We recently connected with Isaiah Hite and have shared our conversation below.
Isaiah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
I currently work in the atelier/seamstress profession doing custom clothing items on a commissioned basis but I also have been getting things in the works to release my own ready-to-wear brand as well. The mission behind both is for the clothes to do their job. Clothes are meant to be a tangible expression of what the wearer is like in the inside. However each individual may interpret or present that, your clothes should make you feel good to wear them. They should make you feel confident, powerful and most importantly beautiful. I feel like this is so important because clothing is what helped me navigate some of the most confusion of my younger years and figure out who exactly I was. Through being able to play around with how I present myself with what I wear I was also able to figure out how what i like to wear correlates to who I am inside. For example, I was once preparing for my senior prom in high-school, and of course I was expected to wear a suit. After trying on various traditional looks I wasn’t happy with how I looked in them and started brainstorming changes I could make which lead to me doing sneakers instead of dress shoes, no shirt under my blazer, and a wide array of silver rings and necklaces for an added pop. This was one of the first times I let my mind run wild with a look concept and actually out thought into how I wanted to present myself versus how I thought I should present myself. I felt so powerful and captivating in this look and it wasn’t simply because I put on something I liked. It was because what I put on, helped me feel something I liked. That is what my brand mission is. It’s not just a look. It’s a feeling.
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 Isaiah Malik, and I am a 21 year old, self-taught fashion designer born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. My business started off as the Isaiah Malik Fashion Haus and has transformed into Isaiah Malik Fashions (IMF) and ELEVNTHHOUR.
IMF’s main discipline is women’s evening wear which means cocktail dresses, gowns, and some single articles like skirts and tops. While these are the main types of pieces ordered IMF has the range to do any and every type of women’s clothing piece and most men pieces. Orders are accepted on a customs for commission type basis meaning clients come with a concept and I design and create something special for them to wear. As the person creating the pieces my clients wear I also work as a stylist for them to pair all custom items with the best possible options when it comes to purchased outfit accompaniments which is one of the things that makes the IMF experience so special. You can come in with no idea at all and leave with a fully realized outfit vision with details that make statements. In regards to everything I’ve been able to do with my brand, I’m most proud of being able to have built my own platform and following organically. I’ve done so just by sharing my work on social media and establishing my brands business page to share my work with the world as well as bring in more clientele. Due to the fact that I’m not the most socially outgoing person, networking can be difficult which is why I’m so proud of what I’ve done as far as getting my name out there to the public and making them remember it.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Social media and content creation would be the easiest way to get new clients. Specifically tiktok and Instagram reels. These reels and tiktoks are creative ways to display your products, show behind the scenes footage of production, and talk about what your brand offers. They’re also typically very short and with our world becoming so engrossed in technology, the public has begun to become more and more impatient. These quick videos allow you to grab a consumers attention and make them want to see more of your brand easily.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
The lesson I had to unlearn in doing business for myself is that the customer is always right. Prior to owning my own business and just that a business owner should always go above and beyond and meet wherever arrangements they need to meet to ensure every single customer is satisfied. Since opening my own business, I now understand that as a business owner of the best thing to do to ensure customer satisfaction as well as the equal and fair treatment of all customers is to implement policies that require certain things of both you, as a service provider, and the customer. These policies will eliminate a lot of tension and confusion about certain obstacles that may arise when dealing with the public. For example, there was a time where I had been booked to create a custom dress for my clients birthday. After having an initial consultation to determine the look of the piece as well as produce a quote for the materials to create the dress, my clients next step was to pay the amount due for the fabric & materials, so that they can be purchased in the dress production could begin. Client also notified that I will be able to give her a maximum of 3 1/2 weeks to make the payment. After confirming that she could make the payment within the timeframe provided my client ended up failing to do so. This left us in a situation, where even if she were to come up with the fines, there wouldn’t be enough time to get them ordered and delivered before the actual day of her birthday. Which was when the dress was being worn. Before beginning the custom process with any client, I have them sign a contract that states their responsibilities, as well as mine and adhering to time frames for payments is one of the things included in the clients responsibilities. When we began to discuss the fact that there wouldn’t be enough time for the materials to still be purchased, now that the window has passed, my client expressed that she felt I was responsible for our missing that window. I then had my client referred back to the contract, where it states that all given windows mamas confirmed, must be honored when it comes to sending payments, which is only to ensure that materials will arrive in a timely manner and in the peace being commissioned, doesn’t end up having to be rushed in any capacity. After reiterating this portion of the contract to my client, we were able to come to an agreement that I infect was not responsible for the fact that the time window was missed. This situation taught me the importance of the customer not always being right but policy and procedure always being right because policy and procedure is unbiased and it applies to all parties not just some.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @wearimf