How Fitting® Podcast

The podcast for slow fashion designers who want to create clothing and grow a business that fits their customer, lifestyle, and values.

In biweekly episodes, hear how relatable fashion entrepreneurs (the kind who run their businesses from kitchen tables and cutting tables, not boardroom tables) navigate the fashion industry with integrity and define success based on their own principles.

In each conversation, host Alison Hoenes (a freelance women’s apparel patternmaker) explores the things that all slow fashion business owners experience: the vulnerability of launching something new, the deeply empathetic process of designing clothes that fit a niche market, the challenges of pursuing both financial and environmental sustainability, the late nights of reckoning with your values that make you consider shutting the whole thing down, and the rewarding moments that make it all worth it.

In addition, hear from experienced fashion industry resources that are helping indie designers make a difference and a profit – like low MOQ factories, fashion marketing and business coaches, or sustainable fabric suppliers.

How Fitting® offers validation that you are not alone in your fashion entrepreneurship experience, ideas to try on in your fashion business to create a better fit, and a curious look into how other slow fashion brands are making it work. How fitting is that?


Want to share how your brand fits your customer, lifestyle, and values on the How Fitting® podcast? I’d love to have you as a guest on an upcoming episode.


Making Loved Clothes Last with Alexis Giger of Little Cliff

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Making Loved Clothes Last with Alexis Giger of Little Cliff
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In episode 25, Alexis Giger talks about her career in fashion from design school, to working for fashion brands big and small, to starting her own mending business during the pandemic in order to make loved clothes last. Alexis Giger is a fashion designer and textile mender based in St. Louis, MO. She graduated in […]

Embracing Your Unique Heritage and Creativity with Bhavana Jain of BHAV

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Embracing Your Unique Heritage and Creativity with Bhavana Jain of BHAV
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In episode 24, Bhavana Jain shares about her entrepreneurial journey and how she celebrates and shares her cultural heritage through her women’s fashion brand BHAV. Bhavana Jain is CEO and lead designer of BHAV. BHAV is a women’s contemporary clothing brand based in Chicago, IL. The line is inspired by the rich diversity of South […]

Creating Reciprocal Relationships As A Vertically Integrated Brand with Rachel Faller of tonlé

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Creating Reciprocal Relationships As A Vertically Integrated Brand with Rachel Faller of tonlé
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Episode 23 is an honest and insightful conversation with Rachel Faller, co-creator and Creative Director of tonlé, about changing the incentives of the traditional fashion system, zero-waste design, and building reciprocal relationships that are equitable for all involved. Rachel Faller is an entrepreneur by trade and a creative at heart. She dedicates most of her […]

Constructing Fashion From Costumes To Coats with Elizabeth Williams of Coat Check Chicago

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Constructing Fashion From Costumes To Coats with Elizabeth Williams of Coat Check Chicago
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In episode 22, I talk with Elizabeth Williams – founder, designer, and patternmaker behind the outerwear brand Coat Check Chicago. Elizabeth shares her journey from costume seamstress to New York fashion designer, to fashion professor and how the skills she gained through all these experiences now help her run her own brand. Elizabeth Williams resides […]

Versatile, Camera-Ready Clothing You Could Sleep In with Xi Chen of Sonderlier

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Versatile, Camera-Ready Clothing You Could Sleep In with Xi Chen of Sonderlier
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In episode 21, Xi Chen, the founder and designer of Sonderlier, shares how she started her fashion brand on the idea that comfortable clothes should still be cute. She’s not alone in that belief as shown by the Kickstarter campaign for her first collection that reached 212% funding. Xi Chen is the Founder and Designer […]

Sustainable Style For Every Day with Ashley Klein of Akala

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Sustainable Style For Every Day with Ashley Klein of Akala
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Ashley Klein, the founder of sustainable brand Akala, joins me for episode 20 to talk about how and why she started her own brand after working in the fashion industry across varying roles from design to e-commerce. Ashley lives in Seattle with her husband, with baby on-the-way! Akala is currently her side hustle, as she […]

Giving Yourself Grace As A Fashion Business Owner with Bria Evans of 31|25 the Label

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Giving Yourself Grace As A Fashion Business Owner with Bria Evans of 31|25 the Label
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Bria Evans, the owner and designer of 31|25 THE LABEL, joins me in episode 19 to share what she’s learned about running a fashion business, staying grounded in her purpose, and how she’s giving herself grace in the process. 31|25–THE LABEL is a Women’s clothing brand where all garments are made-to-order. Bria’s been designing since […]

Made-To-Order Classic Cocktail Dressing with Sheri Turnbow of Bespoke Southerly

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Made-To-Order Classic Cocktail Dressing with Sheri Turnbow of Bespoke Southerly
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Sheri Turnbow, the entrepreneur behind Bespoke Southerly, joins me in episode 18 to talk about how she built the women’s made-to-order special occasion brand to provide women with the personalized experience, quality finishes, and investment pieces that they’ll want to wear to countless events. Sheri Turnbow is the Founder of Bespoke Southerly, a collection of […]

The Quest For The Perfect Night’s Sleepwear with Alessandra Corona of River Left

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
The Quest For The Perfect Night's Sleepwear with Alessandra Corona of River Left
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In episode 17, Alessandra Corona, founder and designer behind the sustainable sleepwear brand River Left, shares how her personal search for the perfect nightgown snowballed into a full-fledged fashion brand and how that sometimes-messy process has stretched her knowledge, grown her network, and even landed her in major publications less than half a year after […]

Empowering Women Through Clothing Manufacturing with Krystle Marks of Lev Apparel

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Empowering Women Through Clothing Manufacturing with Krystle Marks of Lev Apparel
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In episode 16, Krystle Marks, the founder of Lev Apparel, shares about how she started her clothing brand as part of her mission to empower women and restore dignified work to women most at risk for human trafficking. Krystle Marks is a fashion stylist turned clothing designer. She became passionate about fighting human trafficking and […]