Fun Fashion with Size Inclusivity featuring Liz DeSilva from Lounge Fly & Stitch Shoppe - PINNED Podcast: Episode 39
Join in this week with a magical talk with Liz DeSilva, she is the Vice President of Creative of Loungefly including the apparel line Stitch Shoppe. We dive into how Stich Shoppe has survived the pandemic and their strive to create clothing that is fun, bright, nostalgic, and most importantly comfortable for all body types.
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Episode Transcript
Miss Pinup Miami 0:03
Good day. And welcome back to the pin podcast. I'm your host Pinup Miami, where we talk about modern topics with a vintage flair. It is your first time listening to us. Welcome. I hope you stick around and like everything that we're chatting about. If you're a returning listener, I want to say thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I've loved all your feedback and the text as I've been getting. And for everyone that doesn't know what I'm talking about, make sure to follow the podcast on Instagram at the pin podcast official. Or you can send me a text 2183348 pinup. Very easy and simple. I can answer any questions you got any topics you have that you want on the show, or if you want to be a guest on the show. I love that as well. This week was well last week was the last week for the pin calendar applications that I had out. And I want to say that the response was so overwhelming if it's your first time listening. The pin calendar is one of my projects that every year, I send out applications to any girl that wants to be turned into a pin up for a day well for a photo shoot. And they get to be able to calendar girls of the Year for the pinna calendar. So check out more input the pin calendar, I'll be really seeing who got accepted to the calendar by this weekend. And thank you all who applied who donated it means so much to me. Thank you. Now today's episode, I have a very special guest we have the Vice President of creative of loungefly, including the apparel line at stitch shop, Liz de Silva, how are you? I'm excellent. How are you? I'm doing great.
It's nice to have you on here. Want to say thank you for being on the pain podcast. Of course, I want to know about you what is, you know, what is the Vice President of creative.
Liz 1:58
So pretty much what the vice president creative is I oversee everything creative for loungefly. So any apparel we do like stitch up or our loungefly apparel that's launching in about a month, all of our enamel pins, our backpacks. So I'm working with our license partners like Disney, Marvel Warner Brothers, whoever that is, I'm working with our retail partners. And I'm working with my amazing creative team full of artists that,
that make all of our products. And I'm just making sure that we're offering everybody unique items that you know, boxlunch get something special, our main line gets something special, and more than anything, making sure that we're just staying on top of innovation trends and just fresh new designs for our fans. And how did you start off with the company? like did you start off by a project? Um, so I actually, I joined Funko, who owns loungefly, about a little over two years ago, and joined because they had kind of a vision to start his apparel line, and the CEO of Funko. Brian is awesome. He is so product focused. So innovation focus. And myself and my partner, Derek, who's the VP of business development at loungefly, we flew up to Funko and pitched an idea. And the idea of like, so perfectly fit in with loungefly that, you know, they offered us the chance to kind of just take over like the vision of loungefly and move loungefly forward, obviously loungefly has been doing amazing designs for a long time. So um, I just kind of stuck in and I did I did show design. So I had a whole presentation of kind of this concept that ended up being stitch shop and included some things that we haven't got to yet that I hope to get to someday but yeah, so that's kind of how I did I had
this this project in my head for a long time and Funko was super open to it and supportive. So that's how I ended up head of creative at loungefly.
Miss Pinup Miami 4:17
See, I found out about loungefly because I sent them in Florida. Disney has always been a part of my life. And I see all the girls that collect like all the backpacks. And they're so cute and handbags. And Mickey Mouse won the
Liz 4:32
Yep, I've actually been a loungefly fan for a long time I have like it's a tote bag with like tattoo style swallows and an anchor that I've had since probably like the early 2000s. So I've always had like a small loungefly collection. And I just love their details and everything about them as a brand. So I was really excited to join the team and they have an amazing, amazing team of people from sales to design. To creative, I mean just really awesome people that care a lot about the brand, which is great to be a part of a team like that.
