Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gretchen Foster. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Gretchen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
It was 1998 and we didn’t have money, but I had a clear plastic organizer box full of all different kinds of beads. I was living in a small apartment with my father, and I was his entire world. Beadie buddies, the animal keychains, were hanging from every backpack in my school. I spent my free time in after school care, twisting and knotting beads to create lizards, frogs, and turtles. Art was the first thing that I remember doing where I could completely lose track of time. There was no barrier to entry, and despite not having money for quite frankly anything else i’d asked for, with the response always being “we don’t have the money”, art supplies were the one thing that were around me at all times.
The first time a kid offered to buy one of my creations, I was in disbelief. I enjoyed the experience of creating the beadie buddies so much I would have willingly made one for each student in my elementary school for free, but the exchange for fifty cents left me feeling empowered, a new feeling, like at eight years old I could afford all of the things i’d secretly desired. Art was the portal to my freedom from scarcity mindset, and my independence. I took my little pink wagon with my plastic bead box and set out into my apartment complex knocking on doors.
This early venture into business laid the foundation for my future endeavors. Fast forward to 2019, after years of channeling my creativity into creating for fun and survival, I made the decision to turn my passions into a full-time business. From crafting patchwork onesies for my children to curating vintage collections, my creative pursuits evolved into Mama Ochre, a brand that encapsulated who I was.
However, in 2020 my father passed away, propelling me into a spiritual journey that transformed my business into a deeply personal and healing experience. He died on 11/11 while I held his hand in the hospital bed, wearing one of my first dyed crewnecks i’d made for Mama Ochre. I had been reading the story of Baba Yaga the week leading up to his death, and the general theme of the folklore is that there are moments in your life where you have to be brave, and walk through the forest, knowing the goblin is there waiting for you, and the only way out is through. As I navigated through grief, my art became a conduit for processing emotions and connecting with others who shared similar experiences.
My business morphed from an aesthetic collection to a deeply personal, spiritual experience. It was the only way I knew how to process such an immense loss. In return, I gained a community of people who shared similar stories of their own grief and awakening. I designed graphics for my milkpainted t-shirts symbolizing my own observations with the invisible world, and the lessons I’d had the opportunity of learning after realizing the fragility of life.
Through Mama Ochre, I found a sense of purpose and belonging, creating a diverse range of clothing that reflected my journey of self-discovery. From sustainable streetwear to one-of-one designs, each piece held the imprint of my growth and resilience. This business not only brought financial abundance but also served as a mirror to my true self, revealing the artist I had always been.
In this journey of loss, growth, and transformation, Mama Ochre has not only flourished but has provided a space for me to embrace my authenticity and connect with a community that resonates with my values and experiences, that has divinely led me through my personal journey by introducing me to the right people and experiences at exactly the right time.
This business has offered me so much more than financial abundance, it’s offered me a mirror home to myself.
Gretchen, 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?
I first discovered my dye process by accident. I was attempting to remove a stain from a vintage corduroy jacket, and the washer malfunctioned, revealing a beautiful design that looked like spilled milk on the tan fabric. I loved the irregular nature of the design, and I was inspired to recreate it. Using the same materials that I’d used the first time, I started hand painting the color remover onto different fabrics. It was during lockdown in 2020 when all of the thrift stores were closed, and I had no other option but to use most of the clothes in my closet to experiment with. Each garment yielded a similar but different result, and my community was so receptive to this new direction. I called my dye process “milkpaint” simply because of the appearance. I sold out of every story sale, and my entire closet, until I could source again.
Up until this point I had been solely a curated vintage brand, specializing in a light and airy palette of only natural fibers, because being earth centered was important to me. I was sourcing all of my pieces secondhand, but wanted to be more size inclusive, so I sought out a company that sold sustainable blanks. I found an incredible brand that had a sustainable manufacturing process, paid their workers fairly, and also offered “imperfect” t-shirts which had minor pinholes or blemishes, a perfect canvas. I started with t-shirts and yoga sets in a full size range, and began to offer wholesale.
After my father passed away, I dove into the art side of my brand and began creating designs on my ipad, while processing my grief. The first design was “Angelic Energy All Around Me” with a series of symbols and repeating angel numbers. I learned how to screenprint on top of the milkpainted shirts in my backyard, barefoot.
The brand has most recently evolved into another earth focused offering of vintage garments adorned with patchwork designs which utilized past seasons unsold milkpainted shirts. I screenprint and dye in small batches to avoid waste, and any unsold garments are always either given away on an abundance rack at pop-up shops, or given new lives by being sewn onto something else. I also offer custom 1 of 1 pieces utilizing garments in your own closet that have been stained, have holes, or just don’t bring joy anymore. The values of Mama Ochre are sustainability as a whole, in three parts. Caring for the planet via the materials used and how they’re used as well as shipping supplies, caring for ourselves through the messaging and theme of self discovery, and caring for each other by collaborating with local aligned artists and businesses to cross promote and hype each other up on the basis of there’s enough for all of us.
Have you ever had to pivot?
In 2023 I had some major life changes that forced me to shift from working full time for myself, to seeking out a stable income. I blindly applied to IKEA and was surprised to find out that the major retailer shared all of the same values as Mama Ochre.
It started as just a job to make ends meet while transitioning through another season of grief, and ended up showing me just how much I could learn from a corporation rooted in Swedish culture, that cared for its people while leading the way in sustainability.
Less than a year after I took the entry level sales job, I was offered a promotion to Visual Merchandiser. I had no formal experience in this beyond what i’d done for my own business in pop-up shops, and I got thrown to the wolves into planning a department remodel as soon as I took the role. I was challenged to dive head first and train myself, make connections with other coworkers and ask for advice to complete the extremely complicated task at hand that was full of nuance left out of any training material. I witnessed myself developing at a rapid rate, and everything I was learning was directly reflected back to where I had needed to grow personally in order to take the next step for Mama Ochre.
This showed me the very important lesson of the long game. I was able to compartmentalize my day job, and my business, and allow this season to be rooted in learning and a much needed break from the constant creation and hustle that the previous five years had held as a solo entrepreneur. I learned further that everything is connected, and everything is an opportunity to dive deeper into your own understanding of yourself. I never would have imagined when I applied for this job that it would be the exact route that would teach me everything I needed to know for my own career and be seen as a professional creative while giving me the permission to step back and zoom out to see exactly what is possible.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Consistency is key.
If you base your business off of your creativity, you can only assume that it will evolve at the same rate that you evolve. Perfecting your craft is one thing, and patience and dedication help, but giving yourself permission to pivot and adapt to remain honest with yourself is more important than staying stagnant in an era of your creativity that was simply comfortable. Your following will pivot with you, or you will lose some and gain others who are more aligned with your current self.
I had built a successful brand off of neutral vintage, and rather than believing that I’d lose that following by heading in a completely new direction with dyeing and screen printing, I went for it and realized that because I had stayed true to myself and allowed the business to evolve with me, I gained a much more loyal and niche clientele. It felt so much more genuine.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mamaochre.com
- Instagram: @mamaochre
- Facebook: @mamaochre
Image Credits
Tyanna Sophia Photo