Exploring Life & Business with Shelby Moghavem of Open Door Policy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shelby Moghavem.

Hi Shelby, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I have always used my creativity as an outlet for anxiety. Taking on any form of creative project instantly helped me feel at ease. I majored in Business at the University of Southern California, but when I graduated, I wasn’t sure what path to take. Working a corporate job in operations at Bird is where I landed, but I knew my passion didn’t align with what I was doing.

During the pandemic, life stopped, and for moment I realized that I was soaking up every minute of my time creating something new. It started with tie-dye and continued to be soaps, recipes, blogs, bread, the list goes on and on. When things started to open again, I realized my love for fashion was unique. Most of my time shopping was spent in the men’s section. I was obsessed with streetwear but found it hard to find a unisex brand, that embraced values of sustainability, created a community that you could feel a part of, all while selling a product that felt and looked amazing.

Because I always wanted to go down the creative path, finding a career has been a struggle for me. I always knew whatever company I created; I wanted it to be so much more than selling a product. I know the mental struggles I’ve gone through. The loneliness, pressure, and anxiety that comes with daily life sometimes. I’ve always used creativity as an outlet, and Open Door Policy is no different. I wanted it to be a place where people felt free to be themselves. I wanted the clothing to represent the ability to express yourself worry-free of judgement and discrimination. I want it to be a safe space for people to feel free to express themselves in any way they felt possible.

Each collection is aimed to express the understanding of these struggles we face in our lives. We’ve had 2 releases so far. The first being our Introduction Collection is all about the community Open Door Policy is trying to create. Each of our pieces has a scripted quote on the back. The one for our Intro Collection reads, “Our door is always open for you. Freedom to express yourself worry-free of judgment and discrimination. Anyone who makes you feel otherwise, tell them to f*** off.” The second collection is our Mind Maze Escape Collection. This campaign was all about the chaos of our minds and the understand that buried deep inside is a truly beautiful thing. We’re so consumed with our thoughts that we never realize taking a step away from them is really all we need to make sense of them sometimes. That paragraph reads “There will be days you feel like your mind is full of all the wrong things. Like you are unable to see the positive light within your own thoughts. But we forget the beauty that comes from the chaos in our minds.”

I’m really excited of the community I hope to help create here. I know it will be something special.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been anything but a smooth road. I think entering an industry you’ve never studied and believing it can be successful comes with its set of problems and a huge learning curve. I graduated from USC with an Undergrad degree in Business, but I never took a fashion course to understand pattern making, sample making, manufacturing, or anything of that sort.

I was so cautious about using the money I had made for my tie-dye business and not wanting to waste anything. I took my time dipping my toes into each part of learning the business, as well as talked to anyone I could to learn what it took to cut and sew your own loungewear line.

I trusted the wrong people when it came to pattern and sample making and realized that I needed to do some more cold calling and research before moving forward. I had met on one of my cold calls and instantly connected when he asked me why I was crazy enough to enter this industry especially knowing nothing about it. He ended up connecting me with some of the best pattern and sample makers and from then things did get a lot smoother.

The manufacturing process came with its own set of struggles, but so does the scaling and awareness part of starting your own business. Being the sole employee at Open Door Policy means you are a one man show. Creating my social media, scaling the business, reaching out and gifting to influencers, managing the manufacturing process all by yourself also create a huge organization struggle. I am so lucky to have the team of contractors that I have, as well as my families support to continue on this dream.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I really want people to know that Open Door Policy is meant to be so much more than just loungewear. It was created to also be a community, a home. I’ve always struggled with what I want to do in life. I think your 20s can be a wild confusing time and seeing others around you excel at the career they chose can make you feel unaccomplished. I think the desire to be in a creative field can make you feel lost if you don’t have a set thought on what that career should be. Sometimes we feel afraid to express ourselves because of what others may think or that it won’t be enough.

Open Door Policy was built off this notion of being able to escape your mind and use creativity as an outlet for your thoughts – whatever they may be.

Clothing was mine. I always shopped in the men’s sections and have a million sweatsuits, but felt all of them were missing something I was craving. They either didn’t fit right, were too stiff, not sustainable, were uncomfortable, didn’t stand for something, and I wanted to create the sweatsuit that fixed all these issues. Our sweatsuits are unisex and are designed to feel confident whether they are worn in or outside of the house. We used a sustainable blend of Organic Cotton and Modal which uses far less water and pesticides than any other fabric. Modal creates a draped-like feel for comfort. While most brands use a fit model for their fittings when creating their apparel, I used family and friends to make sure they would fit as many different types of bodies as possible.

It would be so hard to pick the thing I am most proud of when it comes to Open Door Policy, but If I had to encompass it all in one it would be the fact that this brand manages to contain all the elements of a brand I used to dream of creating. It’s made from sustainable materials, aimed to fit any gender and of all sizes all while standing for a message and building a community that means a lot to me.

How do you think about luck?
I got very lucky with an amazing family that is supportive and wants me to chase my dreams. They’ve allowed for Open Door Policy to be possible. I also got lucky with the man I spoke to on the phone who connected me with some of the right people to work with, as that put me on track. But starting your own business, no matter the luck, is hard work. You must believe in it, and you can’t look towards people to give you the validation that what you’re doing is right. If you believe in what you’re creating the hard work will pay off.

I think something I’d really like to share with the readers of Voyage is don’t let the fear of failure stop you from accomplishing your dreams. Rejection is redirection, and “failures” are lessons and roadblocks, they aren’t the end result. I’m just at the beginning of Open Door Policy, and there are days where I feel discouraged. But believing in my company and the message we are trying to put across makes me believe that all the hard work put into this will pay off, and people will hear it one day.

Just know you always have a home with us to push and believe in your creativity if you need a place to turn.

Thank you for listening to my story!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theopendoorpolicy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theopendoorpolicy/?hl=en

Image Credits
Photographer: StillVika Stylist: Kaila Taylor