1

fashion for freedom part II


hello! happy friday my friends!

tooting my own horn over here, but really, i'm so happy to tell you about my new 'fashion for freedom' page on the website. please check it out here --> fashion for freedom. i'm totally excited to see where purusha goes. yesterday i joined the ethical fashion forum and i am blown away and overwhelmed with how many resources there are out there! a lot of people are working to make the garment industry a more sustainable and humane practice. i have so much to learn, it's beautiful!

one really cool thing i learned is, change begins with the brands. country's governments won't force better conditions in garment factories because they want to remain globally competitive, and consumers not buying from these brands often causes companies to seek even cheaper labor to make more profit! crazy! BUT we as consumers can decide whether we want to have to have that sort of sadness and exploitation on our consciences when we vote with our dollar. AND we can write letters to companies, or sign petitions. we have more power than we think we do.

as the owner of a brand, i have full control over how i plan to sustain ethical business practices. this is amazing to me. i can choose my own loving, responsible, respectful, compassionate clothing manufacturing adventure. everyone wins!

i don't want us to wait until another building collapses and kills 250 people. we have to educate and prevent these unnecessary atrocities. the disaster in bangladesh and this video (it's a tear jerker) really cemented my resolve to not buy clothing from companies that don't promote their ethically run factories. 


i know it's nearly impossible to live in the world today and not buy products from exploited slave labor, but i'm going to do the best i can with what i have. i'm obviously not perfect, this computer i'm typing on was made by exploited people. it's awful. so we do our best! i know this is a heavy post for a friday, but what i plan for purusha makes me so happy! so i'm focusing on that! i feel really peaceful and blessed today, and i want to share my luck with as many people as possible. 

have a joyous weekend my loves! xo!

0

going organic.


hi!! hope you are having a really lovely day today. i just got back from hiking with liam, listening to the birds sing and feeling the sunshine on my shoulders. whenever i go outside for a bit alone, not running, but taking the time to notice my surroundings and reflect on my life's plans, i come to new realizations. today i had this crazy idea... what if i changed all my cotton pants in my shop to organic cotton? as well as all tanks and tees? if i find the right fabric and buy enough of it, i think i wouldn't even have to raise the prices in my store. i'm figuring out where to buy right now, and ordering some swatches! going outside and breathing in the universe's breath, i can't help but be drawn to have as ethical of a business as possible. i just want to live as purely as i can, and i want my business to reflect that. i also want what you buy to be as guilt free as possible, just an all around beautiful happily made product. with only pesticide free fabrics touching your skin. makes sense. and as my business keeps growing, i really hope to find a connection to a fair trade organic fiber farm with a fair trade weaving mill... and be able to visit and document the whole thing! that would be amazing!! but, little by little. one step a time. all good things will come if i keep taking the small steps. i say this a lot, but thank you for the thousandth time my customers. you've been with me since the beginning, believing in purusha and the path its on. ah i'm so grateful! within the next few weeks, i'm thinking big changes are on the horizon for purusha! organic for life! xoxo.

1

find that fabric!








hello my dears! how are you?

SO these pants. people have been going nuts over them after just seeing the a photo of them crumpled in a pile near some other clothing. when i first spotted this fabric i died, knew i had to create something from it. AND it's viscose. eco friendly and gorgeous, doesn't get much better than that! nadya and i designed this one pair seen above for tracee to model. i only bought enough fabric for one pair of pants, 'cause i had seen that fabric many times at the store, and didn't think it was going anywhere. damn i'm kicking myself now. i should have bought all they had!!!! ARGHHH! because now they are out, and can't reorder. all they can tell me is 'it's been discontinued.' i am mega bummed. i was sooo excited to make more of these bad boys. 

i'm writing to ask for anyone's help! i've spent hours on the internet searching everything i know about this fabric, with no luck. i'm afraid these will have to be the only pants like this. if you are able to help me find the fabric i will make you a pair of these pants (or any pants!) for FREE. i bought the fabric at michael levine in LA, it's viscose, and has tiny lettering on the print that says 'byblos'. that's all i know. please please help!!!!! i will be eternally grateful. and now i know when i find a fabric i like, to snatch up at least a bolt of it. lesson learned. thank you everyone! let's make these pants!!! xoxo.

