Today we’d like to introduce you to Ibby Hartley.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Watching my Grandma and Mom sewing and making clothing fascinated me. As a child, I would haul my Mom’s cumbersome 1940s Singer sewing machine from her closet and experiment with the mechanisms, mimicking what I’d seen her do. The main goal was to keep my fingers from being whisked into the path of the needle when I pressed on the old Singer’s pedal. After some close calls, I started to get the hang of sewing. My fashion career really began with repurposing old clothing and designing my own dresses from scratch, including a slinky silk number I made for prom.
I developed a passion for sustainability and permaculture farming during my junior year of high school. I entered UC Berkeley intending to study Environmental Science. Ultimately however, I graduated with a degree in Art History. That roundabout path informed my design sense and planted the seed for my desire to run a company that is as environmentally friendly as possible. In a dream world, I’d be growing natural fibers in my yard to weave my own textiles—maybe one day!
After college, I was pretty lost, unsure of what I wanted to do. Seeing me working odd jobs in San Francisco, my upstairs roommate essentially told me to stop dithering. She knew what I wanted to do but was too scared to go after it!
I was lucky to land an informational interview with a family friend’s wife at an LA-based clothing company. I brought in my portfolio and scored an internship that ultimately became a full-time position. This was my first real job in fashion. For three and a half years, I was fortunate to work under a nurturing and talented boss. She taught me many of the design skills I use every day.
Ibby Hartley, the clothing line, was born out of a dinner conversation with my boyfriend’s mom who encouraged me to start my own project. She and I have been close since we met, she’s been an incredible mentor to me. We decided to partner and create beautiful, sexy, elegant casual wear for women of all ages. We started with 84 pieces and sold out almost immediately!
Since then, the business has taken on a life of its own, morphing continuously as I experiment with my design sensibility. Right now, I’m working on growing our custom business– creating one of a kind handmade garments for individual customers. We now have an open studio space showcasing my work on Abbot Kinney in Venice, CA.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Oh boy!
I think I’ve been incredibly lucky—but the road has certainly not been smooth. In my experience, owning a small business really pushes you to take a hard look at yourself. There have been times when I didn’t listen to my instincts or didn’t speak up and that’s usually resulted in problematic situations.
While I’m comfortable with design, learning to run a business has been more challenging. There are so many moving parts to address and all are a priority. Learning to be efficient and organized with my time has been a critical. A great team armed with clearly communicated expectations and goals is what I’m always striving for. How can I ensure that my employees are happy and well paid? What can they do better than I can? How can I create an empowering work environment?
I’m a naturally conflict-avoiding kind of person, so it has been a constant learning process to be able to say no or to address things that I think people don’t want to hear. I’m also constantly learning to be okay with criticism and the fact that we all make mistakes. My goal is to listen, learn, not take things personally, and keep moving!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I specialize in handmade custom clothing and textile design. Everything is designed and handmade in my Venice, CA studio, including about 40% of our printed fabrics that I draw or paint. I’ve done some really fun custom projects. One of my favorites was creating a fabric with hand-drawn championship rings and then using it to make the world’s biggest jacket for Shaquille O’Neal!
I’m so proud of how we create our products and do business. I work with a wonderful, tiny team that is the backbone of the company. Everything is handmade. We basically keep a super small inventory and do custom projects with amazing materials and prints. In our philosophy and our environmental impact, we are the antithesis of “fast fashion”.
I love the custom process because it’s deeply personal and collaborative. We’re making clothing to fit someone’s taste and body exactly. The potential is endless. We’ve made a cheerful cotton gown for a woman to give birth in, an abaya for a customer who lives in Oman, a slinky dress for a rehearsal dinner in Hawaii. It’s wild to me that as consumers are so used to buying clothing based on standardized sizes when all bodies are so different. Individuality is a wonderful thing! My thought with custom clothing is that you can create a wardrobe that’s exactly how you like it and then wear it for the rest of your life.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think there are some really exciting shifts coming in the apparel and fashion industry, and they’ve already begun! I see people and companies putting more thought into production, ethics, and materials to support a happier and healthier world. This shift is going to lead to so much ingenuity in materials and technologies. Eventually, I think that people will return to buying a few well-made clothing items to treasure long term rather than repeatedly buying trendy items and then getting rid of them quickly.
Pricing:
- Our prices for studio-made pieces start at $200
- Our custom charge starts at $75. Before we begin work on your custom project, we provide you with a comprehensive quote.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1510 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
- Website: ibbyhartley.com
- Phone: 310-399-7108
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @ibbyhartley
Image Credit:
Mimi Newman, Ibby Hartley
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