Roseish

This is the beginning of Roseish’s story. My goal is to capture our brand identity and explain our vision in more depth through a series of short stories. There are some elements of this world I would like to turn into reality one day. I'll admit the scene I’m about to set is something I think about quite often. Even though these stories will be set in a fictional world with fictional characters, Roseish's mission, goals, and beliefs remain the same, as well as myself. I’m the kind of person who likes to imagine all possible scenarios and think about how I would respond or what I would do. And story-telling is one way for me to do that.

Imagine this: a cozy shopping district with a narrow brick road between the row of shops, a few blocks off the main road. A strip designated for pedestrians and bicycles only. Delicate white lamp posts and cherry blossom trees line the main walkway. Each building varies in appearance from its neighbor, ranging from two or three-story buildings with a storefront on the lower level or single story shops with rooftop lounges.

In the center of the strip is a two-story building with large windows that provide natural light to seep into the interior. The bottom floor is occupied by a specialty cafe/coffee shop known as "BeLight" while the owner and his family live upstairs. Outside, the cafe offers a couple spots to sit under the cover of cherry blossom trees.

On the right-hand side of the cafe is a white three-story building with a charming french door and large symmetrical windows on the front of the building. The word "roseish" is written in a neat serif font with the last three letters italicized. The first floor is dedicated to the clothing brand's boutique or "showroom" where all the latest designs can be tried on or purchased. Towards the back of the boutique, behind the counter, is a rose gold spiral staircase that leads up to the design headquarters of Roseish, which occupies the building's second and third floors.

This is where the story takes place, following the day-to-day life of Roseish and its employees: Taylor, Laurel, Elise, and Faye.

Taylor is a very bubbly, kind, and gentle-spirited individual. She is passionate about her work and strives to do her best in everything she does while also encouraging those around her to do the same. Taylor is always the first person in the building, arriving promptly at 8:30am with her morning matcha latte in hand from BeLight Cafe next door. Since her husband is the owner of BeLight, he always ensures her regular drink is ready for her to pick up before she leaves for work. As the Founder, CEO, and Creative Director of Roseish, she holds one of two keys to unlocking the building. Taylor specializes in fashion and technical design. She is responsible for sharing Roseish's mission and ensuring that the employees and the brand embody that mission. She is well loved by her employees, whom she values highly and relies on their support and feedback. Taylor believes in creating a positive work environment and the importance of a healthy work-life balance. Her daily routine consists of designing, editing and approving tech packs, running fittings and meetings with the production factory, sourcing and approving fabrics and trims, and commenting and approving fit samples. Virtual fittings through CLO3d occur as often as needed; while in person fittings occur twice a month on the first and third Tuesday. On the last Friday of the month, she helps co-run Roseish's monthly photoshoots.

Laurel is a very driven and ambitious person. Her natural charisma and keen eye for social media trends help her excel at her job. As Roseish's Social Media and Marketing Director, she is in charge of all the brand's social media accounts, which includes posting and engaging daily on each platform. She is also the writer for all of Roseish's stories. Similarly to Taylor, Laurel knows and understands the brand's vision and ensures the brand's presence on social media aligns with its mission. Aside from posting and engaging with the brand's audience daily, Laurel is also responsible for editing all photos and video footage, writing stories for the blog, and co-running photoshoots. On the last Friday of the month, she schedules a time and place for the monthly photoshoot, logs every style that will be photographed, and hires models and hair and makeup artists from her curated contact list. Laurel is also in charge of keeping the website up to date.

Elise and Faye run the showroom on the first floor. They greet every customer with warm welcoming smiles and happily assist or answer any questions about the current styles available. They are usually the second people to arrive to allow them enough time to double check inventory and prepare the showroom for presentation. In the evenings, Elise and Faye will alternate who records the end of day inventory and sales made that day. Whoever handles those specific tasks is also in charge of locking up at the end of the day. Other daily tasks include accepting and distributing packages to the specified person, assisting with pick-up orders, sending out deliveries, styling window displays accordingly, and taking pre-orders for upcoming styles or reorder requests. In addition to being Showroom Associates, the pair are also Stylists. One of them is required to attend the monthly photoshoot, which they alternate every other month. If they are the stylist attending the photoshoot that month then they are responsible for retrieving the style list from Laurel and coordinating outfits with her. Although they share the same position, they're strengths and weaknesses differ from one another. Elise is very perceptive which allows her to cater to a customer's distinct preferences. Between the two of them, Elise prefers to stick with "safe" color schemes like monochromatic, complimentary, or analogous color pairings. On the other hand, Faye is more outgoing and enjoys when customers seek her opinions, even if some of her choices may be outside of the customers comfort zone. Her preferences lean more towards bold colors and prints paired with neutral colors like black, white, gray, beige, and brown.

