Cherry and Mint: Print-Focused Fashion to Boost Your Mood and Add Color to an Eco-Conscious Life
"I now understand that it's impossible for your art to be liked by everyone, but I believe that if you are consistent and keep creating art that you love, the right people will eventually find your work and become true advocates!" Zoey, Founder of Cherry and Mint
By noissue — 05 November, 2020
Colour is everywhere – and thank goodness for that!
According to researches, colour can impact us both physically and emotionally – a great explanation as to why you should wear bright-colored clothes when you're feeling down in the dumps.
Zoey, the genius behind Cherry and Mint, aims to lift your mood with her bold, colorful pieces that you can wear on just about any occasion. Did we mention she's not a fan of fast fashion too? So you can expect to get quality products that mean no harm to the environment.
Get to know more of Zoey and her Cherry and Mint below:
"I'm Zoey, the person behind Cherry and Mint, a print focused fashion brand with clothing and accessories. Almost everything is handmade by me in my studio in Cyprus. I studied graphic design & Advertising, had an MA in Animation but fashion and textile design won me over."
"While I was on a full time graphic designer job, I felt a creative rust. During that time, it all started as a personal project and experimentation and on the way I realized I love to create patterns. I already knew how to sew and I was fascinated by the idea of wearing something totally unique. I was mostly making clothes for me and my friends before I realised that the next natural step for me was to combine my sewing and design skills. That was the moment my brand was born. I started with a small range of handmade accessories in my own prints in 2016 and then one step at the time I grew to where I am today, creating small clothing collections printed in my textile designs."
"My vision and goal for Cherry and Mint is to create versatile and season-less pieces that can be styled in many different ways and can be worn from day to night. My collections are inspired but not necessarily based on 'must have' trends of the season so people will hopefully still wear and cherish them after years to come. It's important for me to bring joy through my textile's colourful nature to anyone who chooses to wear them. The world definitely needs more colour and I'm very happy to have a positive impact on people's happiness while I continue to evolve what I love."
"Everyday was, and still is, a learning process. The biggest challenge I faced at first was to overcome the fear of getting my work out there that people might reject or maybe love it. I now understand that it's impossible for your art to be liked by everyone, but I believe that if you are consistent and keep creating art that you love, the right people will eventually find your work and become true advocates! What I always advise people who want to start their own brand is to start NOW! Don't wait for the 'right' moment or expect everything to be perfect cause there is no such thing as perfect. Be prepared to learn, evolve and adapt as you go."
"The biggest inspiration is all the lovely messages, pictures and feedback I get from customers so excited to have received their order. Furthermore this also occurs when someone who follows my work on social media sends a nice message to let me know that my work is inspiring.
It's important for me to know that I do my best to lower my environmental footprint and not contribute to the fashion industry's high pollution on the planet. Offering a more sustainable choice to my audience or anyone who wants to shop with ethical impact is important for me as more and more people get educated on sustainability by small fashion brands including my own. I really hope that someday this will change how big fashion brands operate, but we definitely have a long way to go."
"I work on a made-to-order base so all pieces get sewn every time an order comes in, that way I avoid unnecessary waste of fabric if something doesn't sell as well as predicted. I also choose to print all my fabrics with eco-friendly inks and most of my pieces are made with natural fibers and organic fabrics. I reuse almost all of my fabric off cuts to reduce waste, sometimes I make them into a new product idea like my 'oversized mix print scrunchies' which are made entirely out of off-cuts, other times I give them away to other fellow artists or sewists who want to make something cool out of them for themselves. In my opinion, my audience appreciates to know that an item was created using off-cut fabrics, so this is highlighted in the description of those items and communicated through social media posts."
"It was only natural that at some point I would create my own custom tissue paper, since I design all the prints for my own brand. I believe that it enhances the customer's overall experience and connection with the brand. Next step would be to change my mailers into biodegradable ones."
"While researching where I could have my custom tissue printed I stumbled upon the noissue website. I chose noissue because it offers sustainable and eco-friendly packaging solutions as this was exactly what I was looking for, plus ordering means planting trees somewhere in the world and I loved that initiative. The design process was very easy and the team was always very friendly and nice to talk to."
Cherry and Mint Fun Fact:
"If my brand were an animal, it would be a butterfly, because they bring a happy feeling when we see one, everyone of them is different but they all have equally beautiful colours and patterns."
Find more of Cherry and Mint here:
Website: cherryandmint.com
Instagram: @cherry_and_mint