Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Joelle Perry. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Joelle, appreciate you joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

Aloha mai, my name is Joelle Perry and I run an ethical clothing company, alongside my husband, here in Hawai’i nei.

This question comes up in my mind quite a bit. I often think if I were working for somebody else my creativity could be unbridled. I could finally create the pieces I’ve always dreamed of and not be so careful about spending money that is currently so closely connected with my personal life and family’s well being. I sometimes think about the lessening of pressure to create things that “sell” and I would simply allow myself to express its creativity without bounds.

Though these thoughts exist, they are pretty quick to flee when I remember the dream we are currently building. As slow and steady as it may be, at the end of the day, it will be ours. The reality is that I’ve found immense creativity within the bounds. When I only have so much to spend on a bolt of fabric or when all our profits goes into paying someone else a livable wage to produce our pieces; I am left with the job of figuring out how to create a sellable and beautiful garment creatively.

I’m so proud of what we’re putting out, the business ethics, products and community we’re seeing into fruition. Whether it’s collaborating with other local artists, hand stamping print onto our garments ourselves or digging though every estate sale for bolts of lost fabric, we’re struggling through to create the brand we always wished existed. We’re working within the boundaries we’ve set for our selves to be fully present with our kids, to only create pieces that have a positive impact on our planet/island home as-well-as provide a bit of income to our family.

We’re so grateful for all who come up alongside us and cheer us on. We’re so grateful to be doing what we love. Mahalo nui.

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 back background and context?

We are from Maui and Saipan (Mariåna Islands) and currently run our company out of our home here in Maui. We’ve been in love since we were kids, raised in each other’s homes and now have two children of our own. I, Joelle, have worked in fashion all my adult life, focused on sustainability and cultural continuation for the entirety of it.

We are very proud to be one of the select few brands who still produce in Hawai’i. For the most part, our money stays here in Hawai’i and supports local families.

We sourced bolts of fabric locally and create rtw women’s clothing and release them in drops. We usually sell out of most of our product day one of our drop. Please stay in touch via our website/newsletter/Instagram to know when our Holiday ‘24 drop will be.

Have you ever had to pivot?

We started Mai’åna as a knitwear company. It was a proof of concept company that a zero waste clothing company could exist and fully fashioned knitwear (where the garment is made from yarn and not bolts of fabric) seemed to be the way to do it. Long story short, the month we lost a lot of money with our knitwear manufacturers we were given the contact for a Hawai’i manufacturer. We decided to pivot into cut and sew but using locally sourced bolts of fabric. We realized this is what we were after all along. To be producing in our community and paying people a livable wage for production. We are so grateful for what seemed to be the end of the road, opened up into our dream becoming a reality.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I, Joelle, have been in the “sustainable” fashion industry here in Hawai’i for a long time. Definitely before it was widely accepted. I first interned and then moved up to design for a local company whose focus was solely on ethics. I then started my own ethical bridal gown business. After Covid, we embarked on Mai’åna because our own clothing brand was always the goal. Because I had been in the industry and was well known as a designer here in Hawai’i and because of the world was starting to understand ethics in fashion, it was a perfect time for our company to be understood and accepted.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.maiana.co
• Instagram: @maiana.co

Image Credits

Talia Pashey, Daniel Jones