IT'S OUR ANNIVERSARY!: We Are Celebrating Four Years of Sustainability & Style

After visiting the iconic fashion capital of the world, Paris, France for the first time, Jade Alycia launched her namesake label, Jade Alycia Inc. on October 28th, 2016. This year we are celebrating four amazing years of sustainability and style! How exactly do we plan on honoring this special occasion, you may ask?! We decided there's no better way to celebrate than by taking a look back at the very beginning of our brand story and share how it all began.

After graduating from college with a degree in Fashion Studies from Montclair State University, Jade started off her brand wanting to design couture gowns out of recycled fabrics. However, that task proved to be quite challenging and time-consuming with the sourcing being the hardest part. It was then that Jade knew she wanted to take a different path in fashion. She yearned for designs that would be just as unique, but would take less time to create, had more accessible sustainable materials to work with and would leave a positive impact on the wearer.

That's when Jade decided she would gravitate towards fashion accessories, her second favorite section to shop aside from clothing. Jade, like many of you awed at the benefits of ethical fashion, but struggled to find trendy styles from eco-friendly labels. Potential finds were a rarity and not very promising. often times containing only a fraction of recycled materials used to create. Feeling disappointed and confined by designers for their lack of commitment to the cause and scarce variety to choose from, Jade took that concept of meshing equal parts style and sustainability together and began creating. She started making small statement handbags, ones that could be worn as stand-alone pieces of art or built upon with other accessories for a head to toe trendsetting look. Having no previous knowledge of how to actually construct handbags prior to handmaking her very first prototype, Jade Alycia decided to get in her studio and get her hands dirty.

Known as a visionary, Jade never allowed herself to be limited by her current skill sets. If she was unfamiliar with something she would research it and teach herself how to recreate it. Learning how to handmake her own handbags with only her imagination and her hands was no different. Jade shares, "At first it was hard, but the more bags I made the easier the process became." She began creating, experimenting and ultimately learning what it takes to assemble and design small handbags. " I quickly started mastering the basics of handbag making and began developing my own ways to increase durability and functionality." Jade explains. This unique self-taught method of handbag making would create the signature design for our very first handbag, the iconic box clutch.

Each of her unique designs featured a fusion of couture techniques with Parisian street style which mimicked her own personal style. " I found myself liking to work with dazzling embellishments and luxe fabrics that I had always been drawn to as a shopper. That includes crystals, sequins, feathers, furs, leather, lace, chiffon, the list goes on and on." Jade explains. Her eye-catching style would lay the groundwork for the many colorful designs she would go on to create and aid the expansion of our handbag collection to new mini and micro bag silhouettes. Read our full brand story here.