2

earth day.


happy earth day my loves! hope you got to spend a little time outdoors today enjoying our sacred mama earth! i went on a sweet hike with my lovely friends jessica at Lux Divine Jewelry :).

and i've been doing a lot of thinking... ha what else is new!? think, think, think! sometimes, it works! i've been thinking about my fabrics more and more recently. i want to very soon convert my entire shop to organic cottons, bamboo, modals, and hemp. wouldn't that be rad?! AND they have to be eco-friendly fabrics that aren't from stinkin' china. lol. because then we don't know if they are really organic or ethical at all! and ideally, once i find the right connection, i would love to have all my fabrics purchased from fair trade and very transparent industries, so we can all see the steps from farm (or plant when it comes to bamboo and modal) to weaving to knitting to nayda sewing to me printing. i want the whole process to be visible to you and me! what cha think? purusha garments will be SO special.

have a really happy and peaceful evening! namaste.

5

the advice i wish i could have spoken to myself 2 years ago.




















business is really just common sense. is what i'm finding. i continuously read inc. magazine articles, watch videos and interviews with sophia amoruso of nasty gal, research successful brands, and it seems like it always comes back to just a few simple truths.

i love love love designing clothing. the more clothing i make the more i enjoy it and feel like i'm getting better at it, slowly but surely. but i think i really equally love the business aspect of what i do. it is like uncoding a puzzle. it's frustrating, fun, challenging, and requires just a ton of patience and hard work. there really aren't any short cuts. you just work hard, don't quit, and listen to your customers. 

so let me explain some interesting ideas that have helped me with my business, ideas that took me a long time to figure out.

1. demand drives supply.

not that other way around! so many businesses get this wrong. they think 'i'll get a loan! money will make me a success!' no f-ing way my friends. no way. you can't create products for purchase orders that don't exist yet. having lots of inventory is not going to make your product more appealing to the customer. instead you'll just have a bunch of dead inventory people don't want and loads of debt. starting business in a hole of debt is a really scary place to be. you have to wait until you have a product that has been tried and trued, loved and bought by many many people. and you have orders you can't fill because you don't have enough money. this is when you think about a loan. when i first started my business, a loan was the twinkle in my eye. i thought money would solve all my problems. i know i still don't need a loan because when i think about what i would do with the money, i have no idea. i don't need it. i don't have demand big enough yet for that. (this is obviously not true for all businesses. nothing here is black and white, just what has worked for my small clothing line.)

2. don't advertise.

magazine ads, billboards, commercials, facebook ads... do you notice them? i don't. i have ad block on my computer and i mute commercials on stupid hulu. i actually want to buy items less when i see ads... i think 'i hate you ad. i hate how you are trying to manipulate me. i won't buy you.' we have become immune to advertisements because of how bombarded we've become by them. word of mouth and content based blogs, interviews, press, etc are a better way to get noticed.

3. press does not equal sales.

for a long time i've thought... why doesn't anyone notice purusha?! why doesn't my local paper want to write about me? can i get a little feature in fitness magazine or instyle magazine? nope. because purusha is still too small. i base a lot of my business model on nasty gal's business model. sophia (ceo of nasty gal) didn't have ANY press, even when she was making 10 million a year. once nasty gal got some investors, reporters finally took notice. 5 years later she got write ups in the ny times and on inc. magazine, long after she was successful. sometimes i see athletic brands in a little blurb in somewhat big magazines, and then i look at their website and facebook page. not a whole lot going on there. you never know what's going on behind the scenes of a business. and i know firsthand that i don't go out and buy something because cosmopolitan magazine had a tiny photo of it with a price tag on it in their magazine. only real customers who like what you make, and possible find you on their own, equal sales.

4. you don't need celebrity endorsement.

again, i realized this from nasty gal having no celebrity following, and from firsthand experience. in an interview sophia actually said, 'my customer does not go looking through US weekly to see what clothing she should wear. she dresses for herself and wears what she wants.' for so long i thought... i just need to get drew barrymore in my yoga pants! or even settling for some big name yoga teachers. i've sent free clothing to  popular yoga teachers, and i've found it doesn't do much. what it does, in my opinion, is make your brand look a little desparate. like your success is riding on this person carrying you and you can't do it on your own. of course i would love for a celebrity i admire to wear purusha. but i'm not going to go find them and try to send them free shit. if they like purusha, they will buy it themselves. i would so rather have it that way.

