Fast fashion comes with hidden costs, costs that most people
never think about. It's not just what a shirt costs
at checkout, but the toll that it takes on people and the
planet. It was so eye opening the other
side of what the industry looks like and it made me think a lot
about my purchases. Angela O'Brien, founder of the
sustainable clothing brand Clia Bella, has spent years building
partnerships with artisans around the world and designing
with organic fibers and natural dyes.
He shows us that conscious consumerism isn't about being
perfect, it's about making better choices, one purchase at
a time. Less is more.
Look at the labels, see the story?
Get connected to the brand that you're purchasing.
Let's dig in. Angela, thank you so much for
being here. I've been wearing your clothes
for years now and loving your brand so much, so it's really
fun to finally meet you and get the chance to talk to you in
person. Yeah, it's the same.
Bethany, thank you so much for having me of.
Course, Should we try our smoothies?
You're just talking about them. Cheers.
Cheers.
Have you had liver before? I Oh, yeah.
OK. But not in a smoothie.
Traveled so much, you've probably eaten a lot of really
unique, interesting foods. I'm always hoping to try things,
yeah, at least. Once.
I love that. I feel like this was a good
batch. I made it this morning and all
of my kids were like, we want we want more because I poured a
little bit for each of them. There is.
Yeah. So it's raw milk, Oliver, mint
leaves and organic berries and honey.
Oh, Yum. Primal Pasture's honey.
So red. This will give us a.
It's not what I expected. Did you expect it to be
terrible? Well, you know, to have maybe a
liver flavor. Yeah, none of that.
Yeah, no, the mint really, really hides that liver flavor.
Delicious. So you and your husband
travelled the world and ultimately built Clia Bella from
scratch. What led you to making that
decision and what did that season of life look like for you
guys? Now, I think that because it was
almost 20 years ago and we were newly married and we always had
this dream of building a life that was rooted in travel and
freedom and creativity and community.
And my husband was a sales Rep and in the surf industry and I
was working as a model. I would say I wasn't a very good
model. I didn't like it.
And I was going to night school and working in fashion and we
decided to just take a risk, leave our jobs and we bought a
ticket around the world. At the time there was a company
called Air Tracks that you could buy a one way ticket and just
keep going. And depending on where you were
travelling to, you could extend the stay and then just keep the
journey going. Fun.
So yeah, are they? Still around?
I would love to think that they still are.
We'll have to look at that. Very cool.
What? A fun thing to do as a newly
married couple. It was the best and we really,
we really. So my husband Jim, he's a surfer
and that's what he loves to do the most.
And we found ourselves in Bali, Indonesia.
We, we were both in harmony and Jim was surfing every day.
I was, I'm, I'm not the type to lay on the beach all day.
I was meeting people and I was connecting with artisans who I
had this idea if I could start a brand and we could make enough
money that we could just keep coming back.
And that's what we did. So that was in 2006.
And in fact, our driver was the one that connected me with
Yanti, who was one of our first manufacturers.
And we still work with her today.
And I'm it's so fun because her, her, her kids are now grown and
getting married. And they were, you know, 5:00
and 3:00 when we first met. And.
A lot of history. A lot of history, yeah, yeah.
So we spent the last nearly 20 years living mostly half of the
year in in Southeast Asia and homeschooling our kids and, and
yeah, just just having fun, I would say.
Yeah. And you guys scaled the company
on your own just like we did at Primarily Pure.
Are you glad that you made the decision to grow the company
without outside investors? Absolutely.
I mean, freedom is our currency. We've always loved to do things
our way and not have an investor that we are raising or you know,
asking permission to do things. Cleo Bella was built at farmers
market so we had $12,000 in our savings.
And I designed a few leather hand tools, clutches and some
ecot simple dresses. And when we were in India, I
imported these wrapped skirts that were made from recycled
saris. And that's what we did.
And, and after our trip, we were, we decided that we
couldn't go back to LA. So we moved to Hawaii for a year
and I was selling Clio Bella designs at farmers markets with
A4 post pop up tent. I'd load up my minivan and my
folding table and I closed pins to display all of my designs and
I fanned out all my leather clutches and, and I loved that.
I love the community of farmers markets.
I loved that I could work on the weekends, build my website
during the week and also sell my designs to local shops.
So it started really grass roots.
It was like brick by brick, you know, with no real business
plan, just more of a dream of building a creative community
and travel. Was there a moment where you
thought like, OK, this could turn into something much bigger
than like a farmers market brand?
Yes, there was. There's been so many moments.
I think it's when, well, the economy got tough in 2007 and
that's when we decided to move back to California.
But right before we came back to California, we went back to Bali
to really build Cleo Bella as a collection.
And I should say my mom's name is Cleo Belle.
It's my great grandmother's name as well.
So I feel always this guiding force of strong women in my
life. And we were back in Bali and I
thought, well, how do I really legitimize this as a brand?
And knowing what I knew as a fashion model, I knew that I
didn't want to be the brand, but how could I make the brand?
And just by experiencing other people doing it, I created the
line plan. I did a photo shoot in Bali.
I sketched my collection and sold it at La Fashion Week in
2008. And that's when I knew that we
had something because Fred Siegel and Planet Blue wrote
Clio Bella. And it was so exciting because
they were stores that I dreamt of and I shopped at and I
admired for years. And so to be in stores like that
was absolutely incredible. And I thought, well, maybe we
have something. While you were modeling, did you
pick up on things that you knew that you did and didn't want to
implement in your own brand? Oh, absolutely.
I think now we we hire the most incredible models and I think
it's so important for the models who show up at our company who
feel seen and feel confident and celebrated.