Miss Pinup Miami 5:08
It's always nice when you're surrounded by you're able to create and be surrounded by other people that want to create fun things. I feel like some jobs are slowly shifting, but some jobs are just stuck in the old ways. And
Liz 5:21
I think what makes loungefly great is we have a lot of real fans like even like the sales team, and the PD team and the art team, everyone are fans of at least some of the, you know, properties that we work on. So whether they're like really into Pokemon, or they grew up with Star Wars, and that's like really nostalgic for them, whatever it is, everybody got gets really excited about something which is cool.
Miss Pinup Miami 5:45
What was the first collection, that stitch shop came out with
Liz 5:48
the very first stitch shop collection, I'm wearing a piece of it. So we launched with Disney, and we launched in the middle of like kind of the worst part of the pandemic early on, we were actually supposed to launch sooner. And with COVID, we delayed and we ended up launching in June of 2020. And we launched with a large collection that included kind of vintage takes on Minnie and Mickey, three Disney Princess pieces and three Toy Story. And I'm sorry, it's been a long week, three Pixar up pieces.
Miss Pinup Miami 6:34
They're gorgeous. And so what's the process? When you come up with an idea? Like, give us a synopsis? I'm sure there's more than more details in between. But if you get an idea, you have a team to design.
Liz 6:46
Yeah, so I'm my partner, Derek and I, we typically start by just looking at like the whole quarter. So if you're looking at first quarter like January, February, March, we look at like, what's happening at that time? Are there anniversaries? What licenses are we going to cover. So once we have the framework, I start working with my team. So for stitch shop, have an amazing senior designer named Deseret, and we kind of decide on a main direction. And then she goes off and starts getting, you know, crazy with material ideas. And we both pull kind of art directions and she starts pulling, you know, silhouette ideas. And once we narrow a direction, then we get into as far as like trims, embroideries all that type of so we have these big boards, kind of like this one right here behind me that just has bad collections. But we fill up these big concept boards with whatever we're kind of liking and then we narrow it from there, kind of like big mood boards.
Miss Pinup Miami 7:46
I love it. It sounds like you're a movie, you're creating a storyboard and all the ideas all together and then you tell the story at the end with these beautiful graphics all together in a collection.
Liz 7:55
Yep, pretty much.
Miss Pinup Miami 7:58
What is your favorite part about working? I know he said the creative team but if there's like one little thing that you like the most.
Liz 8:05
Um, so I think what is great about working at loungefly is that our partners like Disney and Warner Brothers and Sanrio, they give lounge play a lot of leeway to explore these super creative and unique ideas. So I think the best part for me is being able to think outside the box and bring ideas to say Disney that haven't been out there before. And they're really open to it. They give us a lot of leeway. And I think my second favorite part is really reading the fan feedback on social media, especially during this year, I got to read a lot of people that like hey, loved having something to look forward to in the mail, we've all gone like months and months and months of staying at home. So if you have a dress coming or you have a bag coming, and that's you know, something that you can look forward to whether you're just gonna plan an outfit to wear at home, or whatever, it's still fun, it's still something to look forward to at a time when you're not going anywhere. So I love love to see that we made somewhat of a difference to people during this you know, really difficult time. So that's been really great.
Miss Pinup Miami 9:16
And love the the nostalgia of all the collections that you have makes everyone just giddy about them and think about great memories. You know, because you for example, the people you're talking about, they can't like if they're in Florida or they go to the parks a lot that gives them like that little thing they're missing. You had a Coca Cola collection and now everyone loves coke. Well, not everyone but in front of them. They love the Coca Cola aesthetic. And it's that nostalgia that people just want to hold on to and I think that's what makes like stitch shops really stand out and the colors because I'm a sucker for color.
Liz 9:50
I can tell I love your color story today.
