We were lucky to catch up with Gianna Pignatello recently and have shared our conversation below.

Gianna, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Risks are scary. A lot of people dream, but don’t allow their dream to take on reality because they are afraid of the risk that comes with fulfilling that dream. A lot of people have responsibilities, bills, a family that depend on them. At the same time, a lot of people are unhappy with their jobs, their routines and the lack of freedom they feel. I’ve always looked young, some may call it a baby face, and add my short stature of 4’11” that doesn’t help much. When I was younger, I always wanted to appear older. I was insecure about my height and the way I looked because I wanted to be seen as a “mature women” instead of a cute little kid. I would have a hard time finding clothes that made me feel “sexy” because I was so petite, the stores I wanted to shop at didn’t fit me, and I was left with the petite sections of department stores where the clothes only felt outdated. That insecurity followed me throughout college and within my professional career. I didn’t feel I was given the same respect as others because of how young I looked. I had to tell my clients I’ve been doing my job for 10 years so they could trust me, and get a grasp of how old I really was. Working in New York City in my 20’s, I was surrounded by “cool girls,” city girls who knew about the restaurant that was opening, the exclusive event that was taking place and always had the best sense of fashion. I wanted to be like that, and started really looking at my closet for a sense of confidence and inclusion. I knew when I put on something that fit me right, and the tallest pair of heels I owned, I walked a little taller, and felt that feeling of worthiness – status even. I started to take pictures of clothes I really liked and save them to my camera roll thinking, one day I’m going to just make this for myself. I don’t even know where that thought came from. My mom sewed a little but it was never a prevalent hobby in my household. I just recognized how wearing the right thing made me feel, how I felt more mature and knew I didn’t want to let go of that feeling. Fast forward to 2020 and I’ve been working in the event industry, miserable, stressed and constantly working. I would come home and cry to my boyfriend and he would tell me to quit, to find something that made me happier in this life. But I was so scared. I had a good salary, I was valued and good at my job – it was all I ever knew. But people get caught up in the security of a corporate job, and they find little moments to escape throughout the day just to keep them motivated enough to stay. The pandemic was a blessing for me. I had already made the decision to quit my full-time job, but the idea of freelancing and making real money kept pulling me back in to that world. Finally I was let go from my freelance position because the world was shutting down and it was time to make a decision. I had time on my side, I had youth on my side and I had the support of my loved ones. I took a risk. I decided I wasn’t going back to the corporate life I came from. I never wanted to be controlled by another person. I never wanted ask permission to take time off, or be on someone else’s time. I yearned for that freedom and having my own control of how my hours were spent. I did some research and found the Fashion Institute of South Florida. Going back to school seemed like the safest thing to do. To gain knowledge from people I could trust on a brand new skill I knew absolutely nothing about. From there I felt alive, I felt freedom in exploring a creative side of me that had gone untapped my entire life. I learned how to sew, I learned the levels of patternmaking and I learned how to design. The thought of not making money for a while scared me, and I realized how imprisoning money and a steady salary can be for some people. I also realize I didn’t have a family to take care of and thankfully I didn’t have any debt. But it was still a risk. A risk into the unknown – I didn’t know if I could do it, I didn’t know if I had the confidence to turn my entire life around and leave everything I knew and had even gone to college for, but I kept remembering a quote I liked – “old ways won’t open new doors.” I started listening to a lot of entrepreneurs and encouraging people who told me greatness is just on the other side of fear. Fear is where growth lies. Taking this risk was the best decision I ever made and I haven’t looked back since. I found a passion. I found happiness.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I started taking classes at the Fashion Institute of South Florida at the age of 28 and in 2020. I had already graduated college, so was thrilled to find a vocational school that I could finish in less than 4 years, was incredible flexible and was way less expensive than any other college or university in Miami. I went into school with one goal in mind – to design clothes for petite women. When we think about the fashion industry, all we see are models that if us petites were to stand next to, we would be a whole head or two beneath them. Even on websites when I would look at the petite section, the models would be 5’5″ with long torso’s and long legs. I’ve ordered from petite sections of popular brand websites before and always had issues in my shoulders, crotch / torso and hem areas. Even those “petite” items weren’t petite enough for my 4’11” self. I felt there was a void in the fashion industry, that clothes were not designed with petites in mind, and enough women were confirming this belief when we would speak and we would agree that it’s so hard to shop for clothes that made us feel sexy, like those models we saw walking down the runway. It was either get your clothes tailored, or shop in the kids section. I entered into the fashion industry to give petite women another option for them. And yes, there are other petite brands out there that cater to only petite women, and they are amazing. But there’s not enough. I am here to fill that spot. I am here to let women know that I understand their struggles and the lack of options and lack of representation they see. I understand how clothes can give us that confidence when we walk into a room. I understand my potential clients and followers because I am one of them. And I also understand that there are petite men out there as well – and they feel just as confused when they go shopping. Men might not understand fit – and how well something should fall on the body. I want to fill that void for petite men as well.