In Conversation with Nadinoo - A Revisit

A lesser known part of our business is that we supply a lot of cloth to small fashion and lifestyle brands. We try to keep our minimum order quantities low to make it feasible for designers and makers to use our fabrics. As makers and artists ourselves, we will always support independent businesses and up and coming artists in whatever way we can. We find it so inspiring to see what our production customers design with our cloth and we know you will too.

In 2017 we spoke to Nadia of Nadinoo in our very first ‘In Conversation’ interview (read it here). This Spring I returned to her shop in Rutland to see the brand’s evolution.

The shop is bright, warm and welcoming, much like Nadia herself. Stepping foot inside it’s a joyful celebration of the collaboration between our cloth and her designs. I’m greeted by so many familiar fabrics, like old friends. Nadia’s bold, graphic shapes pair perfectly with our large checks and colourful stripes. They are perfect partners in crime, beckoning cheerily to passers by.

Though Nadinoo’s collections have changed over the years, the core concepts and shapes have remained the same. There is a sense that the brand is, in a way, an on-going and ever-changing portrait of Nadia. A reflection of her inspirations and the people she meets who respond to her designs but also of herself. Her own life and own needs.

“I’ve designed for myself at every stage of life I’ve been through. When Nadinoo first started it wasn’t completely different to what I do now. The idea was to create easy-to-wear, throw-on, comfortable-in-your-own-skin type clothing. Nothing too fussy or complicated. I wanted clean lines. I was drawn to paired back, minimal shapes and I feel like I’ve kind of kept that through the brand’s journey. Even as the fabrics and palettes have changed, that’s the common thread.

When I became a parent I think my style shifted further into more utilitarian shapes because it had to be practical as well as beautiful. I needed to be able to move. That’s when I started using a lot of Merchant & Mills fabrics because they’re perfect for that. Comfortable and easy but so beautiful. Today I think about 90% of my collections are made with your cloth!”

Nadia’s collections are steered by the materials she uses. She sees what she has left and creates what she can with the cloth. Nothing is wasted, even the smallest off-cuts become scrunchies and eye masks and little drawstring handbags inspired by a trip to Japan. In this way, she offers her customers a privilege that we makers often enjoy – the potential of leftover cloth to become matching accessories or gifts.

She makes everything here, by herself, in the little adjoining sewing room. It’s charming and unusual to see things being created in house. All of Nadia’s pieces are designed, cut, sewn and sold in the same space. It’s no surprise to hear that customers are often drawn in by watching her sew through the window. It’s a unique opportunity to show a garment’s journey. It allows customers to see what really goes into creating clothing from start to finish, to understand and to really respect both the materials and the process.

“I wanted to reveal the behind the scenes so that people have the opportunity to understand how it works. A lot of people have never seen clothing patterns or tools up close… it’s really engaging and fascinating for them. I have people who have never sewn or really thought about how a garment is constructed come in and you can see it’s really inspired them. It’s sparked something they’ve never really connected with before. They’re like, woah. This is a thing. People can do that. So that’s really special and I love having my sewing studio and shop together for that reason.”

Having the sewing studio as a part of the shop also allows Nadia to offer bespoke pieces and alterations to her customers.

“Sometimes they come in with a specific idea in mind and we can dream it up together. But more often than not there’s a beautiful starting point for them in the shop and that’s what we work from. Talking to people, I hear all the time that having so many options feels overwhelming for them. Even if you're just shopping for your clothes, let alone if you're making them yourself, there is so much out there. But if you find someone who really relates to you and your designs then suddenly they have that common language to work within and dressing becomes fun and creative again. I have some customers who I have been working with for years. It’s really cool to be able to offer that.”

Nadia studied Fashion Design Technology at Manchester Metropolitan and left with all the practical and technical skills you need to design and make something from scratch. She went straight from university into a design internship for Puma, the sportswear brand, and was offered a job at the company a year later. She wanted to live abroad and gain industry experience and so she accepted.

She describes that first foray into the fast fashion industry as mind blowing:

“The production minimums are so high and so the level of waste was just shocking. I learnt a lot – and met my husband! - but I also began to think about clothing in a different way. It was during this time working at Puma that I had a bit of an epiphany. In my apartment at the time I had a little mezzanine and I thought: I’m going to turn this into a studio!

I started designing and making my own clothes while I was still working at Puma. It was around the time that Gossip Girl came out. In that show she starts her own range. It sounds silly but that resonated with me, that kind of guerilla-punk-rock sort of fashion. I just thought ‘well, yeah, I can do that!’ So I did.

I knew I had to leave my job at Puma and that nobody would understand why I was leaving this comfortable, secure job at a big company. It was a leap of faith and I don’t think, at the time, even I had fully considered it. I just had a few ideas about what I wanted to do and I started doing them.

Crazily enough, I'm still doing that. Whenever the business reaches a new stage or I do in my life, I take another leap of faith and Nadinoo comes with me. The business has grown and contracted as needed. I’ve moved countries multiple times, moved houses, started a family. Nadinoo has evolved to fit in with me, wherever I am and whatever I’m doing. Some of my first customers are still my most loyal and they’ve come along on the journey with me, whether I’m shipping from Germany or South Africa or back in the UK. I’ve now been in Rutland for over 10 years and had my shop here for over 5 but the business still works with me.

It’s a stark contrast to jobs in the fashion industry like the one that I left. We all know that stress levels in the fashion industry are insane and ultimately that kind of pressure and that lifestyle just isn’t sustainable. For the planet or for us as individuals!”

The fluidity of Nadia’s process is reflected in the relaxed forms of her collections. The shapes are quite graphic, cool. Bold, boxy, unrestrictive.

Getting dressed should be fun and freeing and the clothing at Nadinoo invites that. Nadia tells me that she finds it’s often the older customers who are more adventurous and less self-conscious. They dress for themselves, not for anyone else. When they come into the shop they play: they pick clashing colours and patterns and big, wide, open shapes. They are confident and unrestricted. After all, clothing is a powerful form of self-expression and nobody can express themselves fully if they’re uncomfortable!

“They look incredible because they feel incredible. They move around the shop making shapes and stretching and feeling the freedom. It’s a wonderful thing to see and be a part of.”

You can find Nadinoo at www.nadinoo.com and at 3A Market Street, Oakham, Rutland, LE15 6DY, UK. Follow Nadia’s story on Instagram @nadinooclothing

To enquire about becoming a production customer, please email [email protected]