Miss Pinup Miami 9:53
Thank you. Yes, we
Liz 9:55
definitely keep it colorful aside from maybe around like Halloween Timing, we get a little bit darker. But we do we do have some some pretty bright palettes and more coming. So yes, I am a huge fan of color. I always say my favorite color is rainbow because I could never pick one. But yes, we definitely like to play with fun color palettes and that will never change about set shop. So
Miss Pinup Miami 10:21
good. I love that. And I got I saw a lot of my own pieces I don't really so I've done some commissioned pieces. And one thing that I appreciate, you know, coming like looking on your Instagram on stitch, stitch shop and loungefly is that you show a variety of all different types of women and men. So it's not like a guessing game, because I've been to some websites that like you don't get to try them on person in person, right? And you're like guessing like, okay, does that look good on my body shape, you know, because I'm a plus size woman. Or for my boyfriend, he's skinnier, but you know. So it's like, I want to see what it looks like. And your page really shows a lot. So your brand, like I know you said earlier, when your team gets together and creates, you know, you look at the silhouette. What importance is that because I know everybody is different. It's so
Liz 11:11
important, it's probably one of the most important things. And when we started designing this line that was always in the forefront. So it was always like, is this sleeve going to be comfortable when we were doing fittings we fit on when we started the line originally fit on a size large and a size 2x. And that's how we did our fittings. And it was really important that like every sleeve was not going to pull. So when we did fittings, I was like pretend like you're driving, I don't want to I want to make sure it's not pulling on your arm. And you know doing normal everyday things because nicer quality, you know, vintage inspired apparel can still be super comfortable, and it needs to be comfortable for any size. So that was a big part of like the ramp up to our launch was many, many, many fittings. And not just that is anyone that's followed our journey from the beginning knows that after our first collection launched, we listened to all the feedback, all of it, and we adjusted some length, we added some elastic into some of the skirts to make the fit a little bit easier. So we definitely listen to what everybody said we've had a lot of people requesting a short sleeved dress because they wanted a sleeve. We had this one but later, we did more sleeveless dresses. And so we've developed to two or three new short sleeve styles that will be coming out this year based on just listening to the to the fan reaction because loungefly answer job if anything, like we're here to make things that people love. So it's super important to me to hear all that and, and in the beginning, um, we didn't have like a Social Media Manager during COVID. So I actually did it, which was great. Even though it was a lot of work, it was great because I got to talk to a lot of fans of stitch shop and hear their feedback. And I used to even, like, try on dresses before launch and show people like hey, my waist is a 36 right now and this is how this size fits on me and my partner would be like, what are you doing? Why are you sending them pictures of yourself. But it's important, right and you know, the tough part about COVID was that we couldn't we didn't have access to a ton of people to show the garments on even now when we do our photo shoots we can only shoot one person at a time we don't do hair and makeup, we have a lot of restrictions just to keep people safe. So in the future Our goal is to have lives with multiple shorter models, taller models, all different body types so that people can see before a launch Oh, okay, that person has a body similar to mine cool because we do try to see to as many a really wide variety of influencers and and models so I'm glad you see that so that people can can relate to one of them and see how it fit them. But we'd like to take it further as soon as it's a little bit safer to do that.
Miss Pinup Miami 14:12
Oh I like that because even a video is even better because then you see the way it flows because I know for me when I see like a pencil skirt online, let's say and it says stretchy and then you look at the model Yeah, they Photoshop are really nice. But you know we're all well at least women that are bigger. We all have curves in places we don't really want to we don't want to make any weight these curves. So it's nice some video too because you get to see how the fabric flows. It fits it's smooth. I like
Liz 14:42
some of the some of our some of our influencers or collaborators that we used, were really great this last year, and they would do stories and lives and go on and really show people you know I typically wear this size and this is how this fits. And I could have sighs down or whatever. And they gave like a lot of great information. So I mean, we were super grateful for all of them, because they gave us all that extra info that we, you know, we couldn't do in house or in a studio to share with everyone. So that was super helpful.