And was that your diverse of the model?
No, no. What was it like?
Well, you know, I never fit the model mold.
I was an athlete. I love sports.
When I was 18, I was my freshman year in college and I got a
modeling contract to go live in Japan for six months.
And that was where I really decided that I loved travel, but
that I didn't love modeling. It was definitely it's you're
constantly criticize rejection. It's just part of the job.
And some people are built for it.
I am incredibly sensitive. I feel things so deeply.
And. But I really believe in this
idea of expansion and that, you know, you're around environments
that that you can see beyond of where you're at.
And I think it helped me envision the kind of creative
life I wanted to build for myself as a brand.
Yeah. As a mom and as an entrepreneur
now, how have you balanced motherhood with leading a brand?
Oh my gosh, I don't know if if there's such a thing as balance.
I like to say harmony. I try to find harmony in in what
we do. I just love being a mom.
It's my priority. My mom is an incredible mother.
So I witnessed the importance of celebrating your your children's
gifts. And when I started Clio Bella, I
thought this is great because I can have the freedom to have a
flexible schedule and be a mom. That's not always the case
because there's different sacrifices that you make.
But our business is a family business, and the our children
have been along for the ride since the beginning.
When my son was five, he was in the factories with me and Bali
designing superhero costumes out of scraps of fabric and, you
know, crystal and gems he would find on the beach.
And so I feel like they are such creative beings.
And they've seen the hard work that my husband and I have put
into growing this brand, and they feel very much a part of
it. And they're creating their own
individual style and they love travel.
And so it's, you know, we have a a freshman in high school now
and our daughter's in fifth grade.
And we're really seeing this, this, this real spiritual life
of travel and the connection to other cultures you're seeing.
They don't remember all the trips they took when they were
babies two months old flying around the world.
But it's part of their soul. And you can feel it in them.
So neat, and your daughter is probably old enough now to start
wearing some of your pieces. I don't know if she's fitting
into the clothes yet, but for sure like some of the excess my.
Gosh, my daughter is my muse. Her name is Indigo Sky and she
is has such exquisite taste. I asked her, what do you think
about this? And she's always spot on.
So she takes our extra small blouses and she makes them into
dresses. She's all about layering.
She comes with us to New York Fashion Week.
She whenever we're vintage shopping.
She's she loves vintage shopping because she collects miniature
things for her dollhouse and it kind of has got her into this
cultivation of buying things that are used.
And so she expresses herself through vintage because it's
one-of-a-kind that, you know, her other friends don't have in
it. She loves that that's becoming
part of her identity of creating, you know, this visual
expression of herself through her fashion.
It's. So neat.
I thought that's so fun to to have that camaraderie with her
and just to be able to to bring her into into what you do in
that way. Oh, I feel so lucky and you
never know, I mean, our our son who just this year, he's really
getting into style and fashion and he's actually vintage
shopping with me as well. And it's nice because you know,
I'll do whatever my kids want to do, but it's nice and we can
really do something together. So whether we're exploring
somewhere new when we're traveling, whether it's a market
and some kind of discovery, yeah.
I mean, it's so fun being a mom, you know?
Yep, it's the best it's. The best?
And I know you've also had your own health journey in the midst
of growing a brand. What has that looked like and
how have you prioritized your own well-being throughout this
whole process? Oh my gosh, Oh wow.
I so my health journey, I think started as a little girl.
I grew up in a household that one of my parents was an addict.
So there was a lot of underlying energy that I wasn't necessarily
aware of. And my brother had, he was
addicted for years and he passed away.
So I, I lived in this world of an energy that I didn't
understand, I would say. And I being the oldest child, I
probably, I probably just felt it a lot more deeply being so
sensitive. And what I've learned over the
years through different autoimmune issues is creating
boundaries and trying to let go of that perfectionism and
choosing myself when it doesn't always seem as comfortable.
We as a family, we, we love shopping at the farmers markets
and getting our food from local farmers.
We're really, you know, I'm very sensitive to what I put on my
body. So I, and I've worked with a
naturopath for years that's helped me out of my autoimmune
funks. I do ozone therapy every year.
I, I have a sauna in my backyard to detox.
We have a cold plunge that I don't go into as often, but my
husband loves it. And so, you know, I, I, we have
our own little sanctuary that we built at home.
And I'm just curious about learning.
And I, the past 10 years I have been very healthy because I
prioritize myself. But at 16, I got mono and then
it turned into fibromyalgia. They thought they had lupus.
I went through all these different health journeys and I
found my naturopath in Bali that I've been working with now since
2010. And I did a lot of blood work
and a lot of ozone therapy and changed my diet.
And I have been, I'm healthier than I ever have been.
And I operate at a really, I, I go, go, go.
And I think with the practice that I've created through
mindfulness meditation, and I've been practicing kundalini now
for 10 years, and I feel like that's really helped the breath
work calm my nervous system. So you just, I found tools.
So that really worked and I've healed my body.
And I tell everyone who's going through health training, our
body wants to heal itself and the body will heal itself.
And I've seen that because I was at a place after I had my son,
who's now 15, I was so sick and debilitated I couldn't get out
of bed for months because I was still trying to do all the
things I did before having a child and balancing it all, and
my body wouldn't cooperate with me so.
What did you do at that point? Because it sounds like you
already had kind of some healing tools under your belt, but maybe
you were kind of letting, letting that slide like that,
taking care of yourself during that time.
I don't know, Is that accurate? Then you just kind of dug back
into what you knew worked. Or did you figure out like new
things that worked better during that season of life?
