Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Saeed Ebrahim. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Saeed, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
To create amazing women’s apparel at an affordable price giving every woman the option to feel comfortable and confident in what they wear
Saeed, 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?
Coming from a bachelors in finance and having founded a local coffee shop in Ann Arbor fashion was completely unexpected. My friend and mentor Caesar, who I’ve known for two years and met while he was visiting his daughter at the university of Michigan one day came to visit and asked me, if I’d like to come on one of his business trips in New York City. He’s a manufacturer out of Bangladesh for women’s apparel and makes clothes for companies that sell to the very department stores we shop at everyday.
We went from fashion House to fashion House for three days across the city, building new relations with new companies and beginning production for the existing ones that Caesar has been working with for years. Needless to say, I fell in love with the industry.
Although I loved it, I knew I had a long road ahead coming from the background of coffee and finance. However, over the course of a year I kept going back to New York City. Every time I went I learned something new, went through rejection, success and more. Caesar took me under his wing and taught me how to dress, how to email, I was in sheer fascination with how he negotiated how he handled business and how he was dealing with million dollar contracts one after another. I got to see all of the clothes that were coming out the following season going to all the major department stores and felt like I was in an exclusive club.
I was learning from the manufacturing end of things, but my usual tendency is I want to learn everything. I also began to pay close attention to the buyers end. How the fashion houses operated. I studied the designers. I would go home and read about major brands. I would go to my local Nordstrom rack and flip through the women’s isles, studying companies names and reading about them when I got home. It got to a point where I was able to look at a dress and recognize the brand without even looking at the tag. In New York, Caesar and I would be in the hotel room and I would be asking him questions till about three in the morning.
Overtime I began to teach myself how to design. I would spend hours studying how to develop my own tech pack a document that you sent to a factory that gives them the details on how to build out your garment. I wanted my own fashion house and that’s what I set myself out to do. Since I was around women’s contemporary fashion, so much that was the label that I wanted to create and now I am the founder of CLU. Apparel.
As I continue to build my brand, I have two goals in mind: one is to create women’s contemporary fashion at an affordable price and when a woman steps out the door wearing my brand, she feels confident, beautiful, and on trend. The second is much more personal. I come from an underprivileged background from a community where in our system we don’t have many options to succeed. Many of the folks that I grew up with struggling with alcohol addiction, incarceration, and illegal means to make an income. Many think that’s the only way to succeed in this world when you come from where we come from. I want to show the future generation that’s not the case. You come come from. I want to prove that it’s possible with the right determination and hustle and drive. I not only hope CLU to to be a fashion statement that becomes wildly successful and in every major retailer, but a mission statement that I hope one day it will be able to show that you can make it even when the odds feel like they are stacked against you.
Our first collection is set to be for SS/25.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I don’t quit. I will always work harder and smarter to become a better version of me every day. There is nothing in this world that will tell me I can’t do it. I have gotten to moments where I had so much debt collections that I couldn’t even keep track of them anymore. Moments where I couldn’t even afford a $10 meal. However, I always keep on pushing knowing that when I reach my goals these moments will be milestones and that this is just part of the journey. I am obsessed with my work and my passion and my drive follows. If I’m not actively working, I’m reading. I’m studying some of the most successful people in the fashion industry and trying to find bits and pieces that I can implement into my life in order to succeed.
One story I would like to share, was a few hours before my New York flight. I tripped and fell at home and broke my foot. I was so adamant on trying to go for a very important meeting that I was searching for a local pharmacy where I can buy a cane And walk after realizing that I cannot walk and I was simply too much pain. I went to the hospital and two days later scheduled the meeting via zoom. Two months later, I was off of my cast my foot was still healing and in a lot of pain as I was learning how to walk again, I asked my best friend Que to come help me and I dragged my foot across New York City, barely being able to walk just to attend the very meeting. I promised I would. It was some of the worst pain i ever experienced. To keep going, I went to CVS on 39th street, bought a $10 compression sock and kept going. That is my drive to succeed.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had a special someone tell me that the little wins matter and sometimes it’s OK to stop and appreciate them. I learned that I have to be more patient and while looking at the big picture is nice and important and having goals is important give yourself the time to appreciate who you are or else you’ll never get that chance. Be patient, good will eventually come.
Image Credits
Image of me on the stairs taken by my best friend Quetez Holmes