Miss Pinup Miami 15:16
I like it. It's amazing how social media, I know that a pandemic has really turned everyone's life upside down. But it really has shown us new ways of doing things. And you saw the positive, you know, you were involved in the beginning of your social media. And I it's amazing that you took initiative and did you know the social media and really got to know like, the people on there and help them out and your partner just telling you why he taking video.
Liz 15:45
Yeah, we finally have like, we have an amazing social director now that joined us, just before the beginning of this year. So it's new for us. But I still when we launch products, go on and read every single comment. I have a lot of people that you know, will reach out to me on my personal Instagram and ask questions about the product. And they'll always be like, I don't want to bother you. I know you're busy. And I'm like, No, bother me. Like, I want to know what you guys think I want to hear feedback, even if it's good, if it's bad. Our products only get better from all of the feedback that we get. So yeah, I love that people still reach out to me, even though I'm not running the social anymore, and get that info. And then I just I just take it upon myself. And I scroll and I read all the comments, and it's the best information. So for me social media is great, it's awesome.
Miss Pinup Miami 16:36
And then you get to, um, what's the word I'm looking for? You just get a one on one relationship. And you take that just like with my events, like I always have a survey at the end if somebody enters one of my contests just to know how I can make it better, or with the person that hired me so I can improve for my next event. And it just helps you grow and just be stronger at what your craft is and be able to you're not you know, next collection, you'll be like, oh, a lot of people like you said with your short sleeves. You know, we need to get the sleeves or stretch. And little details like the driving thing. You don't think about that. But you're everyone drives. Yes.
Liz 17:14
Well, I've had dresses, I think when when we were starting this, I just took everything that always drove me crazy about dresses that I bought over the years and I tried to fix them I tried to think about, you know, certain sleeves that always cut in or just didn't feel flattering. You know, certain types of waistband zippers breaking constantly on me that was one of my biggest things is I refuse to make a line with cheap zippers. Because I had so many styles I had to if I had time so so a new zipper in myself or take to having a car. Yes. And I was like, I don't want that. So we have like these gorgeous beefy zippers that you can you can zip up yourself and and they shouldn't snag on you. So um, so yeah, I just took a lot of my history of wearing, you know, vintage inspired clothes and all the things that kind of drove me crazy. Like this dress, for example, has buttons closer together over the bus, so that you don't get that pole. You know, all those those type of things that you just wish when you got the dress and you really love it, but you're like, Oh, I wish it had this. We tried to take as many of those things into account and even when we thought we took so many in, we've taken we've gotten so much feedback from people that have made things that much better. So I think, you know, stitch shop in in 2022 I mean, we'll probably be, you know, another level. Yeah, a whole nother level of, we just want to make things more comfortable. I want you to be able to go to Disneyland for the day, wear it on rides, eat all the snacks and still be comfortable.
Miss Pinup Miami 18:48
That's the important part. Especially if we go to the parks you know, you want to be cute for Instagram. But they wanna
Liz 18:56
be I can't help you with your heels but I can definitely try and get you a comfortable dress.
Miss Pinup Miami 19:01
I think it's funny when I go to dapper day in Florida and people take their heels and put them in a bag in a lounge fly bag.
Liz 19:10
Perfect.
Miss Pinup Miami 19:10
And then they just take the photo and put it back
Liz 19:14
there smart though because I have limped out of a dapper day before I have almost had to be carried so they are smarter than make. Yeah, I didn't think
Miss Pinup Miami 19:24
I will I always wear flats or like some cute flats. But when I saw that I saw a couple of girls just pop out heels from their bag. I was like wow, that's
Liz 19:33
brilliant. I can't well I can't wait until the parks open here and I can see I've got a Downtown Disney a couple of times and I seen people in stitch shop I actually took a day off of work last week and went to Downtown Disney because I'm not a big fan of being around a lot of people during COVID just, you know just want to be safe and so I took a day off of work to go and it was less crowded and I was sitting down and it envoy to VISTA Street and a girl was walking by and she was head to toe and says shop with her Ewok outfit. And then she had a loungefly Endor backpack. And I just like my friend was talking to me and I was just like, oh, jumped up ran into this tree. How do you take a picture of her she just looked amazing. And I can't wait to see more people like getting a chance to wear their dresses when the world is a little bit more open.
