When I first met Alice Crotty and Grace Lant over coffee, Grace mentioned: “Sometimes we would send a text message to each other at the same time, with the exact same words.” Such synergy is pretty characteristic of their partnership behind knitwear brand Love From Blue. Having studied knitwear at Central Saint Martins, Grace takes care of the design, while Alice focuses on marketing and operations. It’s a delightful collaboration with neatly divided responsibilities.
The result are beautifully machine and hand-knitted sweaters made from deadstock cashmere and wool yarns, inspired by Hong Kong’s urban landscapes’ unique colours. Due to limited quantities, a unique number is also embroidered on each sweater sleeve. Lovingly made, these cozily vibrant sweaters are truly investment pieces to keep for a long, long time.
The brand just launched last week and their website opens for preorder this week. Ahead of their online launch, I caught up with the duo to chat about latest inspirations, business, what sustainability means to them, and how they started their partnership.
Fun fact: I was also invited to model in a shoot along with artist Rebecca Lin, shot by photographer Jake Thomas – so you’ll be seeing me on their site 😉
Hello, Love from Blue
What has been inspiring you lately? It could be visual inspiration, a person, a piece of news… anything!
Alice: I am so inspired by all my friends. Seeing them all take on the challenges of this year and making it their own has pushed me to do more. So many of them had to make really hard decisions, changing career paths, moving their lives and some starting new businesses. I am constantly inspired by the amazing people that surround me.
Grace: Hong Kong and all its beauty. It has been a hard and strange year but I feel lucky to be stuck here.
How did you two meet and came up for the idea for the brand?
A: We met through a mutual friend and started talking about what we did in the fashion industry. A few months later I reached out to Grace to get a coffee and chat more. Turns out timing was perfect and she had just finished up with her previous job and wanted to branch out on her own. From there we decided we wanted to create a space where we could do things on our own terms. A brand we could learn from and challenge ourselves to create and do better in fashion.
G: I don’t think either of us thought we were going to have a business together or how quickly we would move, but it was perfect timing and everything came together.
What inspired you to use recycled cashmere and wool for your sweaters? Was sourcing for these materials difficult?
G: We knew from the start that if we were going to make something new, making it sustainable was the only way we would contribute. And we were clear this would mean deadstock yarn, in high quality, all natural fibres.
Sourcing has been a big piece of the puzzle, all the designs, the colour proportions and patterns are based on the weight of yarn available, so while it was a challenge I think we have tapped into a whole new aesthetic where by the materials available dictate the outcome and that’s exciting.
A: Using deadstock yarns is not always easy as we have to work with the limited quantities, colours and yarns. This has changed how we create our designs. Grace has to design based off on what we can source and come up with clever ways to utilise the small amounts of yarn. She is amazing at it!
Sustainability is at the forefront of your label — why is that important to you two?
A: It should be something that is important to everyone. We actually don’t see sustainability as an option anymore, it is something everyone/brand should be practicing in any way they can. We still have a long way to go but are continuously striving for more sustainable practices as we grow and learn.
For Love from Blue, we want people to love the products for what they are, and for the sustainable aspect to be a bonus. We don’t want people purchasing them solely for that reason because honestly, this should be industry standard.
We are already looking to the future and brainstorming ways that we can be more than just sustainable by developing ways to incorporate regenerative practices (stay tuned for this!)
G: There is so much textiles waste in the world, the figures are staggering. Not only this but fashion contributes to huge amounts of air, water and micro plastic pollution. It has put me in a very conflicted position over the past few years. While I love designing, knowing I was contributing to the problem overshadowed this. Love From Blue has provided a way for me to do what I love and be confident in the way we are doing it. Working with companies such as Redress HK has really helped push me in this direction.
While I love designing, knowing I was contributing to the problem overshadowed this. Love From Blue has provided a way for me to do what I love and be confident in the way we are doing it.
Starting your biz
So a question I’d like to ask all entrepreneurs I talk to is how they financed the beginning of their company. How did you finance the start of Love from Blue?
A: We both work other jobs while working on Love From Blue on the side. I work at HULA part time, a pre-owned designer consignment store. I also had savings that I was not using and decided to invest them into our brand. Running a pre-order business model definitely helps us as well. This way we can fund our bulk before it is made as we have guaranteed sales.
We often hear of business partners struggling to work together but you two seem to compliment each other so well — any tips for fellow entrepreneurs on how to find a good business partner?
A: We have different roles and both know our strengths and weaknesses. We also had really open and honest conversations from the very beginning about expectations and money.
We actually went and saw one of Grace’s family friends who gives professional advice to new partners and business start ups. The first thing he did was separate us (without telling us this was going to happen) and interviewed us on our own to see if our answers about our expectations of the business aligned. Lucky for us, they did!
G: We were so lucky, we found it comical from the start how much we had in common. We regularly message each other the same idea at the same time. Alice has been a dream to work with and we have used our strengths to cover different aspects of the business – so while there is a strong sense of collaboration, we’re not stepping on each other’s toes so to speak.
Self-care & Philosophies
How do you relax and practice self-care?
A: Honestly, I am not great at relaxing or practicing self-care. It is something I really should work on though. If anything, I love walking and exercising, I find it very therapeutic to put my headphones in and go for a walk by myself.
G: I play hockey, it’s always been my way of disconnecting with everything going on and just having fun with great girls a couple times a week.
What does success look like to you?
A: Very cliché, but I want to be happy in whatever I do. When people ask me what I do for a living I want to be able to answer it with pride, regardless of what it is or how much I make.
I also think success to me is a great work-life balance which will hopefully come with time after putting in all the hard work first!
G: Of course financial stability is an important measure in any successful business, but beyond that being proud of what we’re doing and giving back to our community, we have ideas for this, stay tuned!
Preorder Love from Blue‘s beautiful collection of sweaters made from deadstock yarn now.