A Conversation with The Experience Alchemists

This interview is republished from a Q & A with The Experience Alchemists, a new public benefit corporation creating dynamic, immersive, experiential projects around Boston and beyond. Trued Apparel is honored to be one of TEA's Creative Partners. Find out more about them on their website.

Melissa Woods is fashion designer and to our great fortune, one of TEA’s creative partners. Jim sat down with her recently to hear her thoughts on creating her own business, fashion design, and the power of adornment. Here are some excerpts from their conversation.

Jim:
Can you talk about how you got started with your new company?

Melissa:
I started doing the work for Trued Apparel about two and a half years ago.  I remember I sat down with a friend at dinner in Mission Hill, and I told her about my plan to launch my own company within two years. At the time I knew that it sounded so “pie in the sky,” but I told myself that the more that I vocalized it, the more I said it to people, then the more ashamed I would be if I backed out!

I want to mention here that being involved with TEA brings a new dimension to this work, one that I think I really needed. As I’ve gotten further into the world of retail and e-commerce, I’ve pretty well wrapped my head around the dynamics of drumming up an audience, connecting with them, creating promotions and sales from time to time, and even being able to raise money for good causes. For example, I recently teamed up with other small business owners and we raised over $4,500 for Stop AAPI Hate (Stop Asian American Pacific Islander Hate). It felt really great to be involved in that kind of a collaboration and to give back to the community.

But I was feeling a little bit of yearning for the high-mindedness of the art and non-profit world that I’ve spent a lot of time in. Even though we’re a mission-driven business, work with Trued involves the retail activities of creating products and generating sales. I want to build the business with a vision that extends beyond that, so I think that working within the collective of TEA’s Creative Partners is a really good format for that ambition. It provides a network of people who I can brainstorm with and come up with novel collaborations and experiences that I otherwise wouldn’t have been involved in. And, while I’ve been getting to know other people in the fashion industry, I’m actually not really interested in the haute couture path. I am more of a pragmatist by nature and really gravitate more towards creating something that becomes integrated into people’s everyday lives, in the way that product designers and industrial designers think of their work.

Jim:
Well, Annie, Ed and I are hoping that TEA’s right profit model, as a public benefit corporation, is also exciting to our creative partners.  We’re looking forward to collaborating on projects that have a positive impact in the world, creating experiences and moments of reflection that can bring outcomes of change and transformation. I can tell from the way you talk about your work how much passion goes into it. I’ve had many conversations with great designers who tell me they aim to build a customer base or a community of  fans who develop real relationships with their work and what it represents. So in relation to that, how do you want people to feel when they wear your designs?

Melissa:
This is a good segue to talk about the name of our company. I decided on “Trued Apparel,” which actually comes from the engineering term “to true”. To true something is to align it. I was really looking for garments that make you feel like a more powerful version of yourself, and that have a lot of functionality to them. So that’s why I rely on a lot of stretch knits. I feel strongly that what you wear should not hold you back. If anything it should enhance your sense of empowerment and sense of self. I want people to feel like the best versions of themselves when they wear Trued.

Jim:
I think that’s so true, I imagine you want people to feel confident and perhaps even connected to a community, which can also be empowering.

Melissa:
I mean, building a community is always the key to running a successful business, for sure. I certainly learned that in my MBA coursework, but now I can see it actually happening in a real-world situation in this business. While at times the fashion industry can be incredibly problematic, I really believe that it’s possible to do it the right way. This is what carries me over to do meaningful work that can make a difference in people’s lives. I believe we are at a sort of tipping point or reckoning in general right now, in cultural discourse, where there is a lot of pressure to be inclusive, be responsible to the people involved from production to consumption, and to be aware of a diversity of experiences of people coming to your business. I’m glad to see it and I hope to see the fashion industry change.

I’m basically ignoring all kinds of typical tropes in the fashion industry like the high fashion brands that choose to only use waifish models, and who only use someone of color in a tokenized way. I could go on and on about the things I don’t like about the industry at large, but I think the audience I am targeting already understands these things and sees my brand as an alternative approach that they can get behind. I’m also trying to design in a way that that lends itself to non-binary expressions of gender.

Jim:
I love the name, and I have to ask if it is an intended double entendre in some way… Trued to me of course connotes truth, perhaps to be true to yourself in choosing the designs you wear. I actually didn’t think of the engineering term until you mentioned it and of course that makes total sense. When I see posts of your designs or visit your website [www.shoptrued.com], I get another idea that kind of relates to true. I sense this feeling of you telling your customers that you are here to make things that they will just love and they will look great in them and own it!  I really love that sense of truth and empowerment.

Melissa:
Thank you! I’ve been thinking that too, as I’ve been using the name. It also means being “trued” with your environment and creating designs that are sustainable. Unfortunately, fast fashion is by nature exploitative of everyone that it touches in the production process. That’s why I also try to make my garments at price points that are somewhat in reach. If a customer really likes something, it’s still attainable, even if you have financial constraints. You can save up for it and make a special purchase that doesn’t break the bank. I like to think that my price points allow many people to buy it right then on the spot, because I really do all that I can to keep the prices reasonable. Of course, I know that fast fashion is unfortunately the only option for some consumers because of financial constraints.