Miss Pinup Miami 20:28
Oh my god, that must feel so amazing. seeing somebody with your like everything that you've worked for so long all together, especially when she like, coordinated it all cute.
Liz 20:37
He was head to toe it's like exactly what I envisioned when we're making the the apparel and to see people just walking around in real life is phenomenal.
Miss Pinup Miami 20:48
So talking about people, I have questions that I got sent in on Instagram. Sure. And via text. The first one is what's your most popular design?
Liz 21:01
I think, um, from what I know from looking at sales, I think from the beginning, our most popular design was the original yellow Sandy skirt, which had the big Minnie Mouse balloon on the front. Oh, kind of Yes, yes, I'm pretty sure that that was our best seller and that style in general, the sandy skirt, which is like a little bit longer length skirt that we've now added elastic to the back so it's even more comfortable. That's where it's so versatile. And it's it's super comfortable. And it's a great Canvas for beautiful art. We released one today with the Neverland Peter Pan mermaids. And it just it's a beautiful Canvas for either an all over print or a scene. So I'm pretty sure it was that yellow polka dot Minnie Mouse skirt from the very first collection has just been everybody's favorite. So I will tell you that it's not a mini skirt, but we have something inspired by that coming later this year.
Miss Pinup Miami 22:04
And it's yellow. What do you have any like favorite designs or does your favorite change every time a new one comes out?
Liz 22:13
You know what I like? It does change kind of depending on the time of year. This is one of my favorite dresses. It's just this like Desi diner dress. It's super comfortable. So I wear this a lot. But I think in terms of designs, I absolutely loved our princess books collection that we did, which it had no princess faces, it was just all of their storybooks and like secondary items from their story. And then we had this amazing stitch up bag that was shaped like five books on a shelf and the innovation in that line. And the things that our team did just came together so beautifully. And that was very unique. And so I think I think that one's probably my favorite from a design standpoint,
Miss Pinup Miami 23:01
because the designs are not only overall good when you really look at it's very detailed.
Liz 23:06
Yes, we are all about the details.
Miss Pinup Miami 23:09
Yeah, like this celerina story.
Liz 23:12
This collection. For example, when we did the trims, we made them like a little more oversize. So instead of doing like a small scallop trim, we wanted to make it feel like a little more cartoony, so it's a little bigger and more oversized. Like it was actually like Minnie Mouse's dress. And that's the type of stuff I love. I love it.
Miss Pinup Miami 23:29
What is the most exciting part about working with stitch shop.
Liz 23:34
Um, I get I mean, to be honest, probably just now being able to see people and the happiness it brings them like I love waking up in the morning and saying like, I'm gonna pull together a look even when we're not going anywhere during COVID I love just putting myself in a good mood with a great outfit. And I love seeing people on social media excited about their stitch shop. I love seeing people of all different sizes, all ethnicities wearing it, it's just it's absolutely beautiful. definitely my favorite part
Miss Pinup Miami 24:08
and then taking selfies with them like hey,
Liz 24:12
I hope I get to like I feel like I've become you know, social media friends with so many people I've never met I hope to start bumping into people in the parks in the next couple years and and be able to meet people in person because there's been so many lovely people that have supported sit shop from the beginning that were complete strangers to me that are just really really sweet people. So
Miss Pinup Miami 24:34
who and I hope to make it out to California to check out Disneyland I've never been
Liz 24:39
Yes, well we go we go to Florida quite a bit the loungefly team when it's safe. We were going you know two three times a year to meet with our Disney Parks team out there. So we love coming to Florida and seeing what's new at the parks over there.
