Female Founders Series; By Elleven
With over three decades of combined experience in the industry, Joanne and Rachel set out to create something extraordinary. In November 2020, amid a world grappling with uncertainty, they launched By Elleven, a fashion brand that quickly became synonymous with modern wardrobe-essentials.
Sitting down with the dynamic duo, we delved into the vision behind By Elleven, the challenges of starting a brand during a global pandemic, and how their shared passion for fashion continues to shape their journey.
Can you please introduce yourselves?
By Elleven is made up of Jo & Rachel, colleagues turned friends from Liverpool.
are your career background and work history that has been pivotal and relevant to how you got here?
We have both worked in fashion throughout our careers, Jo was a contemporary womenswear buyer in London who after moving back to Liverpool launched a styling and fashion consulting business and Rachel who after studying fashion at university has been a stylist for numerous luxury e-tailers.
Did becoming business owners and partners change your dynamic as friends?
We were colleagues first before we were friends, so we knew the dynamics of working together already, now we are friends but we have different friend groups so there is still time to switch off from one another.
Jo & Rachel - @byelleven
How do you approach working alongside each other?
One of the reasons we chose to work together was because our approach is similar but our skill set is different, so we take different tasks and go away and do them but come together to share ideas.
What need did you come across that led to the creation of By Elleven?
The need was to make something better, they say if you invent something it should either solve a problem or improve on the solution that already exists, we wanted to improve the quality
How did you go from idea to development?
Ideas we had immediately as we were filling gaps in a woman's wardrobe with amazing quality street style-inspired basics, but wanted to control the manufacturing quite closely, it was 2020 so lockdown restrictions prevented that from happening, we went back and forth and paid out a lot of money for samples and tech packs before we found a solution.
Can you talk about your brand values and how they influence you?
Our values are to be kind to the planet and make good choices, so we are a plastic-free brand, compostable bags and recycled cardboard for parcels, for products, we encourage people to wear their garments, as opposed to constantly trying to flog them more, we show them styling ideas to get the most out of their item.
How did your first launch transpire?
Our first launch was from our kitchen table, mid lockdown and we had no idea how it was going to go, we had done little to no marketing so it was a hold-your-breath moment.
Can you share your feelings during this time?
Honestly, we were so naive to what the future held we felt buoyant and just excited, looking back it was a brilliant time, from idea to conception it was a lot of fun, we were in a lockdown bubble and reality didn't set in for a while
When reflecting on your journey do you have any highlight moments that stand out to you?
Seeing our brand in magazines never gets boring, we have been featured in Grazia a couple of times, and Kier Starmers wife wearing our brand meant our Stevie T-shirt was on the front page of all the news websites for a day, that was surreal.
Is there anything you would do differently now looking back at your journey?
Oh lots, we would have moved our manufacturing to England earlier, not moved into multiple unsuitable studios, to name a couple.
Collaboration is key in this industry, can you discuss your collaborations with local businesses, and how this has helped with brand awareness?
We have always collaborated with local businesses, we used a young female illustrative artist for one of our prints and that was amazing for us as people love wearable art, we are stocked in an amazing female-run coffee shop in Liverpool, as a social enterprise Yamama, they retail artisan pieces from both independent makers and refugees.
What advice would you give anyone thinking about starting a business?
Do it. As for practical advice, know your customer.
