Letter To My Younger Self

THE TRUST FALL

Leslie Pitts, creative director and founder of Lucky Jade Kids provides a poignant reminder in believing in herself and describes the non-linear path to her comfy chic children’s collections.

With fashion in her DNA, Leslie Pitts’ journey took her from cashmere blankets to entire clothing collections.

, It’s fall of 2002. We need to talk design, and by that I mean your designs. Your own brand. It’s time to leave behind the corporate design job that finds you frustrated and bored to tears and start something new.

Besides being “over” the current job you have had to keep because your husband started a tech company (and you need health insurance), you are pregnant with your first child.

When you are not putting together design presentations for large retailers, you are working on, or shall we say “obsessing” over your baby girl’s nursery. Sophisticated and elegant baby room decor is a struggle to find in 2002. After numerous visits to both big box stores and boutiques, you decide to design the bedding yourself, because after all, your mother is an interior designer and you love to design stuff with her. Something about this process sticks with you: was it the design process itself or the service you received in the small local boutique? The answer is both. The service you receive in a small boutique near your Los Angeles home changes everything. The service, the atmosphere, and the creative freedom feels magical. You want to be a part of that world.

While learning the fashion business from bottom to top and eventually designing women’s after spending a few years in production, logistics, and administration, you find the niche you are looking for. You spot a window of opportunity in children’s and decided it is an avenue you want to pursue. You have never designed anything

for kids or even worked with sweaters. But, as per usual, you tap into your pool of resources and figure out how you are going to do this.

Fast forward a few years. You create Lucky Jade named after your first born, Cameron Jade, and design and manufacture 100% cashmere blankets. Living in Los Angeles is a bonus—this is the very beginning of the celebrity baby boom and that fares well for you. Do I even tell you how excited you will be when you see your blankets and sweaters on the cover of Vanity Fair and People magazines, and on the pages of InStyle? But we know this is just the beginning of the story.

As you go through the journey of starting Lucky Jade, my two biggest pieces of advice are a bit cliche, but here you go. One, follow your passion. Two, trust your gut. These are the two things that will serve you right. We will start with “follow your passion.” Don’t let others tell you your idea is not “you” or “your brand”. Stay consistent with your ideas and the customers will follow. Trust your gut and you will know what the right decision is. Sometimes it might not be crystal clear, but you will know when decisions need to be made. Always make sure to focus on the vision of what this journey looks like. Organize these thoughts. Write your story because the story is what got you here. The designs are an offspring of this process. Spend the time telling your story because you will come to realize that all great brands have a soul behind them. Details matter so make sure to focus on that, too. I know you will but I’m reminding you how important this really is.

Having your own brand is a meandering and bumpy path full of people who will tell you that you are not designing what the market wants. Financial crises will happen, a pandemic will happen, and many customers and stores will go out of business. But you are strong and will keep fighting for what you love to do—design and sharing that with the world.

So much has happened with technology and everyone’s access to information 24/7. You are expected to share your life and work daily with the world. Yes, they want to know what you are doing all the time! It feels strange at times, but you will need to record videos of yourself talking about things like design influences, what shoes you are wearing, and maybe even what the dog is doing. This is where your uniqueness will shine.

There is only one you. Show your process, share your vulnerabilities and your quirks. Take the time to share that because you will meet amazing people from all over the world who will become part of your daily life.

The passion behind your brand is the catalyst that moves you forward. The energy and your love of design is contagious. Make sure that you are always the one making the decisions. Stay true to this vision for Lucky Jade because you are the brand. From start to finish, it stems from you. Oh yeah, and you will have another baby in 2010. But you got this.