Can you share with us your journey?

I have always been interested in making things since a very young age. I am originally from a tiny town in Western Australia with a population of 200 or so, there wasn’t really much to do there. My mum used to make all of my clothes when I was young and I remember helping her to unpick seams when I was about 7 years old. I was around 10 when I sewed my first stitch. I went to boarding school for my high school years, and during my school holidays I would dig up fabric in my mums sewing cabinet and I would try to make trousers or skirts. After a few years off from high school, unsure of what I wanted to do, I decided to enrol in a three year Fashion and Textiles course at NMT in Perth, Western Australia. I realised then that this is the path I want to follow. I still think of those three years as some of my best years, and am grateful of the support and help from my lecturers who are now my friends today. Alongside studying, I was working in a cool store where my boss really took me under her wing and took me to buying appointments and opened my eyes to the other side of fashion.
Then SBA started slowly a few years ago. I was interning with a womenswear designer in London and working in a concept store supporting young designers in Shoreditch. I remember speaking to my boss at the store about how tired I was with trying to keep up with the pace of living in London, having no money and a bit confused with what my next move should be. He said to me “why don’t you try to start your own brand? We can sell in the store.” At the time I thought it was a bit crazy, I felt like I didn’t know enough, and didn’t have enough connections as I was still pretty new to living in London. So from that moment I started to play around with designing, making things and selling in the store to test the waters. I did this quite loosely for a couple of years, but it wasn’t until the start of 2019 that I decided to put all of my energy into the brand.

You state that ”S-Ba is an independent womens label”. Can you tell us more about the inspirations behind your brand and collections.

Since the beginning I have always wanted to keep it in house. I think that by making small batches/to order, it feels more personal. I also like to add a bit of hand work to each piece, so most garments have an element of hand stitching/embroidery, it’s almost like I am giving a small piece of me with each order. I am inspired by a lot of things, I would not be able to pinpoint one thing. It could be the music I am listening to, things that I see when I am traveling, a certain fabric that I find and want to use, etc. I am also inspired a lot by people I see on the street, I can envision the kind of people I want to wear my pieces, so this is always in my mind when I am designing.

What about your creative process, how do you start working on a collection?