Business: Olive Green, Nope...Black

When I first started developing the Year Long Pant I assumed I would release the first batch in black. Classic. Versatile. Flattering. It’s all good!

As I worked through branding with a friend, she commented one day “if your message is you are interrupting, why are you doing another black pant?” *

[Insert light bulb above head here] It never occurred to me that I could pick another color. Just like that, choosing a color seemed overwhelming. As I have continued to read about founder-led brands, I am always reminded that part of the customer appeal is that you see the founder in the brand; you know and hopefully like them.

If you know me well, you know I almost always have olive green on in some form. I mean hello, obviously I would want a pair of pants that were olive green. Decision made!

Nope! Being that I am brand new to fashion and production, I frequently don’t even know what I don’t know. Like: you should always check several months out that the fabric you want to use is in stock in the quantity you need. This is the ‘I don’t even know what number’ mistake I have made on this journey and I have no doubt it is far from my last. Is that maybe part of the fun of learning something new?? I know I always learn more from my mistakes than my successes.

But i digress…on with the story…

I hit the ‘ready for production’ point and was ready to have fabric shipped within the week. Yes, you guessed it: there were only 60 yards of olive green in stock with a 10-12 week wait for more. I was, well, a lot of things: pissed, sad, frustrated, and back to square one on color. After 2 years of development, there was no way I was waiting 3 more months.

Another thing to know about me is I truly believe the universe** can guide you on a path if you let it. So, I let go. The two colors that were in stock were black and burgundy. So, black it is.

And you know what? I’m cool with it. Black is classic, versatile, and flattering. I will continue to believe the universe took care of this for me and the first batch was always meant to black.***

PS - I promise I will make a batch in olive green as soon as I make some money from the black batch! This is a founder-funded brand people!!

*INTERRUPTED would probably not exist without the help of my brilliant friend, Libby, who happens to be a branding strategy genius.

**Universe…God, gods, spirits, angels, powers-that-be…pick your poison.

***This at least helps me sleep at night!