For Sarah Ahmed, the business of denim is her business! Soft, affordable and beautiful, a pair of Warp + Weft jeans is a must-have for every woman.
Founder of Warp + Weft, Sarah Ahmed combined this innovative fabric with the sustainable practices she picked up from her family’s luxury denim brand, DL1961, and now Warp + Weft is being snatched up by women and men across the globe.
Talking about how she started, Sarah says, “Denim has been in my blood since I was born. All around me was indigo. I think our blood color is indigo. For me, seeing the ecosystems around me of creation – creating products and creating it in a mindful way had a huge impact on me. I wanted to be part of the community, and I wanted to support it. It’s really something very special, and I wanted to take the manufacturing mind-set and create a consumer-facing brand that is very transparent about its practices.”
“I was so ready and itching. I was sick of the lack of inclusivity, and the market was very untapped in the $100 space. You used to go to department stores and clearly see who the favorite customer was, and that favorite customer is not the majority. Creating a brand for the masses that feels fresh and modern, and is sustainable, is really something I was itching to do. It had to be done; the space had to be disrupted—no one has done it for denim before.”
Wondering how a typical day looks like for Sarah Ahmed,
“I wake up at 5:30 AM every day. These days I’m learning how to speak Mandarin, so I try to do that in the morning to wake up my brain. Then, to be honest, a few years ago I was always so stressed out, and instead of getting on the train of drinking this tea or doing that meditation, I just lived. I [decided] not to put so much pressure on myself, and that helps my day a lot. [After practicing Mandarin,] I do emails. I like to do work before everyone gets in the office. Then I go to the office. I usually have morning meetings with outside people trying to do collaborations and business-development meetings. Then the latter part of the day I spend on creative and in-house stuff. I’m done at five.”
What lessons can we learn from Sarah Ahmed?
- Being an entrepreneur is hard work and it’s not a gateway to have more sleep or for you to relax.
- You can still disrupt an existing market, the key is to discover the aspect(s) that are yet to be tapped.
- Collaboration is key when it comes to business.
- Live, and avoid putting unnecessary pressure on yourself.
- Creativity and innovation is key as a business owner.
What else have you learned? Do share with us in the comment section.
Read more on Coveteur.
