THE STORY
THE SHORT VERSION
Lived-In's ethos is to reduce fashion waste through garment repair, rework & resell. Gay - founder of the brand is on a mission to make clothing last longer & educate people that clothing should be cherished & not thrown away into landfill.
THE FULL STORY
I remember from a young age being in awe of my mum sewing on her machine; she would do everything from altering second hand items for me and my sister, fixing curtains, to occasionally making clothes for herself (and still loves being behind the sewing machine now.) My mother (who was working class at the time) used to drag me and my sister around charity shops and car boot sales, not with the conscious intention of being a responsible shopper but because she enjoyed hunting for bargains, and because buying new for twin daughters just wasn’t affordable. I never realised at the time how these nostalgic moments would shape my future. After school I studied fashion & textiles on and off for 5 years. By 2008 I had a BTEC national diploma in Fashion & Textiles and a 2:1 degree in Fashion for Industry. In hindsight, the inspiration from my mother, and nostalgic moments from my childhood have much more of part to play in where me and my business are at today that my education in fashion did.
When I was at college, I took every opportunity to practice my sewing skills. I would make clothes for myself and my friends -men and women- for going clubbing such as deep plunge vests and loose-fitting tees in funky fabrics. I soon outgrew the cupboard space where my machines were set up and it became challenging cutting everything out on my bedroom floor so eventually I moved into a log cabin workshop in the garden that we called it The Outhouse. This is where I set up my first business, an independent jersey wear brand called MadebyGayle which I did alongside basic alterations and repairs. Even though I was manufacturing new items, I would buy deadstock and end of roll fabrics from big chain companies from a local shop in a neighbouring village. Again, at the time I never really understood how sustainable I was acting.
In 2011 I decided to get a part time job at COW vintage in Nottingham as a rework seamstress where I transformed existing clothing into something new. This is where the seed was planted, and I started to appreciate vintage clothing more. The love for the job and the company unfortunately faded so with a hop, skip and a jump (and a few jobs in between) I finally found myself at Baklash, one of the most established and best independent vintage shops of its time in Nottingham. I initially started as their seamstress, but my passion for the job and the vintage clothes I was surrounded by soon moved me to start working full time. I worked closely with the owner Eve, who taught me everything she knew about vintage clothes. I learnt to identify the era of garments by their silhouettes and the history of clothing. We would go on sourcing days for stock to a rag yard here in the UK; this is where I witnessed the sheer amount of clothing and textiles we waste as a country. It wasn’t a pretty job -we would physically have to sift through every piece of clothing- we would be so dirty at the end of each day. Despite this we would find so many treasures, grabbing musty 1970s dresses, the crumpled-up Versace shirts, Burberry macs with missing buttons and the slightly stained suede Pennylane coats. After some much-needed TLC, each item would be displayed in the shop and sold to someone who would love it for another lifetime. Me and Eve always had very different tastes. I loved anything 70s, 80s, boho or hippy style, she had more classic tastes: leathers,1920s, denim & Harris Tweeds. She always encouraged me to set up on my own so when I opened the Soul & Flare Depop shop in 2016, Eve helped me source the beautiful garments.