Natalie Navis - The Fold
APRIL 8, 2020 © Right Here, Right Now.
I'm tired. Every day is different. Last week I lost my 90, almost 95 year old grandmother who was super close to me. So I'm kind of…I mean, I’m still there with that. And so it's weird because…all I could think about was what was going on. And now I really I'm kind of like, numb about everything else now and just kind of lethargic about moving forward right now.
Josh - What are some ways you're trying maybe to be strong right now? Where's your strength coming?
Well, I would say for sure, my two managers. They've been working with me for the whole four years that we've been open. They're strong during this, I think, when I'm not. And so I kind of feel motivated by them for sure to keep going.
It's affected our business. I mean, hugely so in the fashion and into the design industry. You do your market and you buy your product about six months in advance. So unfortunately and fortunately we're bought through the year. We support these designers who are then, you know, struggling as well right now. We started realizing it. I'd say it's just the beginning of March when they're reaching out to us saying, “Can you still take your inventory in?”
If so, you know, offering different ways, like whether they could offer a discount or they could push the deliveries back. And it just became this like, ripple effect. And like a domino effect.
We just started restructuring as much as we could. But we wanted to keep supporting them because if we just didn't take any of our inventory in, they would go out of business, too. So they're depending on their retailers to stay open to a degree. And so we just quickly moved. We thankfully already had our website, like we've been up and running on our website for quite a while. And so we just focused on getting everything up on the site immediately, which was really hard for us, too, because we have a photography team, a model team, a style team. Everyone hired that we normally shoot with. We couldn't do it anymore because we had to save those costs. So we just have to use stock images, which enables us to put things up immediately. Take the stock images from the designers and put it on our website. And as soon as we can get back to doing our own photos and employing everybody, we will. But in the meantime, in order to expedite the process and get the product up immediately, we needed to use their photos. I'd say the biggest change was just putting more focus on our website. But our website is still a portion, a small portion of our overall sales. We're still primarily brick and mortar. So, I mean, we're nowhere near where we would have been had we been open as normal. And spring is obviously a huge fashion time. You know, just the excitement of getting all these things in and then having our own people to come in and see them and try on. You know, we don't have that.
At first I think I was like in denial and resistant and I kind of was doing a weekly recap on our Instagram on Sunday. And so I'd say by week two to three, I kind of came to terms with I guess this is happening, but I definitely tried to fight it at first. Emotionally and mentally. And I go in waves. I was kind of, I'd say, pretty motivated. We ship online. And then, of course, in Omaha, we just drop things off to client’s doorsteps and let them try on at home. But there's just so much that’s so isolating. You don't have any interaction. We're primarily stylist's as well. We're not just selling product. We're like working with our clients. Like those relationships are why we do what we do. And so it's just like huge pieces missing. And you can get that a little bit like on the phone or face time or whatever, but it's just not the same. This is an extremely interactive space. When our clients come in, we pull things for them and and they come out of the dressing room every time they put something on and it's like a conversation. And we're not getting to have that.
You know, for me, fashion is an outward expression of who you are. This is having a huge effect on the fashion designer/fashion industry right now. We used to buy things that were very ahead. So if you were in July, you'd be getting your fall clothes already. A lot of the designers are shifting when things come in. Also, there's like a huge sustainability thing. So a lot of them are scaling way back and like tightening production, changing how they're producing their garments because if they were waiting on things from out of the country…I mean, it's just not sustainable. We have designers from the US mainly, but then we do have some European designers and the ones that are made in the US and everything's here are doing a lot different than the other ones. So big, big picture, I think, is going to have a huge change on the fashion industry as a whole. The designer fashion industry, how things are done. And, you know, like the sustainability of the system. And in terms of people, I think it is interesting how much different I feel. And I think my clients feel when they are dressed versus not. I mean, there's just even a day I had to get dressed for you. And so I was like, OK, I have to get ready. And I feel so much better, actually. I just think wearing sweats every day I mean…like I feel the depression is even outward. It’s like, “Here’s how I feel.” And most of time, especially when something bad happens or, you know, there's a loss of any kind. You don't want to put any effort in because you want the world a little bit to know I'm not doing well or I'm grieving, and that's OK, too. So I don't think that if you're not feeling well, you should force it. But if you're feeling like, you know, I'm putting these things on and it's dragging me down then try getting dressed and do things for yourself. It can uplift your mood. But I do understand why when you're not feeling good, you don't want to put things on that incorrectly reflect how you're feeling. So I can see both sides of it. But I think after this I feel like they'll be a huge celebratory mood. And I feel like people will want to get dressed a lot more than they ever did before because they'll be like, “I'm going places. I'm seeing people. I'm putting on clothes.” It's a way to connect with other people to some degree.
But the good news is, you know, I do hear that a lot from my clients. Like sometimes they'll say, “I've put this dress on. Where am I gonna go? I don’t know.” And they'd say, “I don't want to be judged that I look way overdressed.” And I'm like, “Well, now is the time to do it. Because who's gonna judge you now for putting on that outfit? Nobody.” So you can't feel stupid. It's just you. It's almost more liberating right now to get dressed because no one's judging you.
Josh - I was in Japan last year and I noticed that many people wear them there and have seen them even used for fashion.
Yeah. I'm seeing a lot of the bandanna thing. Like the tying it in the triangle and the front, like the cowboy bandana kind of old school thing. Now everyone's just like wearing them with their top like tees and tops. And then you have your little bandana because then you could just pull it up. So I'm seeing it already kind of like infiltrate the fashion community. But no, it'll be interesting. We have a hat designer from L.A. and she had already created her collection long before this spring. And it's all handmade. You know, the Panama straw hats. And then they had these long ties from them. They were kind of Parisian inspired, I'm sure. Can't remember her exact inspiration for the collection. But now she she's wrapping the ties around as a mask. I would have never thought that's how I'd be styling this hat. It's interesting because she didn't know why she was making it this way at the time. And now it's like serving a very utilitarian purpose.
I can totally see one of our designers doing tops with like these funnel necks that would be removable. She's actually done something like that before. So it's interesting. It's like the part of covering your lower face has been in fashion before. Maybe they'll make it more into their collections. I don't know. Very creative way of styling someone.
Josh -Is there anything else you wanted to just get out?
Gosh, I wish I had something really profound to say. I don't know. Like a part of me feels like, you know, I just have to keep focusing on the light. This is a moment in time. At first, I was kind of panicked and I was like, “Is this ever going to end?” Like, do we know there will be an end like to this? And everyone said, yes, we will. There will be an end. We just don't know when it will be. And so to me, knowing that there is an end to the tunnel is really helpful for me mentally. My best friend said to me, “Some tunnels are really long and dark and it takes a while for your eyes to adjust to them. But they do adjust and you learn how to live in that tunnel. But at the end, you know, there will be something light and good and your eyes will adjust to that, too.” So I try to focus on that personally. The impermanence is helpful for me.
