On a personal note…

WELCOME TO FASHION & THE FREE

1 in 6 people on the planet work in the fashion industry. Open any fashion magazine or blog today, who do you see? Do you recognize yourself? Can you relate to the experiences of those household-name designers, the influencers, the models? 

I’ve been a Designer in “The Industry” for more than 10 years. My journey began in the UK, sketching for a variety of brands in and around London. 3 years ago I found myself on the US East Coast, and have since made my way 3000 miles across to the sunny beaches of Orange County, California. Throughout my career I’ve designed for companies large & small, allowing me the privilege to work alongside some incredibly talented people. Over the years I’ve heard and witnessed many of their amazing stories about their own fashion journeys. Some of these have inspired the path I’ve taken...while others have made me question everything. 

When I remember back to the year I graduated Uni, the Fashion Industry felt like an elusive ‘members only’ club - seemingly impossible to access, and even harder to climb to the top. It was only a matter of luck that I met some amazingly selfless people through my first internships who helped me get my foot in the door. Others along the way have given me the motivating advice leading to my first promotions. They gave me the knowledge to make it into my dream brands, and the confidence to fulfill my ambitions of working overseas. 

This industry is woven together by the collective experience and creativity of countless thousands of individuals. Listening and learning from each other is what moves us forward. The stories we share connect and guide us. For most, the vast majority of skills we use every day aren’t taught in school. Without this shared knowledge, I may have never left my small town of Kent, England, let alone made it this far in this incredible fashion journey that’s taken me around the world and back.

Talking with friends and colleagues, it seems most of us share a similar sentiment. And this is what has lead me to increasingly wonder, Why does it feel like I can’t relate to anything I actually read about Fashion? 

Where are all these stories & experiences which have helped me and my friends so much? Why does it seem like those few who I read about in blog posts and articles don’t really represent me?

Welcome to Fashion and The Free - a platform for all of the wonderful people across the world of Fashion who keep the industry alive.

It’s for the designers and buyers. The print maker’s and the fabric specialists. The photographers and factory floor workers. For the startups and side hustlers. For students and the professionals with decades under their belt.

We’ll be publishing monthly articles which give the real people of Fashion a voice to inspire, educate and share their stories - in the hope that others can learn, relate, and connect. 

We aspire to answer questions like, Whats next? Where do I go from here? What can I do with the skills and knowledge I’ve obtained?

It’s to help you navigate the road blocks, or build new skills to take you to the next level of your career (or even begin a new one). And it’s to give you a place to relate and feel connected.

As this site grows, I anticipate it will serve as a valuable resource, while also building a community of incredibly talented people.  Given the unprecedented situation we’re all going through right now, I think many of us need it more than ever.

I hope that you can resonate with the content, and I’m so excited to share this with you!

Lastly I just want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has supported this project so far. I really appreciate your time and effort in helping make this come to life!

Emma Golley

Founder of Fashion and the Free