Miss Pinup Miami 24:51
Where can somebody in Florida buy stitch in the Disney Springs or
Liz 24:56
so right so right now, stitch shop is unique to loungefly.com. And also, if you're in LA, you can get it at the Funko Hollywood store where they have the actual garments, or you can try them on. But for everyone else outside of La loungefly.com is where we launch all the collections right now. And that may change in the future. We're working on some things, but for right now, that's where you can find it.
Miss Pinup Miami 25:26
How do you choose the next collection?
Liz 25:30
So, um, so just like loungefly, we look at a lot of different things we look at, you know, anniversaries that are happening, we look at, you know, seasons and holidays and all different things. So we always want to make sure you know, say if it's Disney, for example, we want to make sure that we're giving enough love to our Disney classic friends. Our princess friends are Pixar friends. So one is about balance. Two is about just what's going on what's trending. What are people loving? You know, last year, there were big anniversaries for Fantasia and Toy Story. So we definitely had to cover those. So I can give you like a little sneak peek of what's to come. Winnie the Pooh for example has an anniversary this year. So you'll see something Winnie the Pooh from us as well as Dumbo. So that's kind of how it's really like what's going on in the world. What what makes sense that year and also sometimes it's just fan favorites from you know if we had a bag for loungefly that sold really well and we get a lot of feedback from fans like hey I love you know I love this Tiana bag wish there was more Tiana product and that's something we would take into consideration if we hear it enough. So definitely we listen on
Miss Pinup Miami 26:53
social media matching dress for my bag.
Liz 26:57
So yeah, actually like a lot a lot of times people will write like, I love this collection. I wish there was a stitch up best to go with it or something like that. And again, I read everything that I possibly can so some of it does really come from fan feedback.
Miss Pinup Miami 27:11
What is your favorite fandom
Liz 27:14
so anyone that knows me who has been to my house or my office that I've created here knows that I am a hardcore Disney fan. I have a pink guestroom that is all Disney theme. So if you if you ever see at my house you can choose there's a Star Wars and Harry Potter themed guestroom, and then there's a Disney theme guestroom and I am a massive Minnie Mouse fan. I just feel like she's such an iconic fashionista and she just has a look that has stayed classic throughout time. I grew up completely obsessed with Snow White and Cinderella. But nowadays, you know some of the new princesses have have snuck into my heart so I have a pretty large collection of vintage Disney products. So yes, I'm definitely my big my. I'm a Disney girl. I also love a lot of other things but if the biggest is by far Disney
Miss Pinup Miami 28:16
nice. I love making a Minnie Mouse would make this would make a great panel like who's the best fashionista menu or Miss Piggy? I feel like that would be like a great debate.
Liz 28:27
Yeah, I've been trying to like drop hints to Disney and our partner to Disney for a long time that you know I could retire and be happy if they would let me design a stitch shop dress for many. One day. That would just be like the coolest thing that I could ever imagine to do.
Miss Pinup Miami 28:43
That would be amazing. You dress like many and then you have no
Unknown Speaker 28:47
wearing the dress.
Miss Pinup Miami 28:50
That would be amazing. I believe that will happen for you.
Liz 28:52
I hope so let's all put it out there.
Miss Pinup Miami 28:56
What is your favorite lounge by bag?
Liz 28:59
Oh, that's hard. I feel like somebody asked me this the other day on social too. So we did a Cinderella collection. That was a pink mini backpack cosplayer her pink dress and the details that the team put into it were just beautiful. And then there was a there was a crossbody. A blue quilted crossbody that also loved but that was my favorite until we did the princess books collection and that bag is just perfection so I think I would have to say that that the princess books collection is by far my favorite bag.
