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.


Rethinking Braless Coverage, Comfort, and Clothing with Keona Moy of Vktori

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Rethinking Braless Coverage, Comfort, and Clothing with Keona Moy of Vktori
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In episode 98, hear how Vktori founder Keona Moy is challenging societal norms as well as her own self-limiting beliefs as she grows her braless, bandless, neuro-inclusive clothing brand. Women are told so many shaming messages about how they should dress their boobs, but Vktori is setting a new example of embracing comfort on your […]

Innovating Textile Prints For Fashion & Home with Heather Rose Rauscher of Patternier

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Innovating Textile Prints For Fashion & Home with Heather Rose Rauscher of Patternier
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In episode 97, Patternier founder and designer Heather Rose Rauscher gives us a tour of the intricate layers of her innovative artwork and business. Working in the industry for over a decade, she’s learned the rules of textile design. Now, with her own brand, she breaks them. Her luxury fashion and home pieces juxtapose vintage […]

The Price Of Making Sustainable Fashion The Norm with Selina Ho of Recloseted

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
The Price Of Making Sustainable Fashion The Norm with Selina Ho of Recloseted
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In episode 96, we ask the question: is it possible for fashion brands to be both sustainable and profitable? My guest, Selina Ho, the founder and CEO of sustainable consultancy Recloseted, paints a picture of what a renewed fashion industry could look like and what it would take to get us there. She shares practical steps […]

The Underrated Skills That Will Get You Far in Fashion Business with Madison Powers of Madison Victoria

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
The Underrated Skills That Will Get You Far in Fashion Business with Madison Powers of Madison Victoria
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In episode 95, Madison Powers speaks about the story, the underrated skills, and the business plan that have helped her “effortlessly creative” business go far in just a few years. Madison is strategic with her decisions, and crystal clear on her customer and business values, and shares so many little-talked-of realities of fashion business in […]

Fashion As Skincare And Self-Awareness with Freya of Solpardus

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Fashion As Skincare And Self-Awareness with Freya of Solpardus
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In episode 94, Freya challenges the assumption that synthetics are better for swimwear with her sensitive-skin-focused brand Solpardus – which means ‘sun leopard’. With natural-fiber swimwear and apparel, Freya cares for her skin and the community of other women living with psoriasis, eczema, and sensitive skin that she’s met through running her business. Solpardus makes […]

Creating A Size Chart with Representation with Og Ajibe of Oge Ajibe

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Creating A Size Chart with Representation with Og Ajibe of Oge Ajibe
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In episode 93, Oge Ajibe talks about what she’s learned (and where she’s learned) about inclusive fit and fashion business. After 6 years and multiple pivots in business, Oge has slowly created her own way to make sustainable, comfortable clothes that fit no matter your size. She’s uniquely created Oge Ajibe’s size chart, figured out […]

Reaching Profitability In Fashion Business with Laura Briggs of The Shortlist

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Reaching Profitability In Fashion Business with Laura Briggs of The Shortlist
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In episode 92, The Shortlist founder Laura Briggs gives us a detailed look at how her fun and cheeky petite-only brand has reached profitability. From pricing and production to business operations, Laura describes the growing pains she’s gone through and the huge milestones she’s reached as she’s scaled her 3-year-old business. Laura was also my […]

Taking The Stage Boldly For Inclusive, Slow Fashion with Suzanne Vinnik of By Vinnik

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Taking The Stage Boldly For Inclusive, Slow Fashion with Suzanne Vinnik of By Vinnik
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In episode 91, hear how former opera singer Suzanne Vinnik designs bold, inclusive fashions that make women “feel seen” and encourage them to take up space for who they are. Knowing first hand what it is like to be exploited working in the arts, Suzanne runs her business differently. Her secret to success both on […]

Prioritizing Customer Research and Values To Shape A Modest Activewear Brand with Aja Cohen of Transcendent Active

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Prioritizing Customer Research and Values To Shape A Modest Activewear Brand with Aja Cohen of Transcendent Active
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In episode 90, hear how Aja Cohen left her big corporate fashion career for a lifestyle – and fashion business – that put relationships and her values first. Transcendent Active is helping women embrace who they are and move confidently toward their goals. Her modest activewear designs aren’t just covering, but also comfortable, sustainable, and […]

Resortwear That Benefits The Natural World with Janet St Cyr & Diana Kerins of Bambina Swim

How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
Resortwear That Benefits The Natural World with Janet St Cyr & Diana Kerins of Bambina Swim
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In episode 89, hear how Janet St Cyr & Diana Kerins have created a swim and resort brand inspired by nature and travel. Learn what this mother-daughter partnership did to land a dream collaboration with a luxury resort and how they are growing their business slowly and steadily. Bambina is a women’s swim and resortwear […]