I totally understand that ethics comes with a price sometimes. It can be expensive for consumers to purchase ethically sourced clothing. I know that some people are just struggling to get by, and that’s a real challenge in our trying to make Trued accessible to all customers.

Jim:
You have an MBA and you are a creative designer. How has that helped you shape a vision and maybe rethink some things on both sides of the business? It’s certainly a unique combination that you don’t see all the time, how has it informed your decision-making? 

Melissa:
Honestly, if I didn’t have my MBA, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to pursue this in the first place. The biggest takeaway I got from the degree was that you can break down a problem into achievable steps and make your way through it if you have the natural drive to want to get to the end and the discipline to execute your plan step by step.

When I started my MBA program I was really thrown into the deep end. I was a fine art major at Wellesley College and then went to a post-baccalaureate certificate program at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. I worked in marketing for a little bit and went back to grad school for the MBA because I wanted something that was more practical and substantial than the more abstract and ephemeral parts of my resume. In fact, I was really hoping to be a resource to other creators. I vaguely had in mind that I would become a business adviser to artists, almost like a single-person agency for people in the arts. I wanted to give artists who might not have that kind of business training access to the toolkit that I had gotten from my degree. I’ve ended up using all those skills for my own business instead. It’s given me more directed thinking, clarity around big picture strategies, and more confidence in myself.

Jim:
Can you tell me a little bit more about the tipping point of when you decided to become a fashion designer? What triggered the big transition? You’re a very creative person. I know you play guitar in a band, you’ve created both two-dimensional and three-dimensional artwork, and you’ve worked in a museum. You had no experience in fashion design, yet you decided to teach yourself. That’s pretty amazing… so where did this crazy idea come from?

Melissa:
Well, that is a very good question. It is crazy (haha)! I don’t exactly have a pithy answer. For years I have been involved in what you might call the Goth/Alt scene, which is very fashion driven. I was very attracted to that aesthetic, and I really love that kind of dark, heady fashion. Sometimes fashion is seen as fairly superficial and something without a lot of depth, but I think that there is a lot of power in the way that we dress. I’ve heard that articulated really well in a podcast that I follow called The Witch Wave.  I don’t practice witchcraft myself, but I think a lot of the concepts they cover in that podcast are really interesting. In one episode they were talking about self-adornment and the sense of power that can come from intentional adornment, including makeup, clothing and jewelry. It gives you an opportunity to transform yourself, your body, your self-image and to express a different side of yourself.

So, when I was in art school actually, one of my advisors told me to “use my obsession”… whatever that might be. I just found that fashion was something that I kept coming back to in an obsessive way, even though you might not know that looking at my resume. At some point I just decided that I had enough energy behind that idea to really follow through on it. For anyone reading this interview, who are trying to decide if they should jump into the deep end on something, a key thing for me was to make sure that self-doubt and negative thinking don’t get the better of you — you have to push through. You just have to try to ride those highs of positivity, those times when you are feeling really inspired, and focus on that. I’ve definitely had moments over the past couple of years where I’ve asked myself if I’m 100% sure that fashion is what I want to be doing with my life. But you have to make the judgement call and decide if you’re really passionate about it and willing to commit to it. Sometimes there’s no real way to know if it’s the real deal other than taking a leap of faith and trusting your gut.

Jim:
Well, having just started TEA, we know how much hard work it is to run your own business. You’re right about needing to have the confidence to power through those rough spots or speed bumps that you face along the way. Self-doubt can be a powerful thing. You sometimes catch yourself asking “Can I actually do this?” Ed, Annie, and I often reflect on how lucky we are to be doing this together, in that we support one another during the rough moments. You can’t focus on the sleepless nights at 4am when you are staring at the ceiling mulling over an issue you’re dealing with. You have to focus on the small wins and then the bigger wins and then look toward what happens in two years and five years, etc. I love that you have your designs as wins, and I bet that you can bring your energy and a sense of accomplishment with each new product. Can you talk a little more about how your artmaking and other creative work has influenced those designs?

Melissa:
To be honest, the approach is very similar. In my artmaking, I was exploring interesting organic textures and little pieces of the world, aesthetic moments that got me excited, from the mechanical to the natural. It was very driven by a sense of tactility and immediacy and grotesque beauty.

Essentially, I was stitching all these textures together into abstract compositions. I’m doing very much the same thing with fashion and it was only after I started doing it that I realized how similar the organic sensibility of my artwork was to designing in textiles.

Jim:
Where did you grow up? Can you tell me something about your childhood that informed the career path that you took?

Melissa:
Well, there are a couple of different angles on that so I’m going to try to condense my family story. It’s a little complicated. I’m essentially a third culture kid. I was born in Singapore, but mostly grew up in the United States, in Honolulu. I moved there when I was 10 and at the time I had a Singaporean accent, but I lost it over time. Now I have an American accent. My dad lives in Thailand and my mom lives in Singapore and my brother lives anywhere he wants; He’s kind of a digital nomad, but he’s been living in New York during the pandemic.

