Modern Fashion: Maria Loria of WearMyWardrobeOut On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today
An Interview With Candice Georgiadice
Time and money — self funding your business will only take you so far. To scale up fast after successful proof of concept it takes more time, resource and money to do this. I’ve worked contract jobs for 9 months on and off to fund paying my graduate staff, to be able to open my studio and to fund essentials like technology and PR. Its exhausting being two people and working two jobs but if you can sustain it then it’s worth it in the end. On 1st March I’ll be back to one job and will have opened up a rental and repair studio all self-funded.
Many in the fashion industry have been making huge pivots in their business models. Many have turned away from the fast fashion trend. Many have been focusing on fashion that also makes a social impact. Many have turned to sustainable and ethical sourcing. Many have turned to hi tech manufacturing. Many have turned to subscription models. What are the other trends that we will see in the fashion industry? What does it take to lead a successful fashion brand today?
In our series called, “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today” we are talking to successful leaders of fashion brands who can talk about the Future of Fashion and the 5 things it takes to lead a successful fashion brand in our “new normal.”
As a part of this series I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Maria Loria, from WearMyWardrobeOut.
We are the UK’s first fully circular sustainable fashion-as-a-service brand. We rent out handpicked, timeless vintage and pre-loved items from Maria and Co’s wardrobe sourced only from items already in existence. We alter, repair for re-wear and upcycle to enable the ongoing recycle of fashion items, unwanted upholstery, household items and just about anything that we do not want to see go to landfill by making one-of-a-kind dresses for rent.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?
Both a blessing and a curse… being born from Italian Irish heritage, I inherited a very odd body shape that meant standard retail shop sizes didn’t fit me. I’ve always had to adjust my own clothes, nipping in the waist or letting out the hips. My mum would help occasionally but she had two jobs and my two brothers to look after so never had the time, which meant I’d had to teach myself basic sewing skills by the time I’d reached 12 years old!
At age 14, I landed my first paid job working in my hometown as a Saturday retail shop girl. I was so obsessed with fashion that I actually lied to the shop owner, saying I was aged 16 to get myself the job!
Every Saturday, the first thing I’d do when I got to work was rummage through the latest stock arrivals, and reserve my choices. At closing time I’d blow my entire wage on new outfits where after school each day I’d hand sew and alter these clothes to fit me perfectly . I was the only girl among my friends who had the means and independence to buy my own clothes every week.
Pretty soon, I was lending clothes out to friends and had quickly developed an obsession for picking out items for the women shoppers that came into the shop on a Saturday.
Then I discovered vintage! I remember in 2004 going to visit my cousin in NYC and walking into Cheap Jacks Vintage Store in Midtown (sadly now closed). It was like nothing I’d ever seen before, an emporium of wall to wall vintage and thrifted one-of-a-kind fashion pieces. I’d literally died and been reincarnated that same day in that shop! Beside myself with excitement, in awe of how aesthetically pleasing these vintage items really were! I left there with a 1980’s Dynasty style glitter jumpsuit, the kind you’d have seen in British Vogue or imagined a New York socialite wearing to a cocktail party in the mid 80’s. I imagined who had worn this undeniably exquisite outfit before me, what was their story. It must have been worn a handful of times since it was in immaculate condition somewhat 20 years on! Fashion altering and wearing Vintage was always just a necessity and a hobby to me, it was never a viable career choice.
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Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?
It was becoming very clear that throwaway fashion was a real thing and that cheap fast fashion retailers were gaining market share by mass producing trend items. Items made from cheap, offensive materials created in ill-fitting poorly designed styles. When I looked further into this it was frightening to see the amount of over produced clothes being dumped in landfill. I was further appalled reading about the unethical exploitation of workers in the countries that these brands were sourcing their products from.
It simply was not sustainable to continue to allow these brands to operate in this way. Yet to move the dial away from the fast fashion culture of today there needed to be alternative, accessible, affordable operating models developed to enable fashion lovers to shop consciously and to support a future circular fashion economy.
So, I decided to take my business experience, my life savings, quit my finance job and launch WearMyWardrobeOut.
I wanted to give everyone access to a fully circular wardrobe experience by only wearing clothes already in existence, by extending the life of these clothes and by ensuring that they got re worn and reinvented for years and years to come. Ultimately, permanently turning their backs on these unethical brands who are not only harming the plant but that are cheapening and disrespecting the skill and craftsmanship of dress making, tailoring and fashion art by producing their clothes at such a devalued discounted price, on mass. I also wanted to make it affordable for people who really did only want to wear something twice (but that did not want to wear something new each time) and give them the ability to consume fashion in a way that suited their lifestyle but that didn’t compromise their values and that gave them value for money.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
12 months ago, I was sat on back-to-back calls negotiating bids for a large Corporate telecommunications company 45 hours a week having already spent 18 years in a Finance career.