5. don't think you should do every job yourself.

this one took me a while. i thought, i'll save money if i don't have to pay anyone! i'll do it all! screen printing, dyeing, sewing, marketing, emailing and shipping! actually, no. i lost money that way, because i am not that good at all those things. it's so much better to hire an expert in every field, a person that is incredible at their one job. hiring nadya to sew has allowed my business to grow enormously in the past 6 months. she does things just faster and better than me. time is money. i'm not a seamstress. and yippee, i just hired our landlord's sweet teenage daughter to do all my packaging and shipping (the photos you see above are me doing those jobs! eep! no more!). i will continue to screen print and market and dye until i am able to outsource those tasks to others when the time is right. i am at my best running the business as a whole and deciding what clothing to make. eventually and hopefully, i will have people even better than me at those jobs working with me! always try to find people to work for you that are better at the job than you are.

6. let your customers decide how big you'll be.

this thought was revealed to me from reading a response on a business message board. this dude was responding to a cupcake business named CRUMBS having to close a bunch of locations. the guy wrote, 'maybe if this business didn't get so greedy and think... "hey! we should open 67 locations! cupcakes are popular enough!"... maybe they could have lasted. you have to grow sustainably and not just assume the demand will be there. customers decide who has the right to exist and grow.' so so true. we have to listen to our customers, they are like my non-stop mentors. i'm not going to decide for them how big purusha will become. i have no idea how big (or small) purusha will become. time will tell. i can't dominate a market just because i decide i want to. i leave that up to the consumer.

so there you have it. some unconventional wisdom i never expected to be true. to my customers, thank you for all your beautiful help. all the feedback i get, whether it's a seam or fabric problem, or a design flaw, are SO SO appreciated. more than you know. i adore you. thank you! namaste.

0

everything happens.


it's late. and i can't stop thinking... thinking thinking... feeling angry, weepy, joyful that people i love are safe, and coming back to disbelief that someone could set off bombs in boston to kill innocent people. i know this kind of stuff happens, like, everyday in other countries. but that doesn't make processing it any easier. patrick and i looked at some pretty gruesome photos today of the innocent beautiful people that were involved in the attack. at first i said, i can't look. but then i wanted to see, i wanted it to become real, i wanted to understand what people there were witnessing. and it was shocking. missing limbs, blood everywhere, people laying on the ground. in boston. after a marathon. it is just mind boggling that a few insecure cowardly monsters are capable of such horror. yes, i've been reading the articles that explain how rare these events are, and that most of us humans are GOOD. but i keep feeling for the man that lost his legs, for the family that lost their 8 year old son, and for all the other people hurt and their families. it's just so unfucking fair. life can be so cruel in that way. if only you'd been standing 10 feet up the road... it blows my mind how close we are to death and tragedy at all times, and our lives are balancing on mere chance... chance that we survive each day. life is such a miracle. i am not religious, so i don't mean miracle as in magical, i mean miracle as in incredibly lucky. when i was young, i had this strange awareness of my good luck. and i had an even stranger idea that this luck had to run out eventually. and it did. bad shit happens. i try my best to be positive, but sometimes i am overcome with worry. i worry a lot about people i love dying in a car crash, and now dying from a shooting or a bombing. i know worrying does absolutely nothing, but ever so often my head goes to that dark place. i'm being selfish now, just thinking of me and my life when people are going through tragedies every second of everyday. gah. this. is. life. with life comes death. i just HATE death so much. it's so... permanent. and for the rest of your life you wonder if you could have stopped it. somehow... i lay here in bed and cling to my good luck. but holding on to it is like trying to live forever. we just can't. i suppose it might help if i just let go and surrender. you can't control life. i hate the whole "everything happens for a reason" thing, but i can go with "everything happens." there is no reason an innocent person should die at a marathon, but there is no stopping life in all its forms in this moment. with it comes the good and the bad. the best i can do is root for the good, and recognize it in the everyday heroes all around me each day. and enjoy each moment of the good. good night.

0

this is how it works.



