenges, it makes me realize that I don’t have all the answers. I think it has made me more gracious towards others. You never know what someone else is going through and how that is affecting them.
Suffering also gives perspective. It makes you very clear about what is and is not important in life or work. For example, early on in my business, I was burned by a business partner and thought it might end my career. I learned some hard lessons. It prompted me to set better boundaries and communicate in ways that sets both myself and my clients up for a more successful relationship in the long run. That difficult experience highlighted areas for improvement in my business that I might not have seen as clearly if everything had gone smoothly.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
Especially with all the suffering in the world right now, I think a big lie that the fashion industry tells itself is that this work does not matter. Or, even more so, that some people do not matter. It is just fashion, but it is so much more than that too.
As an industry, we devalue the people that make our clothes. We don’t see garment work as skilled work even though anyone who has sewn anything knows that it very much is. Production and design are so separated in many supply chains that we don’t even realize all the steps that go into making a garment so we undervalue it.
I see big brands making choices that indicate that the people don’t matter. Factories are pressured to eat part or all of tariff costs which squeezes their already slim margins even further. Retailers impose long credit terms on their suppliers and still pay late. The few people at the top of companies make big bonuses while their employees get laid off. The reality is that people at every level of the business are important. It is not just peoples’ livelihoods, but the quality of the final product and sustained success of the brand that is at stake.
Smaller, sustainable brands tend to do better at valuing the people, but I see many of them pondering a different falsehood: does this work matter? Do we need more clothes? Does fashion have significance in a world with bigger problems? I think it does. Fashion is the livelihood of many people. Plus, clothes connect us to ourselves and to others. Fashion is about relationships, culture, and community. That matters.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. When do you feel most at peace?
I’ve been enjoying getting lost in fun projects lately. There is something freeing about creating something just because I want to, not because I have to. I don’t think about the time or my to-do list and just get lost in the process with some music or an audiobook in the background. I’ll sew something for myself and spend hours sewing something intricate without worrying about a production cost. I’ll experiment with a new recipe and use the fancy spices instead of saving them for a special occasion. I’ll sit under a blanket on the couch and mend my socks. There is calm in the slowness of craft untied to commercialism.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://howfittingpatterns.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alisonhoenesdesign/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisonhoenes/
- Other: https://howfittingpodcast.com
Image Credits
Tori Wright