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I am still in the process of building my audience on social media. I do not have impressive numbers on my page and my growth has been slow. This used to bother me, especially when I compared myself to others who were starting their own page and journey around the same time as me. There’s advice I want to share with something who is starting to build their own social media, and it’s advice I have to constantly remind myself of all the time. Comparison is the thief of joy. Everyone’s journey is different. I don’t care that I don’t have 10k followers. I don’t care how many likes I get (anymore) on Instagram or how many views my reels get. All we need to be focused on is being true to ourselves. What does that mean? Put out content that moves you. Put out content that you are proud of. Try to tell your own story – because you do want people to connect to you and the goal is to build a tribe. Jumping on social media trends is cool – but sometimes I see small business owners go viral with trends and then they can’t keep up with the new influx of orders coming to their small business with only one employee – themselves – and they burn out. Look at your page and always ask yourself – this is good, but how can it be better? Keep learning skills around social media, like, story telling, editing, photography. These things will help you tell your STORY, and eventually, the followers will come. I hear this advice all the time from people teaching social media. They say, put out content your audience wants to see, not what you want to see. But I disagree. There has to be passion behind what you put out. The audience can feel when something may not be genuine. I’m not a social media guru, but being on social media can send you down a deep dark spiral of negative thoughts and a feeling of unworthiness. Have a healthy relationship with social media and take breaks when you need to. Put out content you are proud of, and the rest will fall into place.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I don’t know where this mindset came from – but I think as a society we need to unlearn the value we put on clothes. There’s a quote from a song called Love All by Drake featuring Jay-Z. Jay-Z says, “You know the price of everything but the value of nothing.” I love that quote, and I think it rings so true in fashion. People love fast fashion, because it’s cheap and it always has the latest trends available. But not many people (who aren’t in the fashion industry) understand what has to happen for that piece of clothing from Shein to be $12. Not many people know the conditions people in third world countries have to work in order to produce that piece of clothing, and the pennies they are paid that will never be a sustainable wage for them to support themselves or their families. Or the lead that workers and consumers are exposed to which is an astronomical amount over what is safe for us to put on our bodies and even our children’s bodies. Not many people have seen photos of the landfills that pollute mother earth of clothes that are no longer on “trend.” On the other hand, we look at something that is maybe in the $200 or even $500 range and say, how is that worth $500? For a dress? Get out of here that is NOT worth it. And I didn’t know any of this until I was in the industry either. So we need to educate the public on the value of clothes. A lot of people don’t know that fast fashion is actually more expensive than sustainable fashion when you take into consideration the amount of times you can wear your sustainable garment versus the few times you can wear your fast fashion garment before it starts to break down, fall apart and your in the mall back for something new. A lot of smaller designers want to be sustainable, provide quality clothes and not be a part of the problem. But they are often overlooked for their high prices when compared to Zaful, Zara or H&M. So many of us just want things right now and for cheap. No one values the work, time and creative genius it takes to create an idea from scratch and turn it into something we can wear on our body that has a direct effect on our confidence and how we feel. I just want people to know that we don’t have to only rely on the big, well-known fast fashion brands. And it doesn’t mean you have to shop at couture brands either. There are plenty of small designers who are trying to get noticed on social media and are getting drowned out by big corporations that don’t care about our environment or our health for that matter. Stop trying to fit in with trends and start trying to stand out. Shop small. Shop LESS. Support small brands who create small batch or use natural or recycled materials. Educate yourself the next time you want to buy the same dress that you see on every single influencer and in every big name store. Support local artists and creatives. Through education I believe we can create a healthier fashion ecosystem.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.republicofg.com
• Instagram: _republicofg
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gianna-pignatello-56ba2a4b/
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/republicofgblog Tik Tok: _republicofg

Image Credits
Fashion Institute of South Florida