Well. Sleep was so important and I'm
so into sleep health too. Every night I have my mouth tape
in my eye mask and I sleep in a very dark room and I love sleep.
Sleep. I was just thinking I need to do
a video about all the things that I put on just to sleep.
It's ridiculous though. People would think I'm crazy.
It's like I do a nose strip now to open up my nostrils and I'm
addicted to those because you get 30% more oxygen and I feel
it. Like I feel so much better in
the morning. So I'm like taping my nose.
I'm taping my mouth. I've earplugs in.
Yeah, I have an eye mask. Yeah, I have like before bed is
the red light glasses. And then I'm putting like our
magnesium sleep spray on my feet.
It's it's ridiculous. I love it, but it is medicine
it. Is worth prioritizing.
It is and at that point, what we had to do, unfortunately, when I
was so sick and our son was a baby, I had to sleep in a
different room from him. And so my husband slept with our
son. We've always done Co sleeping
because we've always been traveling and living in
different time zones. And so I spent a solid two
months sleeping, working with an acupuncturist and then changing
up my diet. And and that was hard for me
because I love to have fun. I love to be in the moment, but
I couldn't do the things that I did before.
And then my body healed and ozone therapy has been a game
changer. I do it every year.
I do it with the IV. Yeah.
And I that's. The only one I haven't done have
an ozone generator at our house and so I use the gas for
different things. I'll do rectal ozone
insufflations or I'll do it in the ear canal.
I'll make ozonated water like my husband, myself, my kids.
But I have not done IV ozone yet.
Yeah, I highly recommend it. And I, I, I mean, it has worked
for me and I tell everyone who's going through autoimmune issues
so and I keep the practice every single year.
I've been doing it for now 10 years.
We did an episode with Michael Lowe, OK, who's the founder of
Simply O3. So if anyone's curious about
ozone. Three.
Yeah, OK. If.
Anyone's curious about ozone, it's a good episode to to
reference because he he's just such a good source on all things
ozone therapy. And it's not something that most
people are well versed in or know a lot about because it's
not a traditional, you know, therapy, But it is extremely
effective for so many things. It is.
I love the idea of doing it yourself at home, too.
Yeah, because I, I leave that for whenever I'm in Bali.
That's where I do it. And I and now we're traveling to
Bali once a year rather than twice for extended time.
So I always fit in three weeks of ozone.
It's a little bit confusing at first, but simply O3, they sell
these kits and they make it as easy as possible.
It's just getting it situated with the oxygen tank and
figuring all that out. It's a little funky, like how do
I do this? But once you get it sorted out
and their team's great, super helpful.
Once you get it sorted out, it's like it's awesome.
It's awesome to have at home and it's like a one time investment,
you know you can use forever. We used it a lot when we were
detoxing from mold, from toxic mold exposure in our yes.
Yes, I hear that's such a thing. I want to talk about mindful
shopping a little bit because we're getting close to the
holiday season and I know that's a big shopping time for so many
people. How do you practice shopping
mindfully, especially in the holidays?
Well, I've so seeing and living in Southeast Asia where I've
seen the whole process from concept to how it is produced in
our supply chain to the end consumer.
It's about reading labels and seeing where product is made and
understanding the story. You can pick up the label of any
one of our dresses or blouses and you can see that 89% of our
fibers are made with plant based fibers.
We use all natural water based dyes and it's really important
that the skin health and what you put on your body, these
small decisions that you make every day.
It helps the farmers and the people that are part of the
process of making the product. And it's also part of skin
health. So it's better for Mother Earth
as we talked about, it's also better for ourselves.
So small things like that. I would say buy less during the
holidays. How do we do that as consumers?
Buy quality and buy less and something we do as a family
during the holidays as we love, we do this white elephant game
where everyone re gifts things and it's, it's just this fun
memory. And it's not about the present,
it's about the experience as a family.
And we've done that for years and the kids love it.
This year our kids want decided that they don't want to do
gifts, They want to go on a trip.
So we're going to go to Tokyo this year right after Christmas.
So yeah, mindful shopping. It's it's, you know, the more
you know, better you do better, right?
And the idea of, of we have the power as consumers to buy the
change we want to see in the world.
And it can be very small. Nobody is doing it perfect.
But I think he's like small little acts of, of thinking
locally. How can you shop from your local
neighbors who have stores? How can you shop from founders
like you who've created this brand and understanding the
story behind it? I, I think there is conveniences
out there and there's certain things that we, we need to buy a
part of our everyday life. But being around beauty and
having, being a consumer that appreciates the whole story in
the process. I can't help but see it because
I've, you know, seen it for so many years with our makers and
the sustainable income that's created by, you know, small
batch production and product that is sustainably made.
You mentioned looking at the the tags to see where something has
been made. Is there any?
Is there a place that you would recommend?
Like if if someone looks at A tag and sees made in Bangladesh,
would you recommend avoiding purchasing that?
Product. I would avoid Bangladesh, but I
don't want to say all. I mean you can look at A tag and
it says made in Italy and it's not made in a good place.
You can look at the tags made in China and it's made in a good
factory that has all the different credentials.
Clio Bella's product is mostly made in India and Indonesia and
Sri Lanka and we have personally visited every factory that we
work with their small home industry factories of husband
and wife, teens like my husband and I are there women owned
factories that there was their dream to have their own factory.
So I think labels having product that is plant based is, is
important because we know it goes back into the soil.
Buying product that's well made so it can have a long life.
Buying second hand is really important.
I mean, I love treasure hunting and vintage shopping.