This is how it works
You're young until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't
You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe
Until their dying breath

No, this is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took
And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood
And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You'll just do it all again


- regina spektor

0

my heart filled offer to you.




happy friday my friends! how are you??

this post, i haven't really been wanting to write. i'll just get right to it. purusha has grown tremendously in the past few months, and i honestly couldn't be happier and more proud! but with growth i think comes problems. the success road is never a straight forward line, it's lots of ups and downs.

so our problem here in purusha land has been seams. ripping seams. this is 100% unacceptable, and it makes me feel like a terrible failure. i have bad dreams about it. as nadya and i have branched out, working with a wide variety of fabrics, we've learned that not all fabrics can be sewn the same way. and when making fitness pants, seams better be sturdy. and not all threads are created equal. we are currently replacing all our threads as well as reinforcing ALL seams on all pants with an additional stitch paired with the original seam, for double reinforcement.

i just want what we to create to be, well, perfect. and loved and treasured for years and years. if you are paying $98 for pants, you better be getting some f-in amazing kick ass pants! so i'm not wallowing in this setback, or dwelling on it, we are correcting it right now. i want to once again extend the offer to all of my customers from past, present, and future that if you ever have a problem with your clothing, we will fix it for you. either by repairing it or completely replacing it. i want you to love your clothing, wear it often, and come back for more someday. i want purusha to be a quality brand you rely on, and get what you are paying for.

so, with all my heart, i welcome you to email me at hayleylove@gmail.com if any of your clothing has a seam problem, or the dreaded fading design of the mermaid pants that has happened before i switched fabrics. we would be more than happy to take care of your clothing for you.

thank you so much everyone for sticking by purusha, believing in my vision, and supporting an indie usa made business. i am forever grateful and i love you!

have a very happy weekend!!! sending you loads of love and gratitude!!! xoxo.



0

beauty of discipline.




{a quick word about the above photos. no, i am not worried or stressed in the first picture. this is my resting face, a face of oddities. i have no control over it. and yes, liam has green eyes as his vision degenerates. aren't they beautiful? and last photo, one of my many many lists of sorts.}

now that we got that disclaimer out of the way... on to my most serious blog post! this morning in my meditation i thought about living with purpose. what if i could spend a day witnessing each movement, each action... and see if they are within my purpose? and by purpose i mean the things that make up my goals and my dreams. and let go of the rest. it sounds like it should be easy doesn't it? it's not. what's easy is going on autopilot, and sliding into habits that are useless. everyday i have a list of stuff to do. most days i don't cross off everything. i've learned to be ok with that, but only if i tried my best. it's not ok if i didn't finish my work because i got distracted by facebook, blogs, sleeping in, and watching game of thrones. (i allow for these things on the weekends. trust me, i am a very different person on the weekends. hehe!) it's a challenge to be observant, it requires so much discipline. my habitual instincts are to rush, to struggle, to procrastinate. these actions do lot allow room for peace and gratitude. know what does? their exact opposite! haha! to take the time you need, to find ease, and to create space and time by removing distractions.. these actions are aligned with fulfilling my purpose. and they are within our reach... like anything else, all it takes is practice. practice. recreating and restructuring habits are life altering movements. i am working on illuminating these new habits within my day. 

today i have plans, and i want to be 100% engaged in my plans. as i run, dye clothing, clean, package orders, prepare my taxes... it is my wish and my work to breathe deep, to notice signals in my body, to be focused and present, feel the gratitude, and let go of the unnecessary thoughts and distractions. will i be perfect? hell no. but here's to trying, always practicing, and moving forward. namaste.



1

doing what i do!






hello my dears! happy week to you! i thought i would share a few photos of me working in the topanga sunshine :).  i screen print all the clothing one by one, as you saw in my post last week, but sometimes i do a few touch ups by hand. i'll tell you, it's not my favorite part of producing clothing, but it must be done! it's not all fun and games around here ;). mostly fun and games, but not ALL. hehe! anyways, i hope you have a beautiful day! today i'm working on new orders for the week and preparing orders for the next 2 weeks when i meet my seamstress nadya tomorrow in the fashion district. YAY! lots of goodies for you too coming up!- a big spring cleaning sale will be happening all week and i'm hoping the new photos of purusha's summer collection will be ready in the next few days as well. yippee! sending you loads of happiness and california sun! xo.

