I was born in the Brecon Beacons in Wales, but, as many kids do, moved to London right after high school. I got a degree from the London School of Fashion, did a few internships and slowly worked my way up in a pub that I ended up running for a couple of years.
I knew that I wanted to run my own business, but it was my dog that finally forced me to go self-employed: I had a six-months old puppy that I used to bring with me to work. She didn’t mind, but it wasn’t fair on her, so I quit and became my own boss.
My partner, Tim, also has a background in fashion; he worked as a buyer at Timberland before deciding to come on board and help me out. We really benefit from working together, since Tim is very business-savvy, while I am more creative. He is a lot more practical, and I often need someone to rain me in from the arty stuff that I personally want to make, but that no one would buy. He is a big driving force behind the business, without Tim I would be nowhere near to where I am at now.
When we were just finding our feet, we often worked till 3 o’clock in the morning to finish the orders. Since we both work and live together in the same studio flat in East London, we made a point of adding more structure to our daily schedule. We work from Wednesday to Sunday, selling the garments we made earlier that week in a market over the weekend, then take Monday and Tuesday off to relax. Since neither of us likes to work late, we try to start early. Having two dogs is a great way to stay organised, since their morning and evening walks usually mark the beginning and end of our working day.
This is an extract from a collaboration we did with photographer Tina Remiz for her project Connect the Dots. You can view Alec's full story here.
ALEC'S COLLECTION
