Goals
My favorite genre of books is the fashion brand founding story. I’ve listened to every book Audible has to offer in this genre, from high fashion brands like Chanel and McQueen, pop cultural sensations like Dapper Dan and Juicy Couture, streetwear like The Hundreds and Eckō, and sportswear like Vans and Nike. This is by no means an exhaustive list, because Audible has tons of books like these to fill my earbuds with a fashion-centered story and a cautionary tale about growing too quickly or the perils of taking the company public. I have learned something useful from every one of these founding stories, and learned a ton about fashion history over the past 100+ years as well, much of which I plan to reference in House of Caswell collections.
The most recent fashion brand founding story I listened to was the story of lululemon, and the lesson I learned was the importance of setting goals.
The author of this book is Chip Wilson, the founder of lululemon, and although the book ends with his feelings of bitterness and resentment when his business baby grew into a teenager and no longer needed him the way it used to (which is a common theme throughout most books in the genre), the majority of the book revolves around the way he nurtured the brand in its infancy, constructing the DNA that would give the brand its identity, and developing the values that would help differentiate it from all the other brands out there. One thing Wilson mentioned repeatedly throughout the book were goals. He set them for himself, both in his personal and professional lives, and then he made it a requirement that all new hires to his company made their own goals during their onboarding process.
Also outlined in the book were a few guidelines for these goals. There should be goals for 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years out. There should be at least 3 goals for each timeframe, and they should be specific, quantifiable goals. Not something like “I want to be successful.” In the book, Wilson gave examples of his own goals and the timeframe he had wanted to achieve them in, and whether or not it he actually achieved it, which sometimes he didn’t. He said that so often people are too afraid to make specific goals because of the fear of not achieving them. This was the part that resonated with me.
I haven’t set real goals for a business before. I have had businesses before. I had a jewelry shop on Etsy, I’ve worked with my husband Charlie on the band/streetwear brand Berried Alive for years now, and for a short time we had a guitar accessory line together called Muffle Cuffs. But I didn’t have specific goals for any of these companies, either because I hadn’t thought that far ahead, or maybe, because like Chip Wilson said, I was afraid of not meeting them.
Charlie and I did actually set loose intentions for Berried Alive in 2019, and I believe mine was something along the lines of “My goal is to be so successful with Berried Alive that it becomes my full time job.” I’m fairly certain I never set a timeframe for it to happen when I made the intention, and it did actually happen eventually. But I didn’t have any follow-up goals for once it did happen. It was just my full time job now indefinitely, with no clear objectives on where I wanted to go next. I was starting to feel lost, wondering if this was going to be my life forever, not knowing exactly what I wanted to do next now that I was already living the only goal I’d ever truly made for myself.
Side note: to this day I’m still helping Charlie with Berried Alive, although it’s admittedly not my full time job anymore, now that I’m also working on House of Caswell. And I’m happy to help Charlie in any way I can with his creative vision while he continues on with Berried Alive as his full time job.
I took Chip Wilson’s advice and I made myself a set of goals that I want to achieve with House of Caswell and when I want to achieve them by. And like he suggested, I’m not going to be too hard on myself if I don’t meet every single one of them by the completion date. These are just signs on the road so I don’t get lost again, and so even if I do accomplish them, I know what I’m working toward next. I want this brand to succeed more than anything I’ve ever wanted, because becoming a fashion designer has been one of my top dreams since childhood. I’m going to hold myself accountable for making new goals every year when
I even made up a pretty presentation of the goals, wrote them out nicely on a piece of paper I watercolor painted myself in keeping with the brand’s art theme, and put the whole thing in a frame that hangs right in front of my face while I’m working at my desk, so there’s no way I can forget what I wanted for this brand when it was first starting. So here are my hopes for House of Caswell. I’m going to do everything I can to make these goals a reality, but I’m going to try not to be too hard on myself if I’m still working on some of them when the time comes up. I’m going to hold myself accountable for making new goals every year when the original set expires, and I’m not going to let fear of failure hold me back from having big dreams.
And maybe someday I’ll get to write my own founding story about House of Caswell.
By End of 2026:
Release 3 collections in 2026
Produce 100 units per style by the 3rd collection
Be in 5 boutiques
By End of 2030
Produce 4 core collections per year + monthly artist collabs
Be in 1 luxury department store
Have an accessories line
Sell internationally
By End of 2035
Drop 1 full collection per month with regular sell-through of 100%
Have menswear & children’s lines
Use only sustainable materials
Be in Vogue magazine