We were lucky to catch up with Alyson Eastman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Alyson, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Our mission at Alyson Eastman is to make beautiful high quality clothing that is better on the planet. The fashion industry is the second most toxic industry to our environment after the oil industry. We use resources such as leather from the food industry and vintage denim – giving opportunity to materials that would otherwise be thrown out. We produce all of our garments in small batches to ensure high quality garments and great working environments for the craftsman making our pieces. Fashion is a wonderful way to express ourselves, we strive to make it beautiful AND ethical.

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

I grew up on a farm in Washington State with very little fashion influence. I attended private school where we had to wear uniforms so I never really had the freedom of expression through clothes until I went to public high school. It was there that I discovered how much I loved clothing and decided I was going to be a designer. Immediately after graduating high school, I moved to LA where I attended The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and worked at a skate shop on the beach in the Pacific Palisades. After graduating FIDM, I attended a french fashion college in Paris and lived there for two years. It was really interesting for me to see the different curriculum in the US versus France. The fashion industry in America is very business forward where as the french education was very creative driven. I think it was really important to learn both sides and for that I am very thankful.

After Paris, I moved to NYC and went on to work in all facets of the industry. This included retail, wholesale, design and production, even a little styling. I worked for brands such as Zac Posen, Badgley Mischka and Ports 1961. I not only learned how to design and produce a collection, but also how to sell it. In 2016 I started designing and producing my own small collection on the side and by 2017 I was solely working for myself.

My first collection was all metallic lambskin leather motorcycle jackets. With sustainability as my number one priority when creating, I chose moto jackets because you can wear them with basically anything. You can dress them up with a dress or wear them with denim or even sweat pants. I chose the metallic lambskin because I hadn’t seen anything like this on the market just yet. I decided to do one material and one style in many different colors because this was the most cost and time efficient for one person just starting out. For the next few years I grew the brand doing only leather. I scaled the brand to the point where we were able to start producing in Italy with a factory that also works with Saint Laurent, Gucci and Hermes. We have now branched out into a contemporary category as well as leather. The brand is special because we source all of our leather from the food industry so it is a bi-product. All of our woven fabrics are luxury dead stock and the denim we use is all vintage. We also produce in smaller quantities to prevent waste and produce in factories that have clean and healthy work environments of their employees while paying them fare wages. We produce in Italy, Los Angeles and NYC.

I enjoy designing very much but I also really enjoy providing our clients with an incredible product that is well made and they can feel good about wearing. The fashion industry is the second biggest pollutant to our environment next to the oil industry so it feels good to provide our consumers with a more sustainable option to luxury.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

One of the unique parts to the Alyson Eastman brand is we have produced only leather collections for the first 5 years of business. I was told by most people in the industry that this wouldn’t work. They would say its too expensive, you need a full collection, this list goes on… It has been up and down but I have had to stick to my vision. Most of the people telling me this were just trying to help but it was still always hard to hear. I chose to stick with only leather and build a name for myself in the industry. This was also a way to start producing in an incredible factory in Italy, just outside of Florence. If I would have branched out into multiple fabrications, I probably would not be in business right now. This would mean multiple suppliers, multiple factories, etc. The cost of business would have gone way up and my business is self funded so I always had to take it very slow and be very strategic with how I spent my money. I really believe the big lesson I learned here is there is no direct path to your own success, you really have to be authentic and believe in yourself and others will follow.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I love our clients! We have some of the coolest women buying our collections. We always welcome feedback from them and keep in touch to make sure they are happy with their purchases. One of my favorite stories is with a client with who loves all of our emerald metallic pieces. She has two hairless cats that she is very close with so we took some scraps of leather from production of the emerald green and made two little bow ties for the cats. She got a total kick out of this and I think it strengthened our client relationship while also just having some fun.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.AlysonEastman.com
• Instagram: @AlysonEastman
• Facebook: Alyson Eastman
• Linkedin: Alyson Eastman

Image Credits
pictures 1,3,4 were taken by Anthoula Medenas picture 5 taken by Camilla Gutierrez picture 6 taken by Sofia Alvarez