And I think, you know, celebrating a designer that you
know, that you find that was maybe produced from the 70s or
the 90s and you think, gosh, this was made really well and
giving it a second life. It's just educating yourself and
understanding the back end. There's just this invisible part
of producing product that not everyone is aware of.
And, and the more you know, the more, the more we can part of be
a part of this like collective community that we're all
experiencing here on the planet. Have you seen the true cost of
fashion? Yes, I'm sure you have.
That was I. Was a game changer yes yeah
seeing like seeing the the. People that are making all of
these fast fashion garments and the conditions that they're
working under, which are super unsafe often times and just
really like sad and and heartbreaking overall.
It really makes you rethink, like rethink your purchases.
I love that there's more education because we, we don't
always know we're busy in our own lives that you're, you know,
there's, there's this, you know, excitement of buying something
new all the time. But I think celebrating
different heritage techniques, like, you know, we used to use a
lot of block printing, which is such a beautiful process that
that continues cultural, you know, I guess crafts and helps
provide jobs. That's a big part of it.
Part of Cleveland's sustainable journey has been around people
and creating sustainable income for people and partners that
we've worked with for years. I, I think true cost, when I
watched that documentary, it was so eye opening the other side of
what the industry looks like. And it made me think a lot
about, you know, my purchases and there's the shins and the
team moves of the world. 'S and these big companies, that
is insane. I got stuck on their website one
time and I like I actually bought like 10 things.
And you didn't realize? And no, I did.
I realized it, but then I was like, what did I just do?
This is I feel like I just sold my soul and I went back and I
can't cancel my purchase. Right.
Yeah. And I cancelled my account
because I'm like I don't want them to have any of my
information. It's tempting, and that's the
human experience, right? It'll only.
Suck you in. The website itself is like just
an explosion for the nervous system.
It is. I don't know if you've been on
there, but it's nuts. It's wacky.
No, I try to stay away from it. Yeah.
I try to shop for my friends that are designers.
I try to wear vintage. Anything I'm inspired by, I try
to create myself. So I think in terms of of
getting dressed and you know, what I like to purchase for
myself is is not fast fashion. It's more timeless.
And I think about it can maybe one day I pass this down to my
daughter Indigo. Will she want to give it a
second life? I love going through my mom or
my grandma's closet and seeing all the things that they've had
for years and the stories behind it.
I really love the story. The story to me is.
Yeah, I need to get better about doing that, just like saving my
favorite things to pass down because I think that's so, so
special. And what I love about well made
clothing is that it does last versus like I remember in
college I shopped at Forever 21 a lot like my friends and I
would joke that it was like disposable clothing, like one
time thing and then it would like, you know, fall apart,
right? Right.
Yeah, Yeah. And at that age, it's hard.
You want to be, I know you want to be a part of the trend.
Yeah, I, I remember that too. My mom always loved to sew and
she loved vintage. She was a child of the 70s and
she lived on a commune at one point.
So she would say, and we can make that, how can we make that
together? And I always felt like I had a
different point of view because I had one-of-a-kind pieces.
I mixed it up with those pieces because you're, you're exploring
your own fashion expression. But now that I know so much,
it's the conscience, you know, and it's also I feel the
energies of the fibers. If I'm wearing a synthetic fiber
piece is I, it feels different. And the more you're aware of it
and energy, it's there's. Testing on that the frequencies.
Linen is the is the best. This is linen today.
I'm Yeah. So, yeah, let's let's talk about
that a little more, just synthetic fibers versus natural
fibers. What's the difference there, and
why are natural fibers superior? Well, natural fibers will
decompose and go back into the earth, right?
So you can actually envision it kind of like a produce or where
we're at in the land today is it can really go back into the
earth and not live in landfills like synthetic fibers.
Like which there's so much, the clothing made of synthetic
fibers just sitting in landfills right now.
It's like a huge problem. And there's a recycling process
that is. So we use synthetic fibers in
our swim because we need the elastic stretch.
Yeah, how can you not? You can't really avoid it,
right? They are creating new.
This is the exciting part. Even 10 years ago when we were
in traveling through India and part of Indonesia, there was not
the ability for designers to have these Scots certified
organic fibers or these new fibers that are made from like
pineapple or rose or eucalyptus. There is so much newness out
there that's available to designers and there's.
Fabric made of rose. Yes, and pineapple silk.
It's so beautiful. It's exquisite.
It's so beautiful. Are you working with any of
those? Fabrics we are, we're testing it
and we want to do more storytelling, right.
The hard part is it is more expensive, expensive.
So I really, you know, I didn't grow up with a lot of money.
So for me having it be, having our brand be at a sustainable
price point, I try to have all of our pieces be under $300.
That's really important to me. But as the cost of things have
gone up, I feel like there's stories to be told and really
small batch that could potentially grow.
I just spent a week in New York for Climate Week and it was so
exciting. All these business owners that
are working to give designers and companies more opportunity
to use sustainable materials, and I felt hopeful about where
things are going. But that's the difference
between, I feel like even years ago, a lot of my friends didn't
even understand organic and, and the meaning of organic and not
having pesticides and all that. And now we can have that in the
clothing that we wear too, because the consumer's asking
for it. So it's more readily available
to the maker. And that's the change that you
can see, and it feels really exciting.
And synthetic fibers, not only are they tough on the
environment, but they're also not as good for the person
wearing it because these are essentially plastics that people
are wearing, right? And, you know, they're petroleum
byproducts. And so korma disruptor.
Exactly, exactly. And what we, as we know, what we
put on our skin gets absorbed into our body.
