Fashionista

How I'm Making It

How I’m Making It: Jade Lai of Creatures of Comfort




Can you talk about the traveling aspect of your business? You own two stores on different coasts and are constanly meeting clients in far-away places.
I go to Paris twice a year to the fabric fairs after fashion week, and I travel to LA now because some of our production has moved to LA. We’re starting to do some knitwear research in Hong Kong, so I’ve been going looking into knitting factories there. Then I try to take two trips out of the year, I call them work trips, but they are really my inspiration trip for the next season. Every year I try to go to a place where I’ve never been before.

Where have you been that has really stood out to you?
Last year I went to Greece, and the year before I went to Vietnam and Morocco, so every year is really different. I really want to go back to Morocco, actually. There are so many pigments there, textiles for rugs, all these tiles and ceramics–-it’s amazing there! You can find so much inspiration in Morocco.

What’s the biggest challenge that you’ve faced?
I opened up the New York store around the same time that I debuted the first full Creatures of Comfort collection. While it was an incredibly exciting time, both posed unforeseen obstacles and there was a lot of strategic maneuvering and missed sleep that had to happen in order for deadlines to be hit and things to turn out the way I had envisioned them.

What’s the biggest risk that you’ve taken business-wise?
As I run two stores and a clothing line, I am constantly having to make quick decisions, which sometimes are just based on my gut feeling. That seems a bit risky, if you ask me.

What’s the most fulfilling part of your job?
That someone other than me appreciates that the brand exists!

Who is your dream customer, living, dead, or imaginary?
We have really awesome people patron us, so I will say I have my dream customers already.

What do you see in store for you brand in the future?
Let’s just say that you’re going to see us popping up a lot more places in the next year…

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