We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Myla Davey. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Myla below.
Myla, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Cherry Gardens was born from my memories of childhood nostalgia, combined with my love of comfy clothing (I don’t wear anything that doesn’t feel good on my body!) The name of the brand comes from the Kingston, Jamaica neighbourhood my family and I lived in for a period when I was young, and each of the pieces are named after a person, place or thing from my life. I was inspired by the comfort of nostalgia, how those core memories shape and embrace you throughout your life, and how you idealize them as you look back. I wanted to create something that looked as good as it felt, as well as represent those that are typically underrepresented in media, being something I struggled with growing up, being biracial. It’s truly a personal expression for me, using my knowledge and experience in the fashion industry, having worked in it for 10+ years.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’ve been working in the fashion and creative industry for a while, and I’ve had experiences in all aspects of this space — from wholesale, to retail, mass market and high end. I actually still work a 9-5 right now, at a creative marketing and branding agency. It’s a lot of work to keep up with that as well as my 5-9, Cherry Gardens, but so rewarding and I’m constantly learning as I go and getting a chance to flex my creative and problem-solving skills in both roles.
I’m most proud of emphasizing underrepresented individuals and ideas in my brand, making sure everyone feels represented, sees themselves in my brand, which was something that was missing for me in media while I was growing up. I make it a point to work with local BIPOC and women-identifying creatives, vendors, models and collaborators, to support and uplift the super-talented creative community that exists here in Toronto. So much talent that often flies under the radar. It it really needs to be talked about more!
Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?
Manufacturing products is HARD! Especially for a small business in Canada, which I realized after I got started with it. It was super important to me that my products were made ethically and sustainably so I started off creating the patterns and manufacturing with a local seamstress here in Toronto. When the time came to look to scale up, sourcing a factory that could accomodate the small minimums that I needed was super challenging. It took time and tons of energy but I’m proud to be able to keep everything local. I’ve learned that not a ton of resources exist to support small business, whether in manufacturing or other facets of running a business, and I’ve leaned on my network heavily throughout this journey.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
Honestly, key milestone #1 was launching this brand! I had been sitting on the idea for a while, waiting for the ‘right time’ to make the leap. But there is never a perfect time to make a big decision, and some people get stuck in that rut of holding perpetually, waiting for everything to be just so (guilty!). The best thing I’ve learned from this experience is to just start, and the rest of the details will fall in to place after that.
Another big milestone was growing my following and making my first sale — such an amazing feeling to know that others resonated with what I was putting out there. This business is still my side hustle, but the goal is to make it my full-time thing one day, which will be the biggest milestone yet.
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Image Credits
Vai Yu Law, Alex Strothard, Nadia Ebrahim, Michael Stuckless