So clothing is just another way to be mindful of our toxic
exposures. And Guy, you mentioned hormone
disruptors. I'm thinking of like the
fertility crisis that we're in right now and how these hormone
disrupting chemicals are mimicking estrogen in the body,
leading to estrogen dominance, which can negatively impact
fertility. So.
Especially your undergarments. It's really important.
I think about all these kids that are in sports uniforms, so
they're all made out of synthetic fibers.
Swearing our yoga where there's not many brands and it is it's
it's hard. It's hard for the consumer
because there's not many choices, but especially with
workout. Clothes it's like swim because
you know they're having that stretch is helpful but I've seen
brands that are maybe using a little bit of synthetic but like
mostly cotton so yeah I think it's about just like finding the
best options that you can and doing the best you can but also
taking it seriously because. It, it matters and it's, it's,
it's like connection to the good for the planet.
It's good for the maker and it's good for yourself too, right?
And when all of those are in harmony, I think that's when big
change can happen. What are some certifications
that people can be out on the lookout for when shopping?
B Corp certification, that was a journey.
It took us almost three years to go through the process and it
really helped clean up our supply chain and put a lot of
infrastructure within our company.
There's so many incredible companies out there that are B
Corp certified and we're part of the B lab community.
And I feel like it's, it's in the wake community and I don't
know why every business owner isn't taking that journey
because every three years there's new markers that helps
you become better. All of our factories are Setex
certified. And what does that mean?
Setex is a process where the, it's everything from, you know,
the lighting, the conditions, every part of the, the, the
buttons that are sourced, they're all done in a way that's
really transparent. So there's a trail leading back
to everything. So that's what we've done with
Cliobella is workwear in the fashion industry.
It's, it's more expensive, ultimately it costs more money.
So there's choices that you make.
I mean, even from the hang tacks that we use on our garments, the
woven labels, it's organic fibers, our hang tags are used
from recycled materials. We, you know, all these small
decisions that you make, It's, it's that it costs more, but
it's better ultimately for the planet and the design process,
70% of the design process that's considered sustainable is made
at the design level. So if there's a beautiful
sparkly bead I want to bring into our holiday collection, and
most likely it's made from a synthetic fiber.
So how do you use recycled materials, recycled brass, like
we do on some of our Bali bracelets that we sell, And then
be a part of the conversation of fashion, but do it in a way
that's less harmful to the planet?
What about the OCO techs? Is that how you say it?
All of ours are OCO techs, all of our swim is which that's.
In a lot of things like is there a scale to that because or is it
just OCO techs or not OCO tech certified?
I've seen like numbers next to it.
I think OCO tech certified is Oliver Swim, So that's the
recycled material that's used. So then that differentiates
between because all of these, you know, we're working, I would
say so many hands and hearts that make every garment.
So it's the mills and the supply chain that have to have their
sort of so that you have credibility, right.
We don't own all of our factories, but we have to make
sure there's a trail and our production manager follows that
all the way through. So Okotech is 1 for recycled
material in all of our swim. And that wouldn't be one that
you would see on natural fibers. We don't know got certification
is what you see on natural fibers.
And that's when, you know, every year we're in India, we go visit
the farmers that we buy our cotton from and we work with
farmers that are got certified and we're meeting the farmers
that are saying this is the farm we want to work on because
there's no pesticides here. And in between the crop cycle,
they're planting potatoes and they're planting onions.
And they're, you know, it's that regenerative conversation and,
you know, working on a farm and knowing what that cycle is for
the people that are that are. Yeah, doing all the hard labor.
Biodiversity in the soil by rotating the crops like that.
And yeah, like you mentioned, I'm sure the farmers are just
ecstatic to be working on an organic farm because the people
that are working on farms that use pesticides are suffering
majorly. So toxic.
Yeah. The last time we went to visit
some of the farms that we work with, there was this woman who
owned one of the farms that we went to visit and her son and
her were there and they were connected to one of the larger
mills that buys from them. And this mill was beautiful.
I had solar panelling and it was a beautiful man that took us
through his mill that we had lunch with him.
And she talked about the just the whole process from start to
finish and how this work is is feeding her family.
She's educated, her children are educated and the farm is her
livelihood and she's been doing it generationally.
And we had a coconut together and she explained the process to
us and I'm just mesmerized. I just wish everyone can
experience the way product is made and to see the whole life
cycle. I think it would really help us
make different choices with shopping.
You know, I, I one of the we, we work with a lot of hand crochet
and we've been doing it for years in both Bali and India.
I. Have one of your crochet
dresses, the red one? It's the only red dress that I
own. Literally.
I had my colors done and I found out that there is a shade of red
that I can wear, which I never thought that was a thing for me.
And it's like the shade that that you guys made that the one,
the collar. Yeah, that one I love.
It yeah, the collar, yeah. So that is made by there's two
factories we work with, so 1 is in Bali and it's run by a woman
named Appy. I call her happy because she's
happy all the time and she has about 15 women that work with
her and they do at home industry at home handmade.
A dress like that would probably take, I don't know, maybe five
days to make. It is so labor intensive.
And then we do a lot of piece work in India with our crochet
and a lot of the crochet is done women at home.
So women that want to contribute to their family income and
they're at home with their kids crocheting little panels and
we're inserting them in with the factories in some of our pieces
with our poplin tops or poplin dresses.
So that part is so neat to see the whole experience and for
them to, you know, be able to contribute to the family as we
want to do as women, contributing to our family and
showing our children that we are, you know, working and
thriving and all of it. So yeah, you just can't help but
feel connected to, to, you know, like the human experience of
connecting to people and seeing the sameness that we all are.