Miss Pinup Miami 29:36
Because I've never seen anything like it literally a little bookshelf on the go.
Liz 29:41
Yeah, I just I love it. I carry it quite often. It's definitely just one of my favorites because it's so unique.
Miss Pinup Miami 29:50
What inspires the silhouette and your designs?
Unknown Speaker 29:55
Um,
Miss Pinup Miami 29:55
so you're saying, Are you Vince that you look into vintage repro or Yeah 100%
Liz 30:00
so we look at vintage styles, myself and Deseret, our senior designer, we definitely we look at actual vintage silhouettes. And then it comes down to like making sure making versions that are comfortable and versatile. So I always think like, if you're gonna have a dress in your closet that you spend around $100 for you want to be able to style it different ways. You want to be able to wear it to different events. So it's really important to me to make something that I feel like one can be worn in different ways. So we have like our tank Olivia dress that you can wear, you can like layer a cardigan over it, you can layer a blouse under it, you can wear it many different ways, and to
Miss Pinup Miami 30:44
fit on your socials because I saw a girl that you guys posted her sleeve, like a long sleeve underneath one of your dresses. Yeah, to do that.
Liz 30:53
Yes, exactly. So we like things to be versatile, so that all our fans have an opportunity to wear them. And then I also wanted to make sure that the pieces, you know, they could be dressed up or down so that you could throw on a pair of heels with them and wear them out on a date. Or you could throw in a denim jacket and a pair of Converse and wear them to the park and they work either way. So just try to make them super versatile. Make them so that you can pair them with, you know, different belts, different accessories. So kind of kind of classic pieces that you know, whatever you're a fan of can live in your closet for a long time. And more than anything quality quality fabrics, that, you know that are easy to wear quality materials and trims that aren't going to give out on you.
Miss Pinup Miami 31:39
Have you found it difficult in the pandemic to source out any materials.
Liz 31:44
So sourcing not too difficult. But just in general, the pandemic has just caused a lot of delays for everyone. So whether, you know people getting COVID or, you know, just shipping delays because of COVID. So many things went wrong this year because of COVID. But again, we have amazing fans and people were extremely patient at times. You know, we we couldn't launch things until maybe a month late, sometimes more. People were amazing. People were understanding. I mean, there was a point at which I'm sure everybody remembers like you couldn't, nothing was shipping on time. Like if you placed an order, it was sometimes taking like three, four weeks for for ups or the post office to get it to you. And that's frustrating, especially when, you know, people are out of work or they're choosing to spend their hard earned money on your products and to see them, you know, frustrated and waiting for stuff but not to have any control over that. So the pandemic was challenging our team was a large chunk of our team was furloughed for a significant amount of times I think my creative team was down to five people at one point, which is not a lot for all the amazing stuff we came out with. So yeah, it was definitely a challenging time. But I think we're very lucky. I think bounce light is extremely grateful and all of the team for where we're at and the fans that continue to support us through 2020 is amazing. Oh,
Miss Pinup Miami 33:22
I we usually where I work with manufacturing plants and it's been such a delay on everything. Even a snowstorm that just happens. There's always
Liz 33:31
something new there's always a new reason everything's delayed. Yeah,
Miss Pinup Miami 33:35
just add on and people are now becoming understanding because everyone's going through it. So that's like, I guess the plus size two? Yeah. Is your closet full of all your designs? Hmm,
Liz 33:47
yes. So. So my closet is ridiculous. I call it Liz land. And I actually bought a house with it. I bought this house specifically because it had this really weird extra bedroom upstairs it's like really long and skinny. And I don't know what anybody would use it for but I turned it into my closet and it's amazing and everything is in its pink and everything is in rainbow order. So yes, I do have it full of stitch shop. I also prior to joining labs I used to make a lot of my own clothes. So I have a lot of things I made in the past and just you know favorite dresses and I'll never let go of so I have a rainbow of apparel up there and shoes. I have a lot of shoes.
