Let LMN-ADE add some fizz and sustainability to your wardrobe
Searching for the latest ethical, sustainable, handmade women's streetwear that link femininity, Gen X and Gen Z clothing? IndieBloom welcome you, LMN-ADE.
Managed by two undergraduate design students, Lauren along with Meryem. Created by Lauren in London, a freelance garment technologist, who's other skills involve fashion illustrated design.
The faces of LMN-ADE, Meryem (left) and Lauren (right)
LMN-ADE's current items of clothing available to buy are tank tops, cargo pants, mini skirts and set bundles. The styles and designs bring back memories of the mid to late 90's, made popular due to musical artists such as Aaliyah.
Bubbling since 2017/2018, the brand's name originated during a boring textiles class where someone was drinking pink lemonade. From there the name changed to LMN-ADE (lemonade abbreviated) and began its growth. Lauren has studied fashion since her GCSE's in 2014, while continuing it at university has benefited the brand greatly in that the product is all produced by hand, from sewing the fabric using flat and overlocking machines.
The main influences for LMN-ADE are sustainability, social trends and old Disney TV series. The sustainability page on their site includes a detailed breakdown of what actually makes them sustainable, why they do it and how you can help as a consumer. As effortlessly stated on the page, 'if we can contribute to saving the Earth and being greener, whilst still looking bomb - why not?!'.
Lemon-Aid
Their recent drop has tapped into the meme culture surrounding zodiacs, which is a collaboration between artist Tolu Ayoka, titled Zodiac Dreams. A mutual love and respect for each other's work, where Lauren reached out and the response was positive. Investigating further and learning about each characteristic of the zodiac signs led to the collection providing bold and eye-catching designs. What is your star sign and does its design grab your attention?
All this quality and ability within a short time has also managed to attract the attention of popular, well-known recognisable brands ASOS Marketplace and Depop. Aside from selling LMN-ADE products on their own site, they now have the added bonus of making sales on two of the biggest online fashion retailers. Lauren explains, 'a lovely lady called Olivia from Depop, coached us through joining and has been a great help in boosting our sales and getting us to explore.'
Being a platform for diversity, along with their friends, the models used for the brand are ethnically represented, 'looking powerful and iconically fashionable, with a balance of realism'.
The main squeeze
As an independent business during COVID-19, LMN-ADE has been experiencing positives, with it being the the perfect break from school to focus on and have time to really reform the brand. This has included taking much more control of every aspect - such as doing the photography at home.
Lauren's diary for a working day is-
A typical working day revolves around waking up around 7am, being ready at 8, then I reply to emails and check the website. I also plan the social media content for the day. After I am done doing the admin, I move to cutting fabric and sewing. Towards the end of the day, I package orders and get them ready for the post office/drop off point the next day and sleep and repeat!
When life gives you lemons...
Building, developing and maintaining LMN-ADE has brought up many challenges. The main one being, balancing social life, education and LMN-ADE all in one. While staying original has been another, in terms of protecting the designs from copyright. One more sour issue has involved dealing with influencers, who have not gone through with the full terms of the contract and have still taken items :(
In hindsight, the advice Lauren would give herself if she were to start over again, would be to start small and release one item at a time, instead of creating a whole collection. Nowadays she takes the approach of releasing an item weekly or monthly, which is efficient and less stressful. In an ideal situation they'd like their own graphic designer and possibly an additional seamstress, but for now Lauren and Meryem 'are Gucci!' ;)
The zest is yet to come
Lastly, LMN-ADE's future plans are to grow worldwide in terms of their customer base, they currently have customers all over Europe and some in the USA and Australia. While they'd like to be available through more known retailers that support sustainable clothing. Another plan for them would be to have their own workspace (as they are currently working from home).
Simply the zest
Follow and show your support for this cool young, determined duo, shaking up the fashion industry and making moves. You can track their progress on the social channels Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, while purchasing their clothes. We are excited and pleased for them, while keen to see them bloom with what they do next!