A career in fashion was always completely out of reach for someone like me. I didn’t live in London, I hadn’t been to Fashion School, I knew no one in the Industry, I didn’t have any rich socialite friends that would give an ‘inning’ to their world or any famous influencer’s that could promote my idea across social media.
The barriers to entry were just so high that it was just completely unimaginable. Yet just last week I was invited to a closed Vogue Business Event in London where I was surrounded by fashion people from the Industry sat just 8 feet apart from Vogue business editors, the VP of Farfetch, the former CEO of ASOS and the Creative Director of Klarna!
I guess me even typing this answer to a potential fashion article is the most interesting story that has happened to me because I never dreamed that I’d have the opportunity to run my own meaningful fashion brand or be part of such a hugely important change to the fashion industry challenging the way that we as a society consume fashion.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Transparency, passion, and likeability are key to being a successful leader, if you aren’t able to connect with your audience by showing real authentic emotions and the real you then I think people see straight through this.
I was incredibly lucky that in August 2021, I put out a boosted post on Instagram for an Internship and found three of the most talented and loveliest people who wanted to come and work with me for three weeks. Between us we shared my sustainable brand story and mission with the community and asked people to volunteer to help us produce our first ever AW 21 Look book photoshoot. They believed in the brand and our purpose because they could see that we had a true and honest end goal that they connected with. We had volunteer models, photographers, coffee runners and were even given the photo shoot location venue for free for the entire day! Since then we’ve shot three other campaigns of which most have produced with community creative volunteers and models that see us as leading the way to a more sustainable fashion future.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
I am the only truly circular and sustainable service brand in this space in the UK where I curate, hand pick, rent, repair, reinvent, recycle, upcycle and tailor the clothes under one service and one brand. I only rent and source items that are already in circulation or that are headed for landfill by extending their useful wearable life.
My competitors trade off the back of already established concession fashion brands (Rixo, Vampire’s Wife, Rotate) under the guise of sustainability, with a message of ‘Rent this dress from £15 per day instead of buying it for £250’ omitting that there is a 3-day minimum rental period, plus a cleaning fee, plus a postage fee, plus insurance fees. Most items of which are sourced as managed wardrobed directly from brands last season dead stock and not actually worth a RRP of £250. The brands they work with have dead stock because they have over-produced, and they are brands that are not always using sustainable materials. My competitors have opened up a new channel for brands to continue to bring new items into circulation and over produce because they can rent out their deadstock and recover 400% of their original RRP by renting a dress for £50 up to 20 times! And to sell the 2nd hand items on Depop for £70 as a residual value. This is not affordable or good value for money for young consumers.
I offer an equitable, affordable end to end experience which is concession brand agnostic and asks the end consumer to really alter the way they see fashion by looking beyond the fashion ‘brand name’ culture and look at whether they love the fashion item for its ascetics, and it’s fit. (Because most of these brands still over produce and still source their items from China)
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Never underestimate the power of nostalgia”. I heard this quote from the Creative Director of Moschino whilst watching an episode of ‘Making the Cut’ . He was talking about one of the designers that was sourcing items from 18th century carpets and upcycling along with thrift shop military jackets to create one-of-a-kind catwalk pieces for that week’s challenge. He was debating with Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn about which designer should go through to the next round and was deeply unhappy that the other judges just didn’t get the designer’s magical creations. The opinions were so diverse that it made me realise that fashion really is art and that I just had to curate a story about the vintage and upcycled items I had and not to take it so personally when not everyone got my brand.
A PR agent that I contacted in March 2021 was the most incredibly rude person I’d ever corresponded with. She made me feel small and that I had no place in the fashion world and that clients were only looking for luxury or established brands to work with. It was a lesson for sure. It wasn’t until I heard this quote that I felt better about how belittling the email exchange with her was and decided to re-visit PR and thank goodness I did and found someone fantastic to help me, if I hadn’t then I would not be writing this answer right now.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Do you see any fascinating developments emerging over the next few years in the fashion industry that you are excited about? Can you tell us about that?
I can see more and more marketplaces arising where the traditional supply chain shifts from a supplier and D2C model, to an organic localised peer to peer supply chain model. Made up of community creatives with amateur sewing skills and emerging designers sharing their services with their community via marketplace apps. I see upcycling designers becoming more mainstream via marketplace apps where people want customisation and want one off items that are unique and statement like. Fast fashion brands will be held more to account and I really do see a gap in the market for a world leading fashion-as-a-service brand to take the lead in slowing fashion down. Consumers are looking for a frictionless online and offline experience and a community curated experience. They no longer want fashion to be functional or online only. The metaverse will or will not become a major thing, who knows but I think for luxury brands this is a real opportunity for them. I see more and more collaborations between brands just like we saw with Gucci and North Face last year. I can see consumers really turning the dial on sustainability but to do this they’ll need to let go of the cheap price points they’re used to, but this will happen as more and more people shine a focus on fast fashion brands.
