Meet Piper O’Brien of Orange Cosmic Mermaid

Today we’d like to introduce you to Piper O’Brien.

Piper, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It all started with my desire as a young woman to radically self-express through fashion. My parents use to buy me nice clothes, and I would always get in trouble for revamping them. I would cut, tear, fray, and add patches or buttons or straps to make them unique to me.

This desire to radically express and be unique then carried on throughout my life, and when I had moved to the Pacific NW in my mid 20’s I was not too impressed with the fashion or the weather, so I bought a sewing machine and taught myself how to make my own clothes. This started my journey.

Then fast forward five years, when a successful businessman and friend at the time, who is now my fiance, asked me where I had got my outfits and I said I made them; he was shocked. He then continued to encourage me to start my own company because he felt it would be a success. At this moment, I realized that it is now or never. I love fashion and making people happy and comfortable with their self-image through threads, and I was passionate about my work, so I did it, I started my company!

I have now had my company three years, and we are sold in 12 stores across the country, set up popups at ten major music festivals a year as well as make custom garments for some professional DJ’s, famous actress’ and models. I am so excited and humbled by the love and support and excited to see what’s next. A couple of exciting things that will be happening with OCM in the near future is that we will be partnering with a nonprofit who does ocean cleanup and will be donating a percentage of our profits to clean up the ocean.

We will be announcing our partnership in 2019 but the idea is that each dollar donated will equate to a piece of trash extracted from our ocean. I am a very environmentally conscious vegan, and I LOVE THE OCEAN, and even though we are a zero waste company we still have a footprint, similar to almost all fashion companies, so we want to offset that and give back. Mermaids need the Ocean, and it needs our help, so Orange Cosmic Mermaid is here to help!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
This journey has been such a great growing experience, and I am so thankful I have had so many great people to help mentor and guide me along the way. Becoming an entrepreneur is a big change from the corporate world, and there has been a huge learning curve that I am still climbing.

It has been challenging learning how to start an LLC, doing books, running productions, sourcing materials and hiring people, but like I said, I am very thankful for the help of my fiance and a couple good friends who have had success with their businesses.

Please tell us about Orange Cosmic Mermaid.
Orange Cosmic Mermaid is a unique, futuristic, eccentric, FUNctional high-energy fashion. We make wild, fun HOLOGRAPHIC shimmer clothes that emit fractal rainbows every time the light hits them. The garments we make are show stoppers and have everyone intrigued by how bright they shine!!

Orange Cosmic Mermaid is worn by many people including world-class international DJs, Models and celebrities and Yoga instructors!! We design and hand make everything ethically in LA to exude your inner confidence and playful self.

After making all of our garments we reuse and re-purpose all of our scraps, so we have zero waste! These clothes are made to add a little sparkle to everyone’s life while making them feel comfortable in their own skin. We are inclusive, and our garments are great for all genders, shapes and body types!!

As a company owner, I am most proud of our conscious environmentally friendly model and the pure joy that our garments give people. We often have our customers in tears because they say they have never felt so pretty or never received so many compliments. Our garments are the ultimate self-esteem booster!

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
To be honest nothing! Everything has happened for a reason and has been a very valuable lesson and tool for growth individually and as a company.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.orangecosmicmermaid.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orangecosmicmermaid/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OrangeCosmicMermaid/

Image Credit:
Randon Vannuchi, Ann Putney

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