Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Corey DeCraene. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Corey, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I’m pretty sure my family would agree that I’ve always had an interest in fashion and shopping. As I entered adulthood, that evolved into an obsession with product design and consumer insights. I’m constantly curious about societal events/shifts and their relationship with consumer behavior, particularly with how those factors affect fashion trends. This curiosity ultimately led me to pursue degrees in apparel design and technical design (garment fit optimization) from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, NY. Equipped with that foundation, I then gained industry experience designing for a handful of mass-market fashion brands and retailers. I’ve also had a longstanding love of collecting secondhand clothing, which has played a significant role in my learning process. As a founder of Craene Studio + Archive, I’ve now spent several years building my expertise in curating a unique selection of secondhand pieces. I’m forever delighted by the history of apparel design and enjoy looking to designs of the past to inform future creative decisions.

If I could go back, I would clue my past-self into the fact that I didn’t have to know how to do everything myself! I accidentally made a habit of keeping my design work too close to my chest, driven by a feeling that I had something to prove. I’ve seen plenty of other creatives make this mistake, especially in their first few years working professionally. I’ve learned that this ultimately stalls progress as this behavior compromises the success of collaboration. I eventually began to understand that concepts become stronger through the magic of teamwork, and as a result, I became more comfortable leveraging the expertise of others around me.

Additionally, learning to accept constructive criticism as guidance for personal and professional growth has been essential in my endeavors with the team for Craene Studio + Archive. Being open to honest, respectful feedback has helped refine the way we assort and present our secondhand-first brand. On the flip side, I try to trust my gut and seek different perspectives if I feel like the critical response I’m receiving is unhelpful. I’m also regularly asking clarifying questions to seek understanding of others’ perspectives. Setting aside a fear of being looked down upon for not being “in the know” or “getting the reference” has been critical to my learning process.

Considering obstacles, I’d say that taking on an unrealistic workload has stalled my learning more often than I care to admit! Even before going into it, I knew that the process of building and deploying the brand strategy behind Craene Studio + Archive would be an epic unto itself. I’m still learning how to be more realistic when managing time and effort on my creative endeavors with my partners-in-dye, Caroline and Steven. Always working under pressure leaves little room for honing valuable skills and processing new concepts. Additionally, downplaying the importance of routine and momentum has had its negative effects, too. I now recognize that it’s much easier to maintain momentum (no matter how slowly) than kicking back into gear after a period of complete inertia.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Corey DeCraene, and I’m one of the two co-creative directors behind Craene Studio + Archive, a “secondhand-first” brand concept. Along with my co-creative director (and bestie!) Caroline Hust, we work to bring Craene Studio + Archive to life using our experience as design professionals and enthusiasm for secondhand clothing. We each have about a decade of experience working in a creative capacity within the fashion industry, with our most recent experience bringing us together and kicking off our creative dialogue. In our current work, Caroline and I are joined by our operations director, Steven DeCraene, who also happens to be my husband! Leveraging Steven’s business acumen and expertise in customer service and hospitality, the three of us proudly launched Craene Studio + Archive in 2020.

We were motivated to start a business built around a focus on secondhand clothing and materials as a way to challenge the environmental impact of the apparel industry. Even in our initial conversations around creating a fashion brand, it was clear that the best way to reduce the impact of producing new clothes is to move away from producing them altogether. With this core understanding, we curate, renew, and upcycle secondhand apparel while appealing to contemporary attitudes around fashion and style.

At Craene Studio + Archive, we work to provide our customers with two collections: Studio and Archive. For our Studio collection, we curate capsules of secondhand garments that we’ve renewed with specialty hand-dyed processes and unique repairs, creating one-of-a-kind treasures from found fashion. Launching this spring, our Archive collection uses a modern perspective to create style stories built from our library of previously-loved pieces, offering quality secondhand clothing that easily coordinates with today’s trends. Additionally, we enjoy collaborating with clients on custom projects, using our dye techniques and repair methods to refresh our customers’ existing clothing and textiles.

We aim to solve two major problems for our customers: reducing the environmental impact of Americans’ relationship with clothing, and the very real challenge of finding quality, unique clothing that fits well. By remaining focused on curating and renewing secondhand clothing, we offer a much-needed alternative to fast fashion that still delivers on style and comfort. We also provide a universal sizing system that takes the guesswork out of secondhand shopping. Our commitments to responsibility, inclusivity, and creativity align perfectly with our belief that quality secondhand fashion should be accessible to all, and that nearly any piece of clothing has the potential to be beautiful and unique.

We are most proud of our commitment to create new shopping experiences and exciting pieces out of secondhand clothing. We want every customer to know that they can stay true to their personal style while avoiding the negative environmental impacts that come along with the conventional production of brand-new apparel. We also pride ourselves on our inclusive sizing system and our dedication to working with each customer to help them find a perfect fit. Ultimately, we want customers to feel good about the clothing they wear and the impact their fashion statements make on the world.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Early on in my career, I had to unlearn the belief that trying harder was the de facto solution to any challenge I faced. I realized that failure can be a highly valuable learning experience, and that pivoting my strategy based on insights gained from failure is clearly more effective than simply overworking and overcorrecting. Through this learning process, I came to the understanding that each person’s brain functions differently, and forcing myself to try harder at something I wasn’t wired to master would never be productive.

I also came to recognize that accepting my weaknesses wasn’t a personal failure, but rather a collective success. It allowed me to leverage the strengths of others in my team or network to fill in the gaps where my own level of mastery fell short. This realization has allowed me to embrace a more collaborative and team-focused approach to problem-solving, which has ultimately led to more successful outcomes.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I see that recent advances in the technological abilities of artificial intelligence are causing concern for creatives, stoking fears and tense conversations around the eventual outsourcing of creative work to acutely-trained AI programs instead of humans. Right now, I think that’s slightly alarmist. If we consider these programs and algorithms as resources instead of existential threats, AI can completely change the game when it comes to boosting humanity’s creativity and problem-solving abilities.

One of the main benefits of using AI as a tool in the creative process is that it can help generate a wide range of ideas in a fraction of the time it would take a human. With vast amounts of data available, AI algorithms can speedily sift through information to identify patterns, trends, and insights that humans may not have noticed on our own. This can be especially helpful for small businesses or creatives who may not have a large team to rely on for ideation and strategy development.

AI can also be super helpful with the evaluation and refinement of ideas. For instance, I could ask ChatGPT to identify potential issues with a creative concept or design strategy, and I bet I’d be headed back to the drawing board with a few helpful edits in mind thanks to some interesting points made by a program. Using AI in this way could save time and resources down the line by improving a flawed design concept’s viability well before it ever becomes a failed prototype or worse — a one-star review from a customer.

AI has very real potential to become a powerful method for streamlining and enhancing the creative process, and I can imagine we’ll all be wishing this resource was in our creative arsenal long ago.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.craene.com/
• Instagram: @craenestudio
• Other: [email protected]