The area where my dad lives is actually the silk capital of Thailand. I do want to source materials from Southeast Asia as part of my work. I haven’t been able to do that yet because of the pandemic — Instead  I’ve had to source and produce everything locally, which I think has been really good in terms of the business ethos and keeping the money within the local economy. However, I do want to double up my trips to visit family with materials sourcing when I go over there. I think that will bring some unique looks and textures into the line. On a deeper level, I think that I’ve always sort of been interested in identity, as someone who took a long time to find kindred spirits. I found a lot of my selfhood through music, movies and fashion. The community that the Trued aesthetic appeals to works in very similar ways. At the same time, I don’t think you need to be part of that to like or wear Trued. I’m really not gatekeep-y about it. I think if it speaks to you, then that’s great. I think my background and long road to finding a community that worked for me… really helps me to be open and empathetic to people no matter what they seem to be.

Jim:
What inspires you?

Melissa:
What inspires me is simple: seeing people happy with my stuff on! That’s it, that’s where it’s at! I should also add that I am excited and inspired to get back into creating things with some physicality, because with my day job right now everything is done in Google docs and is quite ephemeral. As someone with roots in artmaking, now I get to make “things” again. So that’s pretty great.

Jim:
It’s interesting to hear the words comfortable, functional, and sleek in the same sentence. These are adjectives that don’t always go together, but it’s something that you are pulling off in a big way with your designs. Please tell me a little more about that.

Melissa:
Thank you. I just want people to be living in secret pajamas and not look like it! That’s my goal.

Jim:
I cannot think of a better time than a pandemic to be able to present that kind of a fashion line!

Melissa:
Exactly! It worked out really well. In fact, in the early phase of the company, I was angling a bit more toward office wear with a bit of an edge. I know when I buy something I want to see that it has a place in all the different parts of my life, so I can get a lot of use out of it. Now that so many people will continue working from home, I am much more comfortable doubling down on creating a line that is sort of semi-professional but secretly lounge wear.

Jim:
Do you have any pieces from your line that you really love and what do you love about them? Or are they like children and you can’t pick a favorite?

Melissa:
It really is like this thing has kind of become my baby. It’s been like a preview into having a child, except that it pays you money rather than costing money! Actually, my favorite piece so far is the one that we just put on pre-sale a few weeks ago. It’s called the Bishop Sleeve Bolero and it’s basically instantaneous fabulousness! I really try to think in terms of a modular capsule in creating wardrobes, so this piece enables the wearer to take any little black dress or tank or whatever you already have and throw the bolero over it to make a really head-turning, romantic look with poofy bishop sleeves and a pussy bow in front.

Jim:
I love that it serves as both a garment and an accessory. So by attaching this one piece to whatever it is you’re wearing, it completely transforms your look. Your pieces are super versatile and can be used multiple times in numerous ways for different occasions and settings. I imagine that’s very effective in terms of being conscious of your customers’ budgets, particularly during the pandemic.

Melissa:
I have to say that e-commerce has been booming during the pandemic. More people are scrolling and shopping online than ever before, so as a business that was going to be e-commerce only anyway, that it has been ironically good timing. One of the things I’ve done with my time at home is that I’ve taken a series of classes on reading tarot cards. There’s one card that I kept thinking of during this time, the princess of disks. This card is often associated with pregnancy, but it really signals a fallow period of regeneration that is followed by one of growth.  I think that that sort of encapsulates what a lot of people are going through right now, where we’re in this dormant period, in stasis. Now we are entering a period of re-centering and reprioritizing and figuring out our next move and how to do it better.

Jim:
Rebirth is an interesting way to think about it. You’re creating garments and pushing them out into the world. Motherhood and running a business aren’t the same thing in many ways, but there is something about creating something and then wanting to nurture it and see it grow and see it become something bigger. You’re doing that with Trued Apparel and we’re doing that with TEA, and it’s really invigorating and exciting. Can you talk about one idea that’s been stuck in your head recently, that gets you excited and energized?

Melissa:
I guess I would say the idea of community versus independence has been on my mind. I wanted a sense of control in my life. I wanted to start to strike out on my own, to do it myself, and call all the shots. At the same time, I have really discovered the meaning of community during this time. It’s been weirdly and perfectly ironic because being part of this community of other small business owners you realize the power of working together. There is wonderful exchange of knowledge and guidance, and the empathy and generosity of people coming together to make positive change in the world by raising money for good causes.  That has been really wonderful.

Jim:
I can’t agree more. We have been feeling some of those same vibes in the early months of our company. So, one last related question, what does experience design mean to you and how do you see fashion fitting into that?

Melissa:
Fashion is a very embodied experience. It has a transformative capacity. It can be almost magical actually. Putting something on is obviously a very personal experience. As a designer it all comes down to empathy and connecting with people. So to me, that’s a way to do that through what you put on your body.

Jim:
Well, I think I have to end on that, our tagline at TEA is “Creation. Transformation. Magic.”  We’re very excited to be working with you and we are looking forward to making some of that magic together.