Edinburgh-based clothes designer and maker Irene Wadsworth explains the satisfaction that she and her customers get from creating and wearing one-off designs is the secret to the success of her label Impractical Clothes.
What do you do?
I am a self-employed designer and maker of imaginative and innovative, glamorous and funky, retro and contemporary styled ladies clothing and accessories. Besides my Impractical Clothes label, of which many creations are one-offs or ultra limited edition, I also offer a complete bespoke design service, working with customers in all their myriad shapes and sizes to create individual garments of distinction.
What made you start your own business?
An unquenchable desire to follow my inclination and to work in a creative environment doing something I truly love, and which I’m good at. My ethos has always been to avoid the exploitation of mass-market production and so everything is personally designed and handmade exclusively in my Edinburgh workshop. I suppose I would also have to say a huge part of my motivation is to be my own boss. I’m not sure I would make a good employee?
What is a typical day for you?
Aha, well this is one of the joys of what I do…there isn’t really a typical day. Naturally most of my time is spent working with cloth- cutting, sewing and hand finishing. This might involve making clothes, accessories or new garment designs for stock or working on customer orders and since every customer is different that could involve just about anything. Other days I might be running around sourcing or buying materials, organising photo shoots or liaising with my web design team, and that’s before I even begin on the more mundane tasks associated with running a small business. Mostly I just sew though…
What do you enjoy most about your work?
The variety involved in what I do. I really enjoy ‘taking up’ a new piece of fabric, if that makes sense? I like the fact I can plan my days exactly as I want. I love sewing, particularly working on new designs, for instance I have been transported recently working on new Urban Jungle handbags which are appliquéd with unique designs, to me that is like playing, it doesn’t feel like work! I get a real sense of satisfaction when I have worked on an exclusive design for a customer and it is obvious they look and feel great in what I have created – job well done!
What are your biggest challenges?
Computers, tedious accounts…trying to answer, “I’d like a dress for a ball next week. A blue one. How much will that cost?”
What inspires you?
Fabrics, prints, music, films, 50s and 60s design, making something out of nothing, a challenge…
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Be tough! But I can’t seem to follow that advice??
What changes, if any, have you noticed in the orders you receive today compared to when you first started making clothes and accessories for people?
They are more complex today and as a rule they have to be done NOW.
If you were given a stick, a piece of cloth and a string, what would you do with them?
I can’t make dresses from sticks and even if I could no one would want to wear them!! So I would make a fabulous garment from the cloth, a rod from the string and stick, and hang up a sign saying, ‘Gone Fishing’.
How important do you think clothes and accessories are in relation to how people feel about themselves?
From my experience with customers, very important. When making garments to measure some customers seem to go on a real journey. It’s clear that making a really well fitted dress, which suits someone, can make them feel like a million dollars, which is a good thing, I think?
Do you make clothes for yourself?
Yes I do although not often enough I’m afraid. And I always seem to be the last person to get something new. I remember, in particular, one Hogmanay when I was still finishing my outfit at 10pm after a particularly busy winter season making entire outfits for what seemed like half of Edinburgh. Anyway I got it done, wore it and was told I looked fabulous, but it’s always like that.
What makes you happy?
Lots of things make me happy. In terms of my work, making an amazing dress in which my customer obviously loves the way she looks makes me happy…and getting paid for it makes me happy!
What words of wisdom would you give a young designer wanting to start their own business?
Work hard and be true to yourself.
