The Founders' Story
My favorite genre of books is the fashion brand founding story.
I’ve listened to nearly every one Audible has to offer. From high fashion houses like Chanel and McQueen, to pop-cultural phenomena like Dapper Dan and Juicy Couture, to streetwear and sportswear brands like The Hundreds, Eckō, Vans, and Nike. Each one becomes both inspiration and cautionary tale, a study in growth, ambition, identity, and the risks that emerge when something expands too quickly or drifts too far from its origin.
From all of them, I’ve learned something useful. And from many, I’ve gathered fragments of fashion history that will inevitably surface, sometimes quietly, sometimes more visibly, in future House of Caswell collections.
Learning from the Founders
Another recent founding story I listened to was that of lululemon.
Written by its founder, Chip Wilson, the book traces the brand from its earliest stages through the point at which it began to outgrow him. That arc appears often in these stories. What stayed with me more was the way he described the early shaping of a brand. Not just building it, but defining its internal logic. Its DNA. Its values. The elements that would make it distinct before anyone else had the chance to interpret it for him.
One idea returned again and again: goals.
Wilson approached them with a level of specificity that felt almost architectural, applying them to both his personal life and his business. Every new hire was expected to do the same. These were not vague ambitions, but clearly defined markers set across different points in time.
The Discipline of Specificity
The framework was simple.
Goals set one year, five years, and ten years out.
At least three for each timeframe.
Each one measurable.
Each one something you could reach or miss.
Not a general sense of wanting to succeed, but something you could locate yourself against.
What stayed with me most was his observation that people often avoid setting specific goals not because they lack ambition, but because they are afraid of falling short. Naming what you want introduces a kind of exposure. It makes the distance between where you are and where you hope to be visible.
There is a vulnerability in that clarity.
Looking Back, Honestly
I’ve had businesses before. A jewelry shop on Etsy. Years of building Berried Alive alongside my husband, Charlie. For a time, a guitar accessory line we created together called Muffle Cuffs.
But I never truly set goals for any of them. Sometimes because I hadn’t yet learned how to think that far ahead. Sometimes, I suspect, because I was hesitant to define something I might not reach.
In 2019, Charlie and I set loose intentions for Berried Alive. Mine was simple. I wanted it to become sustainable enough to support me full time. Eventually, it did. But there was no timeframe attached to it, and no next horizon beyond it.
Once that point was reached, I felt something I hadn’t anticipated. Not satisfaction exactly, but a kind of absence. I had arrived at the only destination I had ever clearly named, and I hadn’t considered what would follow.
I am still deeply involved with Berried Alive, and I continue to support Charlie’s creative vision as it evolves. That work remains part of my life. But it also taught me something about what happens when a path is defined only once.
Naming the Road Ahead
With House of Caswell, I chose to approach things differently.
I took that idea of structured goals seriously. Not as guarantees, but as a way of orienting myself. A way to remain in motion without losing direction. I don’t expect to meet every goal exactly as written, and I am learning to allow for shifts in timing without treating them as failure.
The point is not precision.
The point is continuity.
I wanted a way to see the path, even if I don’t follow it perfectly.
So I wrote the goals out by hand on watercolor paper I painted myself, framed them, and placed them directly in front of my desk. They exist there as a quiet reference point. A reminder of what I imagined this brand could become when it was still only an idea.
The Goals, as They Stand
By the end of 2026
Release three collections
Produce 100 units per style by the third collection
Be stocked in five boutiques
By the end of 2030
Produce four core collections per year, along with monthly artist collaborations
Be carried by one luxury department store
Launch an accessories line
Sell internationally
By the end of 2035:
Release one full collection per month with consistent sell-through
Introduce menswear and childrenswear
Use exclusively sustainable materials
Be featured in Vogue
These are not declarations of certainty. They are structured intentions. A way of giving shape to something that is still unfolding.
A way of honoring the scale of the dream without allowing fear to reduce it.
And maybe, one day, I will get to write my own founding story.
A Quiet Continuation
House of Caswell is still in its earliest chapter. For those who want to follow the work as it unfolds, the collections, the process, and the thinking behind it, the Collector’s List offers early access, private notes from the studio, and first notice when new chapters arrive.