We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Marci Champion Ditzell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Marci below.

Alright, Marci thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

People ask me all the time how INTERRUPTED began. You could say it started in August of 2022 when I met with a company to start designing a pant. But, really…it started long before that.

I am 5’10”. I have been tall since I was about 14…and yes, middle school dances were awkward. So, I have been on the hunt for long pants, and skirts, my entire adult life. It has always frustrated me that men’s pants frequently come in inseam but women’s pants rarely do. Why is it assumed women are all the same height? If we ever meet, you will notice that I have taken the hem out of the jeans I am wearing. This has been the way I have dealt with never finding pants long enough. Until now.

I saw, and have experienced, a missing sub-section in women’s apparel. Women should have options when purchasing apparel. We are not all the same height and do not all have the same proportions; why do our clothing choices. Our first small-batch pant is extremely versatile and available in 3 different inseams. As INTERRUPTED grows, I hope to add a fourth inseam, extended sizes, and multiple other items. Hello maxi skirt!

Along with offering multiple inseams, we are extremely focused on ethical, sustainable production. We have partnered with several other women-owned companies to produce trim materials and run the production of the pant. INTERRUPTED is Austin born and LA made. We have chosen sustainable, recycled fabrics to create our clothing from. I truly want women to feel good in our clothing, as well as feel good about purchasing it. I believe in being a slow-fashion, responsible-luxury brand!

Marci, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

It is by pure accident that I find myself in the fashion industry. I am actually an exercise physiologist and own a wellness/longevity clinic in Austin (Austin Fitness Clinic). Over years of talking with my female clients, I realized how frustrated women are with the options in apparel we have access to. This is what led me to found a women’s apparel company.

I really want to solve 2 problems with the founding of INTERRUPTED. First, I want women to have options when they purchase apparel. A woman that is 5’1″ and wears a size 8 does not have the same leg length as a woman that is 5″10″ and wears a size 8. Why do 90% of size 8’s have a 31-32 inch inseam? That is the wrong length for both of those women; it is infuriating. We are solving this problem by having 3 different inseams/lengths to choose from.

Second, I want to create luxury apparel that has been responsibly made. I didn’t know much when I started on this journey, but I did know that I wanted my apparel produced in America. I also wanted as many of the raw materials to come from the USA as possible.

Fast fashion has become so ubiquitous that no one really stops to understand the impact it has on people and the planet. Garments made in other countries are constructed by workers making dollars a day, working in dangerous factories. Most of this low-quality product is sent to landfills, or shipped across the world just to be discarded.

I wanted no part of these broken aspects of the fashion industry. So, I looked to factories here in the USA. I’ve spent time talking with, visiting, and vetting companies who: pay their workers well, constantly work to improve their sustainable practices, and make garments/materials here, in America, where INTERRUPTED is based. They also happen to be mostly woman-owned; bonus!

We are months away from our first small-batch release. It is exciting and overwhelming to be able to provide a responsible choice for women that at the same time provides options as well!

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

I knew nothing about manufacturing when I started INTERRUPTED! Being that my other business is service based, I had absolutely no idea where to start. I began by researching apparel production, what was involved, the different places it is done, etc. After several months of searching and researching I came across a company here in Austin that does pattern development and has a sister company in LA that does production. Perfect! I contacted them and it has been a great fit. Luckily, they have a list of vetted suppliers and vendors that I could work off of to find what I needed. That was a much harder task than I thought it would be.

I have had the vision for the Year Long pant in my head for many years. Getting that vision made into reality took some time. I had to search out fabrics that were sustainable and ethically made. I also had to find a company that could produce all the ‘trim’ items: drawstrings, elastic, aglets. After several not-great experiences, I found an amazing woman-owned company in North Carolina that has done all the trim items for the pant. Slowly it all started to come together.

I have read countless founders’ stories and realized most of them start with “after 2 years of development”. It’s no joke! It actually takes that much time to take something from a vision to a reality. If all goes well, I hope to have our first-run pant out to customers by August which, you guessed it, will be exactly 2 years from the date I had my first design meeting.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Ah, the pivot. It’s inevitable in business. They are important, truly! It means you tried something/envisioned something, it didn’t work, you pivot and adapt. I believe it is how we truly learn. If you take nothing else from this interview; this is the important part. To those of you that are thinking about starting something new, are afraid to make a decision, don’t know your direction: jump! Make a choice, try it, if it’s the wrong one, pivot and try again.

My pivot moment in this company was when I first receive the production costs. As I’ve mentioned I knew I would be producing in the USA which meant higher (although I would argue, correct) production cost. Side note: this is an important distinction. People frequently complain or offer as an excuse that producing in the USA is so much more expensive than overseas. I think the more important questions is WHY is it so less expensive overseas?! But that is different conversation about fast-fashion.

Back to the pivot: The costs were about 3x what I was expecting. To be totally honest I was crushed, and possibly in tears. I had no idea how I was going to compete with other, larger, overseas-produced brands. Then a very good friend said to me “hello, you are creating a luxury brand; meant for a specific audience and customers that want responsible production and quality.” That was the moment I pivoted.

I realized I will never be able to compete with the Zara’s, H&M’s, and other fast-fashion companies. But, I don’t want to. It was liberating. I can now focus on this much smaller market that understands that responsible, quality, ethic apparel is an investment. Those clients will also treat this apparel as exactly that: an investment. Apparel that is not worn once and sent to a landfill. A perfect pivot!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://interruptedapparel.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/interruptedapparel
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marci-champion-ditzell-7a016692

Image Credits
Mark Griffin Champion