When you're travelling and you're meeting artisans and
they're sharing different techniques.
Even this dress that I make, I mean this is done partly by
machine, but it's individual thread and it's, you know, part
of it's hand done, part of it is cut with little scissors, 1 by
1. And a lot of times the women are
doing it outside in the sunshine and they're all around chatting
and talking and telling story. It's really, it's really it,
Yeah. It's I, I, I feel like, I don't
know how else you tell the story of, of the people behind it,
because they're the true artists.
They're really what bringing our designs to life.
And such a stark contrast from I'm I'm just thinking of the
true cost of fashion again. And just some of the footage
from that movie of the workers in the factories who, you know,
you mentioned the woman who's who's making dresses from home
and she's she's doing it like, you know, in her own home
environment. And I'm thinking of these women
in the factories that they show in the movie who are like, have
no choice but to bring their their children with them.
And then the children are just like miserable sleeping, you
know, in this factory and at night and being exposed to all
of these toxic chemicals that they're using in the factories.
So yeah, that contrast is, is just wild.
And I like what you said earlier about just buying less.
And so I think that's a good shift for people like rather
than buying more cheaper things, prioritizing less purchasing
like less really quality made items that will stay on the test
of time that we can feel better about wearing.
You've talked about I think something called circular
fashion. Can you explain what that means?
Well, it's a whole life cycle of product and we recently
onboarded a company called Tree where you can actually resell
your Clio Bella dresses and that's launching this holiday.
So it's this idea of, you know, obviously focus on natural
fibers because it'll go back into the into the earth.
But also, how do you resell your product?
I love shopping resell, whether it's from the real Real or
Poshmark. I love a lot of women are
gathering and like doing swaps of product.
We've done that with Cleobella before too.
And just giving it a second life.
That's the circularity conversation.
Cool. Yeah, I used to.
I don't know what you think about this, but I used to do one
of the clothing rental. Yeah.
Yeah, Well, I did it. I think in pregnancy and like
postpartum phases, my body was changing.
Yeah, it wasn't Rent the Runway. OK, Fashion Pass is a good.
Yeah, I used Fashion Pass at one point and newly I used both of
those during that time. I felt like the clothing, they
would dry clean it in between each use and then it smells so
strong and tricky and I would like have to air it out outside
and that kind of did the trick. Like I would just put it outside
for 24 hours in the sun. And so I feel like that's a good
trick for even buying things second hand because the sunshine
is really the best disinfectant. Oh, it is.
That's how my grandmother would exactly ever in Ireland.
She would hang everything out and get everything very, very
white right. I think there's also this idea
of mending clothes and taking care of clothes that we've lost.
It's an art that I know my family did for years, just being
in Ireland, you know, how are you taking care of your clothes?
You talked about dry cleaning. I, I recommend washing things by
hand. And I also don't think you need
to wash everything that much. You know, a little bit of spray.
There's also different like essential oils that you can
spray on your product, but most of the product of Cleabella I
wash in a light cycle and I hang it to dry, have a little clothes
line up dry. Your clothes.
So just do any of your clothes require dry cleaning?
Do and I think the label will tell you depending on what the.
What is that? What makes an article of
clothing need to be dry cleaned versus like hand washed?
A lot of times it can be depend on the the dye process too,
because you know, when you're using natural dyes, we used to
use a lot of indigo dyes and my daughter's name is indigo.
And so I love the whole creation of the indigo plant turning into
a garment. The problem is, is indigo, it
really fades as you wash it. We were having returned.
So there's, you know, different parts of washing and care that
will preserve the product longer and I.
Think wonder that with labels like do I really need to dry
clean it do. I really need to listen.
No, you don't. You really don't.
But there's certain rules and production and what they're
required. The factory really guides us
with what that is there. I always say I'm not a
scientist. I I don't know everything.
I feel like I'm learning along the way, and I think that's what
I love about being an entrepreneur.
Yeah, I I like the idea of mending clothing as well.
And my assistant over here knows this because I have given her
like there's this one pair of short sports that just like keep
ripping all the time. And I like wear them.
I wear them almost every day to be fair.
But like I've sent her to the tailor like multiple times to
like repair these little, these little slits because I don't
know, I just like I like them. Why would I buy a new Pearl just
like? That's the best pay. $6 to have
a little cut thrown up. I do that with all my she.
Learned to sew myself so I can just do it.
I mean, I might, I actually learned to sew when I was
younger, but my kids are really good at sewing because of the
Waldorf school. And so we have a sewing machine
and my daughter's a lot more active than my son is.
But it's I actually don't have the patience to sew.
My mind's too. Busy.
I know. I feel this.
I feel like it's a fundamental skill that I should have in my
back pocket. But yeah, same.
It's like, where am I going to find the time to just pick that
up? I know.
It's all the things we want to do, all the things.
But I was saying my shoes are something that I always go to
get fixed. Everything like my boots that I
scuff up so I can wear them forever.
I love buying a vintage thing, restoring it and having this
like one-of-a-kind that I'm accessorising with my Cleo Bella
dress. I love that.
You have mentioned prioritizing these artisan relationships over
just, you know, forging ahead and scaling at all costs.
How do you keep that commitment as your business has continued
to grow? I think it's just being
thoughtful and and spending time with them that is a reminder
that we have to keep giving them jobs.
So how do we do that? Whether it's bringing past
pieces into the collection or, you know, making sure that when
our merchandiser planner creates the line plan that we're giving
enough work to Yonte, enough work to Harry.
And it's hard, but I would say our we still do a lot of small
batch production for Clio Bella, some of our dresses.
