Whether you’ve been with us since we were sending out a newsletter curating clothes with pockets from the internet, or you just joined the Holdette bandwagon, it’s undeniable that Holdette has grown and changed in many ways. This past year, in particular, has been the year of largest growth yet. In preparation for 2020, we wanted to reflect on how we got to where we are now.

We started 2019 in a completely different place than we are now. Heck, we weren’t even planning on launching a clothing line when the year kicked off. The team was Sarah and Maryam, Sarah’s friend from high school and another friend of Sarah’s from college. Holdette was on its fifth pivot and was hoping to pull together clothes with pockets from independent designers, kinda like an Etsy for clothes with pockets. 

Sarah worked on this idea until May when she got to present at an event at Boston University. The event was called Dolphin Tank, kinda like Shark Tank, but the judges are nice to you. We asked the judges whether it made sense to manufacture the clothes for the independent designers ourselves or whether we should get the designers to manufacture their own clothes. The resounding answer was to manufacture the clothes ourselves because of the minimized risk.  

The event concluded and Sarah got thinking. If we were going to manufacture the clothes for the designers ourselves, then we might as well design them ourselves.

Manufacturing + Designing = A clothing line!

And thus the idea for Holdette the clothing line was born!

That summer Sarah worked on designing what was going to become Holdette’s very first suit. As a computer science major, she admittedly knew little about flat drawings but with the help of Philip, a fashion professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, she was quickly on her way.

Once the drawings were done it came time to work on samples. Philip created the first muslin sample of the suit and Sarah dragged her friend Natalie down to Philip’s studio to try the suit on.

While Philip was busy working on the suit, Sarah was working hard to build a team. While Sarah and Maryam were quite the power duo, they both knew if they found more people they’d go further faster. Sarah found Harper to write the Holdette blogs, Alex to be Sarah’s wing-woman leading the team, Rachaithaa to manage the young start-up’s finances, and Shea to help with PR. Together these ladies are arguably a dream team.

In addition to building a team, Sarah was working with her friends at fringe.is to create a whole new look for the brand. Yet to be released, Jackson and Sophia worked tirelessly to bring the Holdette brand to life in a way that will carry the company to launch and far beyond. 

This fall Holdette also finally got it’s official trademark documents! 

Now in the midst of sourcing fabrics, we know they want to pick the most sustainable options they can. Scouring the internet for the best fabrics, our samples are coming together and the team is preparing to launch.

Finally, we launched the Holdette blog with a special focus on our Women@Work series to highlight women doing awesome things in their jobs. We have loved getting to learn from these women about their transitions to adulthood and the lessons they have learned along the way.

Powered by a burning desire to not hold their phone in a purse any longer and the knowledge that one day they will get to help many women do the same, the Holdette team enters 2020 ready to grow faster than ever before!