Daily Inspiration: Meet Sarah Arch and Allie Feldman

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Arch and Allie Feldman.

Hi Sarah and Allie, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Rooted Botanics was founded by two best friends sharing a deep love for the plants and the many blessings of the natural world. We’re both deeply enamored by flowers, trees – any landscape from the mountains to the sea. Allie and Sarah had the most serendipitous meeting five years ago at a festival in the Santa Monica Mountains called Mercado Sagrado. We were both at a point in our lives where we were yearning to create a lifestyle that could support us in our dreams, and a few months later Rooted Botanics was born. It started from the idea of bringing new life to vintage clothing through plant dyes but has evolved into so much more. Having so much passion in this historical craft that is rooted in so much culture, has driven us to become not only artists but teachers too. Through continuous learning and experimentation, our art has transformed into many mediums such as flower pressing, paint making from plants, native dyeing, mushroom dyeing, and so much more!

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
As with any business, there are always going to be ups and downs! However, that is how you grow and if it weren’t for all of the bumps in the road that we’ve been through, we wouldn’t be where we are today. Learning how to run a business as an artist is a struggle in itself, and has been a huge learning curve for us. We’re lucky to have each other to help motivate us through the more difficult aspects of growing a business. Another noted struggle for us in our business has been the unpredictability of natural dyes. Because we are working with organic and raw materials, there are elements in the process that can’t always be controlled. The result can be colors we weren’t intending on, stains from concentrated dye particles in the pot, and longer and more laborious processes to create the final product. With all of that being said, these unpredictabilities have taught us how to surrender to the beautiful and delicate process, and embrace the inconsistencies that come with the natural dye process. Our garments don’t always turn out the way we planned for them too, but they’re always beautiful in our eyes, even if it wasn’t necessarily the original intention!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Rooted Botanics was founded on the concept of sustainability in fashion and how we can take what is already existing in the world and bring it a new and extended life. We specialize in taking worn, stained, discarded clothing and dyeing it in rich plant colors. We also specialize in a technique called bundle dyeing, which is the craft of pressing dried or fresh flowers into clothing so that you can create a floral print from real flowers! This has become one of our favorite crafts and is a beautiful way of taking a garment and turning it into a special heirloom piece. We also take out leftover dye baths, and instead of discarding the exhausted dyed water, we take it through a multi-day process to turn it into watercolor paints! This is another sustainable way of creating products to make our products both more sustainable and more intentional. We are so proud of the work that we do and are so grateful to be able to work with the natural world around us to create beautiful art. We want people to feel special when they buy products from us. We want them to feel the essence of the plants when they wear our clothing and when they paint with our palettes. We want to offer people an opportunity to connect people back to nature through something so simple as wearing clothing.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
One of the most important lessons in our journey has been showing up in the most authentic way as a business. Creating from our hearts, believing in what we are doing, going slow and surrendering to the process so we can live an abundant and happy life while spending time doing something we love. We aren’t creating a line of clothing just to pay the bills. We care so deeply about each garment we dye and it has been an incredible lesson in patience and authenticity. With this way of being, should we ever feel pressured to participate in the fashion industry in a way that doesn’t feel aligned, it makes it so much easier for us as a business and individuals to make a decision that may be different than what other businesses would choose, but is more aligned in our values as a brand.

Contact Info:

• Website: Rootedbotanics.com
• Instagram: Rootedbotanics

Image Credits
Charlotte Condy for the image of Allie and Sarah on the rocks.