1

falling into the light.






gayatri mantra tank available in the shop

ancient prayers, like the gayatri mantra are timeless. above, on the tank, it says :

Om Bhur Buvaha Svaha 
Tat Savithur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi
Dhiyo Yonaha Prachodayath

Radiant Divine Soul from which we all came
Awaken the same brilliant Divine Light in me
So that inner radiance consumes all thought and emotion
Teaching and guiding me to realizing reality

so beautiful, right? i am totally feeling it. just taking a little time each day to focus on the abundance of goodness reminds me of how damn lucky i am. i've noticed very tiny changes in myself this week as i've been practicing living with more gratitude.  

for example, last night i went out with patrick to see some jazz in LA. we enjoyed it, but were both really tired. some minor things went wrong- we got lost, parking and drinks cost more than we expected, jazz can get boring... it's so easy to get wrapped up in and stuck on a cycle of silly, useless, nit picky thoughts. as we walked back to our car i felt myself tensing up, resisting, resenting. i watched it, and thought, i just want to feel GOOD as much as possible. why not feel good instead? i decided to let go of all the little bitchy thoughts and move on. move on to the good stuff. to holding patrick's hand, to driving home to our safe happy home in the mountains where a golden boy awaits us, to not taking for granted how much beauty surrounds me in this very moment. and poof! the cares disappeared. all it takes is the decision to feel good, because feeling bad sucks, and well obviously, feels bad. i'd just rather not, ya know?! sounds so plain and simple doesn't it? and this is reality. this is realizing reality, that we have the power to be as happy as we choose. we can celebrate it all, soak up this life and all its experiences, and not hang on to the dark thoughts and worries that were doing nothing for us in the first place. 

i never thought letting the light in would actually be this easy. surrendering to goodness is like a gentle fall into a fluffy soft bed. fighting against the bad stuff, focusing on it, dwelling on it, is like realizing you have a comfortable bed, but deciding to sleep on a cold cement floor because you are afraid to try out the bed and secretly get off on complaining about the cement floor. your habitual thought patterns can create such a bizarre addiction to negativity. i witness it in myself everyday. but i am undoing it now, little by little. and it is the cleanest, softest, most light feeling. it's right. 

thank you to everyone that teaches me to keep going for the divine light that is reality. i wish only the most brilliant lightness of being to you all. namaste.

0

happy birthday to my M.O.M. !


M.O.M. haha it's funny how that name stuck. one time when i was freaking out as a child at something, i shouted to my mom, "M-O-M!!!!", like spelled it out. ridiculous. but my dear M.O.M. i am so so happy today is your special day, and i'm so lucky you're my mama. i can't stop thinking about you right now. i sure miss you, but know we can celebrate when i visit in may! yay!

as the years go by, you seem to grow more and more funny, beautiful, and open hearted. you are turning into an angel woman, i swear! i so hope and wish to someday be as laid back, creative, fearless, and sweet as you maother (no, that's not a typo. it's pronounced maw-other) :). thank you for giving me life, for inspiring me each day to keep going for my dreams, and for giving me a safe place to be my weird self with you my whole life. i still often think back to when i was little... to my favorite part of the day, laying in bed with you reading books and playing with my stuffed animals, and making mr. snowman turn his head in that funny way. we had so many laughs and so much fun in our dream world. when you hugged me i wanted to just live in your arms forever. as i grew into a teenager, i used to feel embarrassed that i was a child for so long, that i played make believe and cried at sleepovers to go home to you until i was 13. but now when i look back at my life i am just beyond grateful to you mom for playing with me and encouraging me to take my time in growing up. i feel like i've led a life that has been full in all is phases, from child to adult. you are such a great mom. one of my biggest dreams is to be as wonderful of a mother as you've always been to me.

and there's still a big part of me that wants to live in your hugs forever. oh geez i'm crying now just thinking about it. we're such criers aren't we?

i know you are really enjoying your day today and i'm so glad you are constantly surrounded by love. makes sense, love attracts love. oh mama, can't say i love you enough! happy birthday!

3

making mermaid pants.
















yep. here's me, doing what i do! and yes, i wear full purusha when i work which sometimes leads to paint spillage disasters.

hope your monday is a beautiful one! xo.
 

hayley's haven © All rights reserved · Theme by Blog Milk · Blogger