Can you share how your brand is helping to bring goodness to the world?
This is our social responsibility mission: we exist to:
- Challenge the long-term buying behaviors of people in the UK which contributes to increased consumer debt, driven by social peer pressure. Through enabling a platform for people to affordably rent pre-loved stylish outfits instead of buying them.
- Contribute to slowing down throwaway fashion by renting out pre-loved items until they have reached the end of their economic life through the ongoing love, repair and upcycling of preloved items.
- Contribute to the reduction of fashion waste by recycling and upcycling (where feasibly possible) end-of-life, pre-loved fast fashion and vintage items.
Can you share with our readers about the ethical standards you use when you choose where to source materials?
I only source items that are already in circulation from vintage to damaged items that need minor or major repairs. I take donations and other people’s wardrobe items and rent them out. We never buy new and we never accept items from brands unless they are pre-loved and from local small businesses that have the same mission and ethics as we do.
Fast fashion has an advantage, that it is affordable for most people, but it also has the drawback that it does not last very long and is therefore not very sustainable. What are your thoughts about this? How does your company address this question?
The power and influence that fast fashion brands have gained in the past 2 years is frightening.
It is simply not sustainable to continue to enable the over consumption of fast fashion items and encouragement from fast fashion brands through constant ‘70% off’ messages being pumped into people on a daily basis.
We have an obligation to enable alternative ways of consuming fashion and hold accountable the brands that continue to over produce ‘trend’ items on mass and then dump their unwanted stock in landfill.
Until there are other proven consumption models available that are easily accessible, the fast fashion brands will carry on. I just need to believe that at some point the legacy consumers that blindly buy at this low price point will start to question why they can be priced so low and realise that their need for the latest trend items ultimately enables modern day slavery and the out right exploitation of other human beings in another country. Currently most consumers feel divorced from this, yet the harsh reality is that they are complicit. Its not about shaming people into turning their backs on fast fashion, it’s about helping them to understand how their clothes are made, how some items take 100 years to degrade and giving them a frictionless more conscious ways to consume fashion.
Thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand”. Please share a story or example for each.
- A true calling — I physically couldn’t eat or sleep in the last few months in my corporate job because my entire body was telling me that I needed to start this business. I was waking up in cold sweats every night! The day I resigned from my job my body just knew and and went back to normal immediately.
- A gap in the market — I said to many friends over 5 years ago that repairing and altering clothes was not accessible or affordable. I’d talked about creating a mobile tailoring business that I’d drive around doing on demand alterations because all of the clothes that fast fashion and high street brands were selling were ill fitting and cheap. That there was gap in the market to buy off the peg and then get a couture fit for your clothes on demand. Today there is a real need for this and for renting clothes — so timing is everything. 5 years ago would have seen the wrong time to start this business, the market and consumers wouldn’t have been ready for it.
- A talented team — one that is diverse in their opinions and ideas and that you empower and trust to have the same ethics and passion as you. When you find these people, look after them and hold onto them as they are very hard to find. I was lucky enough to find three amazing Interns that are now close friends and work for me part time as graduates. I trust them implicitly.
- Sheer determination — start up life is hard and it’s always going to feel easier to just work for someone else especially in the fashion industry where it is very saturated and impossible to break into. Don’t compare yourself to other brands unless it’s for market research otherwise it will just grind you down and you’ll lose focus clouding your mind with what others are doing. I see the other rental brands in the media weekly in WWD, the Guardian and its soul destroying wondering why my story hasn’t been heard, but I just have to trust that at the right time it will happen.
- Time and money — self funding your business will only take you so far. To scale up fast after successful proof of concept it takes more time, resource and money to do this. I’ve worked contract jobs for 9 months on and off to fund paying my graduate staff, to be able to open my studio and to fund essentials like technology and PR. Its exhausting being two people and working two jobs but if you can sustain it then it’s worth it in the end. On 1st March I’ll be back to one job and will have opened up a rental and repair studio all self-funded.
Every industry constantly evolves and seeks improvement. How do you think the fashion industry can improve itself? Can you give an example?
By weeding out brands that are only interested in making billions of profits each year for their already wealthy shareholders all at the detriment to our planet and our people. By trying new ways to consume fashion, whether it be digital, IRL, online or in the metaverse — change is coming, and we should embrace it. Supporting emerging brands and designers is key.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I’d launch a one stop shop App for sustainable fashion that integrated bike couriers, scooters and a true end to end peer to peer platform. Enabling consumers to divert their disposable income to each other instead of to large greedy corporations and already wealth shareholders. I’d enable a platform for people in the UK to reinvent tailoring and dress making as a skill and an art and remove the need for exploiting overseas workers
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Via instagram @wearmywardrobeout or via our website, or IRL at our studio
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Modern Fashion: Maria Loria of WearMyWardrobeOut On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.