INTERVIEW #79 DOTS’N’BOWS
Based in: Östersund, Sweden
Founded in: 2014
Founded by: Zanna Tjärnström
Stores: Online at the Website
Price range: 600-1600 SEK
Instagram: @dots_n_bow
Hi Dots'n'Bows, welcome to A Sustainable Closet. Tell us about your story and why you started?
My name is Zanna, I’m 38 years old and I’m the founder and CEO of Dots’n’Bows Apparel. I’m a multi-crafter that has been creating all kinds of stuff since I was a child. My passion for sewing started in middle school when I got my first sewing machine for my birthday.
Before I started my clothing brand I made handbags in upholstery glitter vinyl, I had built up a good following on Instagram and when I started to post about the clothes that I made for myself I noticed a high interest for made to order plus size fashion. My handbag sewing was taking its toll on my hands and I decided to change my business to clothing instead. My client base grew fast and four years ago I hired my first seamstress. Now I have three female employees in my company. Two seamstresses, one social media manager and myself. I have many roles in the company, boss, designer, seamstress, customer support, administration etc.
Who wears Dots'n'Bows and where do you frequently ship the creations?
We have all kinds of customers, mostly women but sometimes men. Ages between 25 and 75. Most of our customers are based in Sweden.
How do you work with sustainability?
Our work with sustainability is ongoing. Here are some of the things we are currently doing:
We try to design our garments with zero-waste patterns. We give away our waste fabric to seamstresses that make clothing for early-born babies and donate clothes to help organisations.
Our own fabrics are OEKO-Tex or GOTS-certified. We sell made-to-order garments, it allows us to not have a big stock of clothing that might not sell or that we have to dump our prices to get rid of. We have our own second-hand Facebook group where you can buy and sell our used garments.
We love the fact that all products are Made in Jämtland, do tell more about the production, where do you source the fabrics etc.?
We order our own fabrics from Poland and we have a wide range of wholesalers that we order from, mostly inside the EU.
Your creations are so colourful and stunning. Where do you find inspiration?
Colours make me happy! What do you need more than a little bit of happiness? But with that said we do make all of our designs in black as well
What have been and are the major challenges of starting your own brand?
The most difficult thing for me has been building the business without financial assistance. It’s been a lot of hard work and long days, and sleepless nights. Other than that the most challenging is being a boss and finding good help, but I’m super happy with the employees I have at the moment.
What have been and are the largest gains?
To hear from our customers how our clothes make them feel!
What do you think needs to change in the fashion industry to make it more sustainable?
We need to lower our consumption of fast fashion. Continue to work with better option fibres. Improve the working conditions of all the workers in the whole production chain.
What would you advise consumers to do who seek to create a sustainable closet and lifestyle?
Buy clothing that is made to last longer, and buy and sell second hand. We have a second-hand group on Facebook where our customers can post and sell the clothes that they bought from us.
The best thing about Dots'n'Bows?
The fact that we are working with slow fashion and our customers are happy to wait for their order.
What's up next?
I’m looking into maybe launching a subscription service for our garments. And we are planning to make new designs.