Miss Pinup Miami 34:39
I think I've seen you post on your on your on your Instagram in the pink room. You know your outfits. Yeah. Yeah, so
Liz 34:49
the more the pink room that's like where my office is. So I have two pink rooms I guess. My guest room which is my office now due to COVID and then my closet is upstairs. And that's also it's also pink. So it's, yes, I'm pretty much always in a pink area.
Miss Pinup Miami 35:07
So the last question I have is what designer inspires you?
Liz 35:12
Oh, that's a really good question. Um, I don't know that I've ever had like one fashion designer that I really gravitated towards, I think probably more artists, to be honest. Because I do I look at silhouettes and things like that. But especially stitch up is very, very driven by the art that's on the dresses and the colors. So like a lot of Disney fans, I've always been a huge Mary Blair fan. I'm an artist, that maybe some people know Matisse he did. He's amazing. Cut out beautiful paper cut out. I'm polish. And there's a type of paper, a very colorful paper cut artwork in Poland that I love. So I think I've always been a little bit more inspired by prints and art than actual, like fashion designers.
Unknown Speaker 36:12
Oh,
Miss Pinup Miami 36:12
I can see that. And then especially it's all been stitched by. It's perfect, because then it just blends. I'm curious. Well, how did what how did you come up with the name stitch stitch shop. Um,
Liz 36:23
so one coming up with a name for a brand is really hard now because everything's taken. So I wish everybody that starting new brands a lot a lot, because I think you have to just make up words. Because it's really hard. We had a lot of really cute names. And they were already taken. And if they're taken in the country that you plan to ship to one day, you don't want to like go into that, that area. So it was really important that we kind of focused on the quality and I wanted people to know that this isn't like fast fashion, you're not buying like a blank t shirt that you can buy and just screenprint you know, it's actual cut and sew fashion. So we wanted to have some element of that cut and sew piece so and then shop sh o p p e just made me feel like a vintage like ice cream shop or candy shop. So So yeah, so it kind of just combine those the kind of just the aesthetic of stitch shop and then that cut and sew component.
Miss Pinup Miami 37:26
Oh, nice. I was just, I just thought about I was like, I wonder how she got them.
Liz 37:29
That was probably like the eighth name we came up with. And it was the first one to get approved by legal so it was really exciting.
Miss Pinup Miami 37:39
There you go. He only took a trip. Yep. Do you have any questions or anything you'd like to say? add on.
Liz 37:47
I just I mean, for anybody watching that has been following our brand. Just thank you so much for myself and the whole team. It is not an ideal time to launch a new brand and we always envisioned you know launching in a time when people could wear it to dapper day and and wear it out into the world. So the people that have supported it and chose worn it at home. We love you. And you know it looks like hopefully we'll all be getting back to some type of normal here soon. And to all the new people that are just discovering said shop. You know, we're always on social. We're always here to answer questions. You can hit up my personal Instagram and ask me questions. I don't mind you're not bothering me. So yeah, more than anything, just thank you to everyone that has supported stick shop parties participated with the brand either on social media or by purchasing and anyone that is willing to check it out and see what we have coming this year.
Miss Pinup Miami 38:48
Thank you, Liz so much for being on my show.
Unknown Speaker 38:51
Of course.
Miss Pinup Miami 38:53
I'm gonna put her on her Connect connections down into the description you can follow her on Instagram is this Oba designs, you can follow loungefly and stitch shop by loungefly on Instagram, everything will be in the description. Next week. I have Deanna cat Deanna Khan, from Blondie beauty salon in Fort Lauderdale. She's all about bright hair color, which that's what I'm all about. I'm excited to talk to her and how the pandemic has affected her salon. So make sure to come next week to listen in. And if you want to help me a free way to help me out is by signing up at the podcast. If you're watching on YouTube, subscribe and hit that like button and notification bell I would greatly appreciate it and until next time, have a beautiful day.
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