We're only ordering 100 units and I love that and that's
really important to me. Our printed dresses, there can
be more volume there and we sell to a lot of specialty stores,
but I'm not interested in building a, you know, a business
where we're selling thousands and thousands of units and
everyone has it. I want things to be unique and
special and creative and for for me, I want to be inspired.
I want our customer to be inspired when they pick up a
garment and know the story behind it.
So you guys? Do restocks often?
Wait, something sells out? There are certain pieces we do.
I mean, it's, it's a balance between what's paying the bills,
if there's something that's really right or moving on.
What what we'll do a lot is recolor a print.
So we sell out of the print and the best selling top and then
we'll bring a new recolor of the printing because everyone loves
our prints. They're all hand drawn in our
office and. You guys did such a cute one,
but I was so sad I missed it. Sold out I think really quickly.
It was a a white skirt and white top and there were like
seashells. The tangent broiler, yeah.
That one is so cute. That's all that fast.
Right. All that fast.
Yeah, yeah. I I love it when it sells out.
I mean, it's so exciting. Yeah.
And we know like, OK, this one's gonna, this one's gonna go fast
going into it. Or are you oftentimes like
surprised by which ones sell out?
Sometimes they feel like I don't know anything anymore.
There's a feeling. There's definitely a feeling.
We always say it's Christmas Day when a collection is ready to be
launched. So tomorrow I'm shooting our new
summer collection for 2026. Oh my goodness, we're so far
that. Is so weird because we're
recording this in October, right?
And this and you're already planning for summer?
Calendar is. How do you know?
Like what's going to be trending?
Do you pay attention to trends? Are you just not at all?
You're just playing on what you like I.
Don't want to be I, I, I love seeing the runway shows.
I'm so inspired by that. But we're really inspired by
travel. And so whether there's a really
unique vintage scarf that we're finding in Morocco or, you know,
a painting that we're reinspired by and making a print on a
dress, we're very rooted in heritage techniques and
celebrating that. And I don't think following
trends is, is a business that's sustainable.
We're inspired by it, I would say, but we're not necessarily
falling. We don't get the trend reports.
It's a feeling. It's very heart let, it's very
intuitive. And sometimes we get it right,
sometimes we get it wrong. The consumer tells us what she
likes. Our business is built on
wholesale. We have incredible warriors and
sales teams that are out sharing Cleo Bella's story.
We sell to over 600 specialty stores.
And so you really see our product in person and you see
the quality behind it. And I think it's at an
affordable price for the value. And we're building our ecom
store, which is we love. We get instant feedback from our
customer there. Our influencer partners will
tell us what they really like. And oftentimes they're right.
They're the best stylist. You know, I love following and
seeing influencer stylist and how they wear a product.
And yeah, it's kind of like, I wish we had a crystal ball.
We say that in the office all the time.
And there can be, you know, a conversation between our
merchandiser planner and design and us like, you know, moving
forward and trying new things. And then what are we know our
customer wants and it's ease and it's a beautiful, relaxed, you
know, maxi printed dress where she can wear barefoot or throw
on boots. She can belt it, layer with a
jacket and like it lives with her.
Yeah, your stuff is very versatile.
Think I love that about it. What legacy do you hope that
Clia Bella will leave behind, both in fashion and for women's
voices? One of our core pillars is
feminine strength, and it's something that I feel like I've
learned from my mother and my grandmother and being a business
owner, I believe there's that you can break the norms of what
that looks like as a female founder, and I hope we embody
that. I hope we empower women to do
whatever their dream is and they can show up wearing a beautiful
dress and something that tells a story.
I hope my daughter one day, maybe she'll take over the
family business. No pressure.
Does she say she wants to? It's funny, she'll come into the
office because the kids are in the office all the time and one
of my tech designers would call her her future boss.
She wants to be an interior designer, but I know she'll
definitely do something creative on her own, so I my.
Daughter's already plotting her take over a family pure.
Yeah, isn't that so wonderful for them to be a part of it and
just see themselves in creating something?
Yeah, it's super special. I I have this thing like I'm
always kind of evaluating, am I doing a good job in, you know,
first and foremost, like in the home as a mom and then like with
the business and how am I balancing the two?
And like you said, it's like balance isn't probably the right
word. Like, it's impossible to strike
a perfect balance over time. But yeah, how am I harmonizing
both of those things? And I think bringing, bringing
the kids into it as much as possible is what really helps me
to feel like, OK, this is worthwhile.
This is something that is like bringing value to our household
and not, you know, taking value away from it because there is
this excitement that I see in them when I do bring them into
it. And when they can connect the
dots of what I'm doing and what I'm spending time on when I'm
away from them with, you know, using the products and sometimes
being a part of the process of creating products and what not,
it makes it really fun. And, and I also see reflected in
them this desire and like can do attitude of like they, they feel
like they can do anything and accomplish anything.
And I don't know, maybe a part of that comes from like seeing
their parents doing what they feel called to do in life.
So yeah, I think that it's important to just always kind of
evaluate that and, and be thinking about that.
At least it's something that that I try to do.
And it sounds like, you know you're doing that with your kids
as well. Yeah, I am.
I would say I'm so hard on myself.
I'm always like, am I? Am I enough?
You know, there's like this constant chatter that I'm
forever working on. And a lot of it starts with a
relationship that I have with my husband, who's also my business
partner. And how are the kids witnessing
the way that we're communicating with each other?
How do we set boundaries that we come home?
We're not talking about business, kind of include them
in the process. And our kids have been, you
know, on photo shoots with us for years.