It's the middle of November. The cherry trees’ second bloom comes to an end. Its leaves’ previously golden color morphs into a deep shade of red. This month, pre-orders for styles launching next spring and summer are available. As soon as she arrives in the office, Laurel begins posting about the new styles dropping in a few months, sharing promo photos from last month's photoshoot and spreading the news to pre-order on the website or try on the style in stores beforehand.

Meanwhile, Taylor is finishing up some last minute preparations before her new intern arrives tomorrow. Having to complete an internship in the industry herself prior to graduation, she was excited to be able to partner with the local fashion institute and offer the opportunity to someone else. She is also thankful for the extra pair of hands as the year comes to an end, especially with the launch of the Revive program.

Downstairs, Elise and Faye are standing at the back door greeting the delivery guy, Luca, who arrives every morning between 9:30 and 10:00am to deliver Roseish's mail. "Good morning, Luca!" Faye flashes Luca a cheeky smile.

He returns the greeting as he places his scanner in Faye's hand to sign off the packages. "Want these in the usual spot?" He nods his head at the dolly sitting beside him with two large boxes stacked on top of each other.

Elise nods. "Yes, on the floor by the counter top is perfect." She steps aside to allow Luca past her and Faye. He unloads the two large boxes and heads out for the last two. Elise thanks him as he leaves before she retrieves the box cutters from the drawer and begins unboxing the shipment of orders for this season. The fall and winter shipments for Roseish normally arrive at the beginning of October, but since the collection featured mostly winter coats and a few reorder basics, Taylor decided to push the delivery date back one month.

Elise logs the contents of the box in the sample status report (a.k.a. SSR), checking to make sure the correct amount of sizes and colors are correct based on the pre-orders. After doing so, Elise updates the system to alert everyone who pre-ordered from this year’s fall and winter collection that their order is available for pick up or in transit for those who chose the delivery option.

"Bye Luca! Thank you!" Faye waves as Luca moves on to his next delivery. "I'm going to grab coffee before I open the front. Want anything?" Faye says to Elise.

"Got it! I'll come help you bag everything when I get back." Faye says as she disappears out the open back door.

"Sounds good." Elise begins to take each garment out of its individual packing. As she tosses the polybags away, she wonders how difficult or expensive it would be for the factory to use a paper bag for packaging instead of the polybags. Per Taylor's request, the factory separately packs all the orders for delivery in a Roseish branded box with tissue paper and the special "thank you" card they give to all their customers. No plastic bag ever touches those garments, but the same can't be said for the orders that get picked up in house. Elise continues her process of removing the garment from its plastic bag, tossing the bag, placing the folded garment neatly in the branded cloth bag with the special "thank you" card addressed to the customer, and highlighting the name off the list of orders. As her hands move autonomously, she wonders how many microplastics rub off from that polybag onto the garment.

I want to circle back to Elise’s question: "how many microplastics rub off from a polybag to the garment?"

Although this is a question I won't need to solve until I start production, it is an important question, especially since sustainability is one of Roseish's core values. While working in the fashion industry, I’ve dealt with my fair share of polybags to know how much plastic is wasted. Even when I reused the polybags, there was no guarantee they wouldn't end up in the trash when the factory received them. For most factories, polybags are the default for shipping. To be fair, they do a good job of protecting its contents from dirt, moisture, and tampering. However, they are extremely harmful to the planet because not only are they not biodegradable but they contribute to the ever growing release of microplastics into the environment.

After doing some research, I found there are sustainable alternatives to polybags, such as a plant-based mailer. Although I can't confirm the quality of these alternatives at the moment, I’m considering testing them. I won't go into much further detail about this topic since I'm still a long way away from production.&nbsp;

In the meantime, I’ll continue to share my process and journey with you. Storytelling is something I enjoy so I’m excited to continue writing more short stories like this one.&nbsp;

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