Designer Warren Steven Scott began making vibrant assertion earrings again in 2018 and bought them in a Toronto boutique earlier than pivoting and launching his e-commerce website. During the pandemic, the equipment actually took off, and had been worn by trend editors, celebrities and politicians alike. Scott has since forayed into clothes and eyewear, with a current collaboration for New Look. Here, he tells CB how he made it occur.
I grew up in Cobble Hill on Vancouver Island. It was the ’90s, so Fashion File and FashionTv had been at all times on. I used to be fascinated by these fashions strolling down the runway in otherworldly appears to be like. I ended up learning basic sciences at school, however after my second 12 months, I advised my dad and mom I needed to attempt trend design. They had been excited for me, and my mother even helped me discover a bridal seamstress on Craigslist to show me learn how to sew. I utilized to trend college at Toronto Metropolitan University (previously Ryerson). I made a pleated hourglass gown, however as a result of I used to be a newbie, I reduce the material alongside the weft for the grain line, so the stretch was vertical quite than crossways. Despite this error, I nonetheless managed to get in.
I’m a member of the Nlaka’pamux nation, and my band sponsored my research. After I graduated in 2014, I did two internships with Toronto designers—Comrags and Jeremy Laing—which is how I realized about working a trend label. Independent designers put on all of the hats, so that you want a spread of abilities, from stitching to managing provide chains.
In 2018, I used to be working retail at Comrags and eager about what I ought to do subsequent. I noticed an announcement in regards to the first-ever Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto. My band pitched in to purchase me my first stitching machine, a computerized Juki. My debut assortment, Sissy, included floral silk clothes and high-collar prairie blouses. I wanted equipment to go along with them, so I created a sequence of outsized earrings utilizing motifs from my Nlaka’pamux and Sts’ailes roots—ovoids, feathers, crescents and trigons. Indigenous jewelry is historically beaded or made with silver and turquoise. I favored the concept of rendering conventional shapes in an sudden synthetic materials: brightly colored acrylic (which additionally occurs to be pretty inexpensive). I had the shapes laser-cut, and I assembled the earrings by hand in my condominium.
After that present, I couldn’t afford to provide a full assortment, however I did have the capital to make 30 pairs of the earrings, which I displayed at a pop-up inside Comrags. They bought out in a single weekend, which made me suppose I might make a viable business out of the earrings alone. I created an e-commerce website, shot a lookbook and rented area in a shared studio in Toronto’s west finish. I biked the deliveries to the put up workplace myself and bought about 1,000 pairs in 2019.
![Warren Steven Scott in his Toronto studio](https://www.canadianbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CB-Winter2023-Brief-HIMI-02-1024x683.jpg)
The earrings caught on throughout the pandemic, when folks had been actually making an effort to assist Canadian and BIPOC companies. My shoppers would acknowledge earrings on one another—as soon as, it even occurred on a patio in Florence, Italy. And then Vogue, Cosmo and New York journal coated them. People would tag me to let me know that celebrities like Reservation Dogs’ Devery Jacobs or the comic Benny Drama had worn them. That’s how the earrings took off: via phrase of mouth.
Last 12 months, I moved into an even bigger studio and produced a small run of garments and artwork that I referred to as Cedar in Sec-he Sky. Sec-he is the standard title for Palm Springs—it’s on Cahuilla territory, the place I went mountaineering in 2021. Palm Springs is aesthetically frozen within the ’50s, and I combined the retro colors and silhouettes of that period with the concept of cedar. On a few of the clothes I used ruching, which imitates the weave of cedar baskets—and weaving is a talent that has been handed down in my household for generations. But the material is up to date: polyester in luxe shades of purple, pink and blue.
Recently, the founders of New Look in Montreal requested if I’d prefer to design a line of eyewear. We launched in October of 2022 with 19 retro-inspired frames. I needed to supply a bunch of sizes and colors in order that anybody can discover themselves in a pair. Each one is tipped with a vibrant pop of color and named after somebody who performed a job in my success. That sense of non-public connection motivates all the pieces I do. About 20 North American retailers carry my line, but it surely’s nonetheless a small operation. My studio assistant handles the earring manufacturing, and I nonetheless do all the stitching, a lot of it on the computerized Juki machine my band helped me purchase years in the past. I’ve by no means raised the costs of the earrings—they’re all beneath $100—as a result of I would like them to stay accessible. I like being the native place across the nook. Maybe that’s what a sustainable trend model could be.
Five issues he loves
Scott’s important sources of inspiration
Under the Influence
“I listen to this podcast, hosted by Terry O’Reilly, while drafting and sewing in the studio.”
![](https://www.canadianbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CB-Winter2023-Brief-HIMI-Sidebar-01-TerryOReily.jpg)
Mexico City
“It’s on my list of places to travel for 2023. I’d like to try a jewellery or cooking class while I’m there.”
![](https://www.canadianbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CB-Winter2023-Brief-HIMI-Sidebar-02-MexicoCity.jpg)
A silk shirt
“I love the idea of throwing on a special-occasion blouse with jeans to go to the grocery store or even under an apron to cook.”
![](https://www.canadianbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CB-Winter2023-Brief-HIMI-Sidebar-03-SilkBlouse.jpg)
Jann Arden
“The 25th anniversary of Arden’s Happy? has me listening to the new acoustic version of ‘Ode to a Friend’ on repeat.”
![](https://www.canadianbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CB-Winter2023-Brief-HIMI-Sidebar-04-JannArden.jpg)
The work of Audie Murray
“Murray, a Metis artist from Saskatchewan, adorns everyday objects like toilet paper rolls, socks and teabags with glass beads as a way to question what is held sacred.”
![](https://www.canadianbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CB-Winter2023-Brief-HIMI-Sidebar-05-AudieMurray.jpg)
Source: www.canadianbusiness.com