And, you know, my daughter comes in and designs collections with
us and yeah, seeing that they can create whatever world they
want to dream of. And isn't that part of our
birthright right is to to, you know, kind of create the life
that we desire to. And I feel so grateful and just
so in awe of the life that we've built it.
My 20 year old self wouldn't even believe that we're still
here and making beautiful clothing, being part of a
creative community and learning from other female entrepreneurs
like yourself and I. I hope our children see and find
their passion one day, whatever it looks like.
What does a day in the life look like for you?
Now I'm sure every day is different, but if you could,
like you know, encapsulate it in one day.
Oh well, I love driving the kids to school, so that's part of my
morning routine. I do share that role with my
husband. I work out three days a week
before I take the kids to school, so early mornings.
How early? 6.
OK, very early. So what time do you wake up for
that? Right before it.
OK. You're running out the door.
And then Fridays I work from home and I have my kundalini
yoga practice with my Long Beach community and that really
grounds me. And then I love picking up fresh
flowers and getting making sure we have groceries for the
weekend and doing nothing on the Friday night.
And I love having weekends with no plans and kind of being in
the rhythm of whatever the kids need.
So I'm very present, but Monday through Thursday, I'm pretty on
with the brand and I'm in meetings and we work in the
office. Our team and it's creatively
really collaborative and we're reporting on what's working and
we're innovating and we're, yeah, we're all manifesting
together. My commute to work is only 5
minutes. My kids go to school, I get to
drive the beach every morning to school.
So they're really close by. And yeah, it's a juggle, but I
do it with my husband and he's like he, we, we equally have a
similar rhythm with helping, you know, getting, making sure the
kids get to where they need with all their activities and then
balancing work. How do you infuse little bits of
Wellness into your day? Well, little even here I was
doing my little breath work and on my car right here, I'm really
into breathing and connecting and grounding.
I have a little space in my office with my incense, which is
the Bali ritual that I've learned for years where I have
my little daily practice. Lighting a candle is a big part
of you know, that ritual. And we're our big Irish family
and we had we drink tea all day long and I feel like my time
with a hot cup of tea, really it's my quiet time to ground.
And it sounds silly, but little salt they.
I love beverages, yes. Like I get a lot of value out of
beverages throughout the day. Yeah, it really.
Yeah. No.
And it's like a little shift when I go from one marketing
meeting where we're concepting a new photo shoot and I'll head
into, we have a little matcha station in our office.
I'll make my phone head into in the design meeting.
It's like, okay, let's clean the slate.
Let's put new energy into this so that I can be focused.
I'm I'm, I'm known to always be late to every meetings because
it's always like one thing to the next.
But I but I feel like the busyness of what this business
brings, that little reset helps be connected and present.
What's your go to outfit when you're rushing out the door in
the morning? A printed dress.
Yeah, easy printed dress. They're so comfortable.
I mean, I love wearing jeans, but I just think they're so
constricting. I would just rather be in a
dress all day long. Take a nap in the dress on the
weekend, you know. They are more comfortable.
As a kid, I refused to wear jeans because I thought they
were so uncomfortable and I could not understand why
everyone wore jeans. I'm like, what is everyone
doing? These aren't comfortable.
Yeah. And now I mean, I wear them.
I wear but yes like dresses are the most comfortable option.
So I have this scar on my head. When I was I think 2 years old,
my mom said I was in my party dress.
I always love to be in my party dress.
My grandma would go down to Mexico and get these tulle
quinceanera dresses they had in every color.
And she wanted to Take Me Out of my party dress, put me in my
pajamas to drive me home from my cousin's.
But I did not want to get out of my party dress.
And I ran and I split my head in the corner of a wall.
And it's always my little connection back to my love.
I love getting dressed up. I was like, this is a little.
Girl, I love that you see it that way.
That's really sweet. What is your favorite material
to wear? Cotton.
Linen, linen, linen, yeah. I love linen.
Do you have linen sheets at home?
No, I don't. I actually, I have cotton
sheets, color branch. I love cotton.
Yeah, I love to sleep in cotton, but I have a linen outer linen.
Does that mean my like your your, my duvet is linen.
And my my best friend who just dazed with amazes her company.
She's a linen company and she makes the best bedding.
And so I always have her bedding on the outside of her bed.
Yeah. What is the most overrated
fashion trend right now in your opinion?
I feel like always new, new, new, just chasing the trend of
new, you know, yeah, I, I, I still, I look at the 90s trend
and I think I lived it. So I don't know if I can
completely go back to it. I appreciate it.
A lot of the young kids are doing it.
But yeah, I think, I think trends come and go.
I think it's just a feeling. And I and I love working with
your body and what fits you best and what complements you.
And it's a feeling. I say I say try not to follow
trends. What is 1 conscious shopping
habit that you wish that everyone would implement this
week? Buy less, be really thoughtful.
Look at the labels. Those are two, yeah.
More if you want. Yeah, less is more.
Look at the labels, see the story.
Get connected to the brand that you're that you're purchasing.
Shop small, yeah, but just consume less and enjoy your
community or your people, your family.
Great memories. So good.
And your brand is so easy to do that with.
So I'm so grateful that you were able to come out today.
And I love your brand, as I keep saying, but your stuff is just
so ultra flattering. And it is the first place that I
go to when I have a vacation or an event coming up.
And I always get so many compliments when I wear your
stuff. So thank you for what you're
doing. Thank you, Bethany.
For being here, where can people find you and where can people
find Cleo Bella? Cleobella.com and my Instagram.
Angie OB. Awesome.
Thanks, Angela.