Lee Mathews on Navigating an Independent Fashion Brand

To mark 2024 Melbourne Design Week and the release of Advance Copy’s book, Growing Independent Fashion Brands, the iconic Australian fashion designer Lee Mathews and publisher and creative director Beth Wilkinson, gathered a small group of fashion industry insiders and admirers of the brand for an intimate conversation.In this characteristically frank reflection, Lee delved into her founding principles, offshore production, the pricing conundrum and so much more. Take a moment to sit down and tune in to this much-needed personal account of an iconic independent brand owner. Enjoy!   Welcome to Advance Copy: BookInstagramSubstackWebsiteNewsletterPost-production & editing: Mark SmithMusic & post-production: Emmanuel Corre


This spring, the Advance Copy podcast is developing into a suite of members-only audio consulting sessions, register here to show your interest.  Tailored to the perspectives of elevated independent brands and approached with honesty and pragmatism, each session will bring you unique insights on how to grow a fashion or lifestyle company fit to the needs of today’s world. The discreet episodes are designed for:FoundersIn-house decision-makersExpert freelancers of elevated independent brandsTopics of focusRefining brand valuesWholesale partnershipsDirect-to-consumerFinancial stabilityCommunicating true purpose Welcome to Advance Copy: BookInstagramSubstackWebsiteNewsletterPost-production & editing: Mark SmithMusic & post-production: Emmanuel Corre


Carmen de Baets reflects on how she met her husband and business partner Joris ter Meulen Swijtink, establishing their guest house, shop and kitchen Carmen Amsterdam and the much respected visual signature of their company. Welcome to Advance Copy: BookInstagramSubstackWebsiteNewsletterPost-production & editing: Mark SmithMusic & post-production: Emmanuel Corre


Casa Shop's Emi Moore and Jacqueline Davis, reflect on how their paths crossed, the company's trajectory since its establishment in 2016 and the origin of their distinct Instagram aesthetic. With a little help of a marine biologist, we’ll also talk about how the definition of “development” has been misunderstood and why “less is better” best symbolises Casa Shop’s idea of growth.GuestsEmi MooreJacqueline DavisQuote from "Ladders, trees, Complexity, and Other metaphors in Evolutionary Thinking"  by Andreas Hejnol in Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet - Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene, pp.G87–G102. Available to purchase here. Welcome to Advance Copy: BookInstagramSubstackWebsiteNewsletterPost-production & editing: Mark SmithMusic & post-production: Emmanuel Corre


Baserange founders Marie-Louise Mogensen and Blandine Legait set out to provide women with underwear which didn’t dictate or restrict their bodies. Since 2012, this intention has set Baserange on an unprecedented trajectory, constantly pushing the fashion industry’s preconceptions to build one of the most authentic and courageous ready-to-wear brands.In this two-part conversation Marie explains how Baserange aims to work in a way that resembles a healthy organism. As such it felt natural to also include the thoughts of one of the brand’s long-term collaborators, Tugba Mert Taskan, the Garment Facility Executive of the pioneering Turkish factory Mert Ipek. By intertwining these two conversations in one we hope to represent a more realistic picture of the many talented and caring individuals contributing to the development of Baserange.GuestsMarie-Louise Mogensen, BaserangeTugba Mert Taskan, Mert IpekGiovanna Flores Welcome to Advance Copy: BookInstagramSubstackWebsiteNewsletterPost-production & editing: Mark SmithMusic & post-production: Emmanuel Corre


Family-run womenswear brand Muse demonstrates how ambition, conscious values and a personal touch can draw unexpected paths to building a fashion company. Founder, Christine Kourim is a natural self-starter and a life-long creator of fashion. When she attempted to sell her high-quality garments at a Melbourne market stall the success was immediate prompting Christine to enlist the help of her daughter, fashion designer, Sarah Kourim. Together they translated the label to a permanent home online and created a touchpoint for their growing community. In this episode, we're joined by Sarah to learn about her and her mother’s independent journeys, nurturing a market stall into a growing e-commerce business, and the under-representation of modest voices in fashion.Guest: Sarah Kourim, MuseMuse Journals with Rosie Fea  Welcome to Advance Copy: BookInstagramSubstackWebsiteNewsletterPost-production & editing: Mark SmithMusic & post-production: Emmanuel Corre


Palo Studios is a multi-division company comprising of a wholesale agency, a brand, and a creative production agency all under one ethically minded umbrella of its founder, Cassie Rose Ebner. Every collaborator of Palo Studios is driven by positivity and well-being thus creating a new template for working in fashion.We talk to Cassie about the critical moment when the grasp of the classic wholesale model begun to loosen inspiring her to bridge the gap between conscious brands, retailers, and customers.Guest: Cassie Rose Ebner, Palo Studios Welcome to Advance Copy: BookInstagramSubstackWebsiteNewsletterPost-production & editing: Mark SmithMusic & post-production: Emmanuel Corre


ArtEZ University teachers, Hanka van der Voet and Chet Bugter, discuss their recent open source paper: A Fruiting Body Of Collective Labour: Working Towards A De-Hierarchised System For Fashion Education. The document looks to the collaborative world of fungi and mycelium networks to find inspiration for de-hierarchised models of fashion education. We’ll learn how lichen networks influenced their approach to the management of the Critical Fashion Practices Master’s course and discuss how fashion designers, entrepreneurs and practitioners can encourage more collaborative ways of working.A Fruiting Body Of Collective Labour: Working Towards A De Hierarchized System For Fashion Education by Hanka van der Voet and Chet Bugter, Published by MA Critical Fashion Practices, ArtEZ University of the Arts Arnhem, 2022.Calling out Dutch Art InstitutionsFantastic Fungi - documentary by Louie Schwartzberg and Mark Monroe available on NetflixThe Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins by Anna TsingGuestsHanka van der Voet and Chet Bugter, ArtEZ University of the Arts Arnhem Welcome to Advance Copy: BookInstagramSubstackWebsiteNewsletterPost-production & editing: Mark SmithMusic & post-production: Emmanuel Corre


St Rose founder, Belinda Smith, saw a space in the fragrance market for a conscious, luxurious and long-wearing fragrance brand rooted in the art of nature, and set out to steer the industry towards a transparent and gentler future. We speak to Belinda about the realities of crafting your own brand and why giving back and looking at things holistically is key to the sustainability conversation.Guest: Belinda Smith, St Rose Welcome to Advance Copy: BookInstagramSubstackWebsiteNewsletterPost-production & editing: Mark SmithMusic & post-production: Emmanuel Corre


Amrit Kumar and Mriga Kapadiya, co-founders of Delhi-based NorBlack NorWhite, discuss how India's rich textile heritage instantly caught their attention, why the trade show format didn’t work for their brand, and how they grew NorBlack NorWhite to being a cultural platform and creative studio. This conversation is available to enjoy as a written piece on advance-copy.com. Share your thoughts on this story and join our community of independent thinkers in fashion on Instagram @Advance_Copy.Guest: Mriga Kapadiya and Amrit Kumar, NorBlack NorWhite Welcome to Advance Copy: BookInstagramSubstackWebsiteNewsletterPost-production & editing: Mark SmithMusic & post-production: Emmanuel Corre