Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Joanna McCartney. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Joanna, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.
I grew up in the UK in the 1980’s, and as a child, recycling was taught in schools and at home, making crafts, learning about where waste goes, what happens to water run off, etc. The UK is a small island, so landfill and natural resources are very important. Learning about our impact on the planet resonated with me as a child, and stayed with me when I began making dresses, it became a business standard for me as my business grew into a fashion brand, I knew that diverging from what is standard in the fashion business, to what it should be, is the only foundation for my business.
The fashion industry has a pretty bad rap for polluting the planet. From filling up landfill with an excess of textile waste, to over producing clothing which ends up in landfill, to draining rivers and water sources to polluting oceans with micro plastics, as well as countless other horrible results of fashion.
This is depressing to read, but it also means that there are literally countless ways to not follow this poor example in business, and adapt!
I set out making sure Pyne & Smith adheres to certain guidelines for our garments – looking at each step from a critical point of view to see how we can make changes that improve our small brand and are environmentally responsible.
We make our clothing in small batches so that we don’t over produce garments. We only use natural fiber textiles – the majority of our clothing is linen, made from a environmentally healthy plant called Flax – its’ sustainably grown with rainwater, its naturally insect repellant meaning that it comes close to organic standards, 100% of the flax plant can be used to make oil, animal feed, etc. Our wool line is made with merino wool that has the most incredible certifications for the fashion industry – it’s OEKO-TEX® certified (no harmful substances/chemicals are used), RWS and Wool Mark certified (only using wool from responsibly run farms) and GRS certified – Global Recycle Standard which means they recognize the value of recycling and reducing the use of resources during production processes (water, energy, raw materials).
Our other daily business operations – we pay our employees a fair livable wage, and we only work with small, family run businesses who are responsible, they pay their employees fairly and offer clean, safe working conditions. We send our linen scraps to a local textile recycling plant which repurposes them into fabrics that are used to make car seat and airplane seat covers, We don’t use any poly/plastic garment bags, instead we use craft paper bags. Our mailing packets are made from 100% post consumer recycled plastic.
Joanna, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Joanna and I own and operate a clothing brand in southern California called Pyne & Smith Clothier. I began my business by hand making linen dresses and selling them at a local market in Los Angeles in 2014. I discovered linen after a particularly hot summer and an unsuccessful trip to the mall to find a summery dress that would keep me cool. Linen is a natural fiber, made from the flax plant, and it’s delightfully cooling to wear in the heat. It’s also the prettiest textile to look at! I learned that linen had been used for centuries in clothing, but due to cotton’s popularity – easier to produce and much cheaper, and linen fell out of favor with fashion. While it is more costly as a textile, its benefits far outweigh those of cotton – it’s much more breathable than cotton, it requires far less water to produce than cotton, it actually improves with age – getting softer with each wash and wear.
My dresses began to sell at the market, so I opened up an Etsy store which was hugely impactful for business, then I built my own website and haven’t really looked back! I started having my dresses manufactured locally in Los Angeles, after I spent around two years trying to find a place that cared about the quality of the sewing as much as I did. I’m so proud of how well they are made and all the care that is put into them!
When I started dressmaking, I began documenting it all on Instagram, which folks seemed to enjoy seeing, it was a fun journey to creating an organic social media community. I still love to connect with customers and folks all over the world who seem to find joy in my dresses!
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Social media came pretty organically for me, I was excited when I began dressmaking to share my dresses with a like minded community on Instagram, so it wasn’t work for me, in fact I’ve made some real life friends both locally and internationally from social media which has been one of the best parts! My advice for those starting out their business on social media is to not worry about posting specifically to your industry. People will find you if you are showing your humanness, they love to connect that way. Don’t over think things, sometimes just sharing your day, or something that is relatable is all you need to share, because it is challeneing to post only about business related things.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
I think it’s important to be genuine in business. Stay connected with your customers and be sincere, if it’s just sending a newsletter out with what’s new or posting on social media about updates, people love to stay connected, and engage and not just be sold things to. When things go wrong, or a mistake has been made, address it and your community will still like you!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://pyneandsmith.com
- Instagram: @pyneandsmithclothiers
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCraZOEqBZIDqlUa8sxsinMw