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If you are looking for some vegan and veggie nibbles or starters this Christmas there are so many to choose from, and many can be found at your local supermarket or your local independent deli, from tasty nibbles and treats to some rather delish starters for everyone to enjoy.

You don’t have to be vegan or vegetarian to tuck-into a few pre-dinner canapés do you! We all love a good selection of crudités and we’re totally into tortilla chips and various dips. So, why not try some exciting alternatives to your usual go-to nibbles and include an array of veggie delicacies.

We’re talking about the UK’s leading vegan and vegetarian brand, Cauldron Foods and all that they have to offer this festive season. From their famous sausages to the mighty tofu and everything in between, they really do have some fabulous nibbles to get your teeth into.

How about a few veggie pigs in blankets for a tasty nibble? Use Cauldron Foods Lincolnshire sausages.

Would you like a few veggie sausage rolls for pre-dinner canapés? Use Cauldron Foods Cumberland sausages.

Maybe you’d like a platter of tofu tartlets on the dinner table as a starter? Use Cauldron Foods organic tofu.

Include these falafel parcels as a starter on Christmas day and they’ll be sure to go down a treat. Use Cauldron Foods Middle Eastern Falafels.

A recent Christmas food survey was taken with a number of vegans and vegetarians across the UK by Cauldron Foods, and it was voted that Veggie Wellington (25%) was the best and most preferred Christmas Meal. 1000 people voted in total, and coming in at second place the famous Vegan Nut Roast received just 23% of votes and the ever-popular Veggie Pigs in Blankets attained a rather respectable 20% of the vote.

Search online for Cauldron Foods for all above mentioned recipes.

Is Christmas even Christmas if there isn’t a huge cheeseboard waiting to be demolished on Christmas day and Boxing Day? #TeamCoco are all about the festivities this year, and cheese is at the top of our treats list.

Yorkshire based Cryer and Stott are award-winning cheese suppliers, and we are about to delve head first into some of their best selling cheeses.

Cryer and Stott, run by husband and wife team Clare and Richard Holmes, have had an outstandingly successful year on the cheese awards front. At The Great Yorkshire Show in summer they received two gold awards, one silver award, and a bronze award, and if that’s not enough they scooped a bronze award at the British Cheese Awards too. They have also collected three accolades at the World Cheese Awards which took place in Norway this October, including; two gold awards, one silver and one bronze.

Equally they snapped up a Deliciouslyorkshire Taste Award in the form of Best Wholesaler, and a coveted gong at this year’s Elite Business Awards Yorkshire, where Richard took the CEO/Managing Director of the Year Award.

Clare and Richard also showcased their cheese at the Champs-Élysées for the finale of the Tour De France and created a Yorkshire ‘cheese stack’ for the Eve of Tour celebrations. Their Flat Capper Brie was also featured at Royal Ascot!

We have been sent some samples of Cryer and Stott’s award-winning cheeses to try including: Duke of Wellington Blue, Endeavour Flatcapper, and with a little addition of some Yorkshire Chutney and oaty biscuits.

The Duke Of Wellington: This cheese was created for Her Majesty The Queen in 2014 at a celebration hosted at The British Embassy Paris, then was sold exclusively to Embassies across the world. The cheese is 15 weeks matured & has an almost buttery taste, a great introduction to blues.

Endeavour: A double cream cow’s milk cheese, mould ripened & double washed in Masons Yorkshire Tea Gin. The cheese is matured for four weeks. We believe that this is the only cheese in the world to be washed in Gin! The cheese is highly sought after, as there are currently only 10 of these cheeses made every week.

Flat Capper: This melt-in-the-mouth Yorkshire Brie cheese is both seriously rich and deliciously creamy, perfect with oaty biscuits, with or without chutney.

So, if you are looking for some outstanding cheeses for your special Christmas cheeseboard then look no further than Cryer and Stott. Visit the website to find out about cheese hampers, search for Cryer and Stott.

HOC: Who is a member of the NWO? What characterises them?

Freddie: The New Working order is a segment of Gen Z who works with an exploratory, innovative style, using technology (like their phones!) to enhance their creativity and productivity. They express themselves with confidence and style, collaborate with others, engage meaningfully with the world around them, and are motivated by purpose and passion in everything they do. Many of them are also deciding not to work the traditional 9-5 but instead turn their passions into pounds and build custom careers that are bespoke to them. They have a strong self-starter mentality, with over half admitting that they already have a passion project on the side!

HOC: Is this really how we’ll ALL work in the future? What skills do we need to have?

Freddie: It’s definitely a possibility, particularly as technology plays an increasingly important role in all our lives and careers. To be successful in the future, today’s young people will require creative skills, vision, and the ability to be responsive and to act.. To get there though, we need to overcome the current lack of access to technology and funds which is restricting young people from achieving their goals. 62% of Gen Z say that limited access to technology and funds is acting as a barrier to them achieving their potential.

HOC: Tell us about this comp with Huawei, how / where can we enter?

Freddie: I’m really excited to be working with Huawei to give away one of three £10,000 bursaries to mark the launch of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro which will help young creative talent take their passion project to the next level. It could be for a new online course, to record a new podcast series, set up a supper club, sell something online, whatever their passion project may be. To be in with a chance of winning you all you need to do is submit a personal statement of 500 words to huaweinewworkingorder.co.uk by the 10th December.

HOC: You are no strangers to lifting other women up, what’s happening with SHE Unleashed?

Freddie: The SHE Unleashed workshops have taken a step back for a moment as I’ve been doing so much with Big Hair No Care, with pop-ups launching in both Paris and New York. The workshops will be back later next year but I’ve been working on something new and really exciting – my own podcast!

The podcast (launching before the end of the year) ties in nicely to the work I’ve been doing for SHE Unleashed. It will be all about being confident at times of vulnerability and I’ll discuss topics like self love, care, growth, finding confidence, chasing your dreams and creating the life you want. The workshops will be back in the near future but for now, I’m concentrating on bringing you my podcast that you can listen to at any time.

HOC: Let’s be honest, how the hell do you fit it all in?

Freddie: It can be difficult to fit everything in but I manage it well. I think the first part is accepting that everything will continue to move around you – your businesses, relationships and confidence in a new life being a mother.

The real key is a having a strong support system, which I definitely am lucky enough to have. My mother is amazing, as is my husband, Tom. They both look after my son, Hugo, when I’m working at the weekends and on weekdays so I don’t have to worry about him. My friends are also a big part of my support team and I’m never afraid or too proud to ask for their help.

I have a great support team in my working life too and they help me piece everything together – one day I’ll be on a photo shoot and the next, I’ll be coordinating my other projects sat at my desk.

This year has been particularly difficult to fit it all in, I sadly lost my Father and still being new to motherhood can be a challenge. If I’m down, I encourage myself to pull it together and keep going – I read a lot of spiritual books, meditate everyday and have acupuncture. I also make sure I have a couple of slow mornings every week to keep myself in balance.

HOC: And what’s happening with your brand?

Freddie: We’ve had amazing year – we had a three-day pop-up in Paris so it was nice to bring the brand to my home, where I usually hang with my friends. We also launched a pop-up in New York, which had an incredible reception, so much so that we are heading to the US in 2019! It’s incredible to see Big Hair No Care do so well and I feel so proud that I started out as blogger and grew my businesses through social media – the power of technology! I will always remember where I started out but now my long-term goal is to grow my business.

HOC: Do you believe in New Year’s Resolutions / Mantras – and if so, what are yours?

Freddie: I’m not so sure about New Year’s Resolutions as they are bound by the fact you need to change something about yourself. I feel it should be a theme based on your personal growth so I try to have intentions instead. This year it was my intention to find my voice and have the courage to start my own podcast. Next year, it is about being settled in to my projects and focus on creating from a place of confidence and validity.

The New Working Order competition runs from the 27th November and ends on the 10th December. For your chance to win a £10,000 creative bursary or Huawei Mate 20 Pro visit www.huaweinewworkingorder.co.uk by 10th December 2018.

We all know a Book Worm who reads tonnes, make us feel inferior and like we should stop watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S re-runs and pick up a book. Get one up on the Book Worm this Christmas by gifting them one of these top picks thanks to Rachel Wood, founder of Rare Birds Book Club (rarebirdsbookclub.com) .

Better still, sign yourself and your Book Worm Buddy up for Rachel’s online book club, for only £10/ month (1, 3, 6 and 12 month subscriptions available) rarebirdsbookclub.com/subscribe

All book recommendations by Rachel Wood and available to buy at rarebirdsbookclub.com/bookshelf

I’ll Eat When I’m Dead by Barbara Bourland

Get ready to step behind the glossy façade of RAGE Fashion Book, the most powerful magazine in the world. Its editors are competitive, smart, savvy, and polished to perfection – even the one found dead in her office. Cat Ono doesn’t really believe her friend Hillary starved to death. And when a (disturbingly handsome) detective named Mark Hutton turns up at her office asking questions, her suspicions are confirmed. But as Cat launches herself into the investigation and goes undercover, she quickly finds she’s in way in over her head. What starts as wildly entertaining whodunnit filled with glamour, sex, drugs and lies evolves into more. It’s a brilliant satire about women’s work and women’s bodies, which manages to skewer everything from high-fashion to Instagram celebrities with wit and flare. Perfect for fans of the Devil Wears Prada and Valley of the Dolls.

Party Girls Die in Pearls by Plum Sykes

Take the fashion of the eighties and mix it with the historic spires of Oxford, then add posh parties, colourful characters, secrets, rivalries, and the unexplained death of a glamorous socialite to the mix, and we’ve got the makings of a highly entertaining murder mystery. Party Girls Die in Pearls tells the story of wide-eyed country girl Ursula Flowerbutton as she arrives at Oxford University in 1985. She plans for a quiet year studying history. Instead, on the morning of her first tutorial she finds the body of a socialite on a chaise-lounge. Together with her new friend, American heiress Nancy Feingold, the two must piece together the mystery and find the killer living amongst them – all while chasing future Dukes, attending society balls and squeezing in late-night study sessions in the library, of course. This is a whodunnit to enjoy with a glass of bubbly in hand – there’s plenty of over-the-top decadence and intrigue to be had here, and the detailed descriptions of fashion make it all the more fabulous.

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell

Take a creepy, crumbling house in the middle of nowhere, suspicions of witchcraft and a 200-year-old diary, and you have a gothic ghost story so subtly heart-stopping you’ll want to sleep with the lights on. After her husband’s unexpected death, Elsie Bainbridge trades the glittering lights of London for his family estate to see out her pregnancy. Life seems rather dull until the discovery of an unsettling painted wooden figure in a locked room sets off a chain of events that threatens to consume the whole household. It’s as thrilling as it is unexpected.

The Girl in The Tower by Katherine Arden

Medieval Russia in the dead of winter is a dangerous place, especially for a woman. But for Vasya it’s the only option. With the help of her enchanted horse Solovy and a haughty winter demigod, she sets out on a life of adventure living as a boy. Things get even more complicated when she joins forces with the Grand Prince of Moscow to outwit a gang of bandits roaming the countryside. There’s magic, intrigue, superstition, love, loyalty, royalty, betrayal and plenty of atmosphere. It’s a grown-up fairytale that perfectly suits the season.

Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny

Graham and Audra are chalk and cheese. Audra is, to put it mildly, a force of nature; she knows everything about everyone, makes friends wherever she goes, and seems to have a limitless supply of energy. Graham on the other hand, is quiet, ordered – and 15 years Audra’s senior. After a chance encounter brings his ex-wife back into the picture, Graham has never been more aware of their differences. From courting other parents for playdates to the predictable (and unpredictable) ups and downs of marriage, Standard Deviation covers family life with tender wit and heart.

Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong

At a time when she’s meant to have it all figured out, Ruth’s has never felt less together. Her career is at a standstill and her fiance has left her for another woman. When her mother asks her to move back home to help care for her father, a brilliant but difficult history professor who’s recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, she can’t find a reason to say no. What follows is a charming novel about family and how even when things don’t go to plan, life can still surprise and delight you in ways you didn’t expect.

I know, I know. It’s only mid-November. Well, I’m sorry, friends we’re going to talk Christmas.

We’re starting Christmas early here at #TeamCoco because…

  1. Why the hell not?
  2. I want some mulled wine, is that so wrong?
  3. We are pledging to #shopsmall this Christmas and you need to give all those independent makers and shakers some time to create those presents. They unfortunately don’t have the support of Santa’s Elves to magic things to you when you panic on 23rd December that you didn’t buy your Secret Santa and TKMaxx is out of mass produced tatt from China that your recipient will take to a charity shop at their earliest convenience in 2019. If they didn’t leave it while drunk in your office christmas party venue’s ladies loos, that is.

To help you to shop small, we’re compiling gift guides for all those annoying people in your lives who expect gifts.

We start with…The Pet Lover (it can’t just be me who think that sounds like a Tarot card, right?)

HoobyNoo : hoobynoo.co.uk

Us millennials aren’t into kids as much as those that came before us so we are substituting real life babies with fur babies. Which are way cuter(Have you checked out @TeamCocoPup on insta?) and you can leave them with a sitter happily when you want to jet off for some winter sun without being arrested for being a downright awful human.

This Christmas you can treat your best buddy’s pup, kitten or even horse (aside, how RICH is your best friend, do they even need a gift?!) to all manner of so-cute-I’m-going-to-die pet treats like personalised collar tags, name plaques or our favourite, a personalised gift bag from HoobyNoo signed off from ‘Mummy and Daddy’ from £23.

HoobyNoo are an adorable family-run business, based in Kent. There’s a photo of the team on their website (hoobynoo.co.uk) and I’d like you to give them all of your money.

Giftast: giftast.com

Does Fluffy have their own insta and are you sick of photos of them curled up on the sofa posing with their owners? Sorry, you aren’t going to beat them so why not join them with a lovingly crafted pet portrait from Katherine at Giftast.

Katherine works with alcohol markers, coloured pencils and ink pens to ‘create the perfect likeness of your beloved ball of fluff’. Prices start at £30 for an A6 (6x4in) piece.

Outside of humouring pet owners she has a gorgeous range of motivational, hand foiled postcards that say things like ‘I love your face’. Maybe a gift for your friend who wants a pet so bad, but big,bad landlord says no? Head to giftast.com to cheer them up.

Look out for the rest of our ‘The C-Word’ series coming soon and remember, friends, shop small. No-one needs Boots 3 for 2 sets of lotions and potions they will stock pile for years. Also, all that packaging?! As if!

Do you have The Shoe Obsessive in your life? This guide is for them.

Yes, it’s coming! It’s Chriiiistmaaaaas.

To help you absolve your Christmas-related guilt about…

  1. eating all the chocolate decorations before they make it to the tree AND
  2. ‘forgetting’ to What’s App your school friend group when popping home for a few days to eat Christmas dinner and hide from the world

….we’re helping you to get your shopping done early, all the while supporting small, badass, businesses.

This guide is for The Shoe Obsessive…

The Parachute Collective: theparachutecollective.co.uk

We’ve all wasted hours and hours looking for the perfect winter boot. Your friend, The Shoe Obsessive possibly spends a month a year on this hunt. Be their friend forever by investing in a 12 day ‘Bespoke Boot Making’ course with The Parachute Collective in North London, from £1,600. They’ll come away with a pair of boots of their dreams and the mad skills to continue this hobby (and maybe offer to make some for you).

If they aren’t the type to get their hands dirty, you could always commission founder, Thomas, to create a bespoke pair of shoes for them. Head to theparachutecollective.co.uk.

She Walks In Beauty: shewalksinbeautyltd.co.uk

Helen runs ‘She Walks In Beauty’ from cute Leigh-On-Sea with yummy mid-high end ladies shoes by Italian and Spanish designers. Are you drooling already?!

Get your shoe obsessive some unique shoes, that will last so much longer than their nasty cheap ones from Primark and ignite a love in them for well-made items that represent a more ecofriendly choice than disposal fashion. I’m head over heels for these tasty pointed toe pumps, £149.00 shewalksinbeautyltd.co.uk

Keep your eyes peeled for other instalments in our ‘The C-Word’ gift series and if you know an amazing small business we should feature, hit us up on insta!

Do you have A Pet Lover in your life? Head over to this guide to get their Christmas present in the bag.

Remember the madness of hygge? Well some of us just haven’t shaken that desire to dress in muted tone PJs, to clutch an oversized mug filled with diary free hot choc, and to snuggle under one of those ludicrous large knit blankets while flaunting the scene on insta. #LivingMyBestLife – we’re looking at you, Sandra.

Indulge your Hygge Devotee with some consciously made, beautiful items from our #ShopSmall picks. You’re allowed to get something for yourself too – I mean, it is winter, and those knitted booties need to do their life’s work…

LOOA: looa-fabric.com

Lola’s business focuses on lovingly made home and reading items. Why not pair her home storage sleeve with a copy of your favourite House of Coco? In a way, you’ll be saying ‘yes, I do begrudgingly like the sofa set up you story about constantly but you really should get out more.’These pieces are made in London using fine Italian fabric and can be popped onto a bed, chair or hook. Perhaps these sleeves themselves are more worldly and versatile than your mate Sandra? Help her out at looa-fabric.com

Made Weave Love: etsy.com/shop/madeweavelove

Phoebe created Made Weave Love to, in her words, ‘prolong the dreaded return to work after maternity leave’ and we’re glad she did. Her pieces are hugely sought after and sell out quickly when hitting her Etsy shop.

Grab a limited edition or custom snuggly wall hanging for your Hygge Devotee but be prepared to NEVER hear the end of it. Keep your peepers on Phoebe’s insta for the latest drops @madeweavelove.

It’s the festive season which means booze flavoured coffees (Nero’s amaretto latte, hello my friend) and sequins are acceptable items to drink / wear for breakfast al desko. The dark mornings and even darker evenings mean we all need a little help to feel sparkly and not punch that guy for manspreading on the train.

Enter these small biz jewellery picks to gift to The Magpie – or for you, but you’re only permitted to self-gift if you sing the ‘Shiny’ song from Moana while purchasing.

Hep Audrey: hepaudrey.com

Hep Audrey’s tagline is ‘To be your sparkly best’ and with these garnet snowflake earrings, your sparkly best is going to be the Snow Queen, but a nicer version, so – let’s say- Elsa when she thaws out?!

They look so much fancier than the £60 price tag would infer so get some for you and your bestie and make them grovel to you forevermore. Alright, maybe it was the Snow Queen… hepaudrey.com

Kate Gwilliam Embroidery: kategwilliam.com

Okay, you can go home now. Christmas has been won by Kate Gwilliam and her ‘bar’, hand embroidered, christmas decorations.

Kate has been embroidering all her life and completed a textile degree which enabled her to pursue it full time. Her focus is on ‘making embroidery contemporary, fun and a craft/skill/art discipline that people appreciate.’ Her embroidery machine is called Suzy and is about 80 years old. Enough said.

Is there gin involved in the art of embroidery? If so, count us in! kategwilliam.com

Here at House Of Coco we love stories and whenever we travel, we aim to uncover the tales beneath the instagrammable sights we snap. Our love of great stories extends to this Girl Boss series where, over the past few years, we’ve heard from incredible women making their mark and elevating other women around them.

Georgie is a fantastic example of a woman doing both of these things. She’s a true multi-hyphenate working across her own brand, Peony Vintage (peonyvintage.com), supporting other small businesses and also styling for fashion and commercial shoots. This autumn she’s launching her innovative new subscription box which is jammed packed with stories and nostalgia…plus, did we mention?! Her shop is the perfect pink palace in the heart of Margate’s Old Town: book those train tickets now!

HOC: Hey Georgie, so great to meet you! Tell us a bit about Peony Vintage and your journey from opening the business to launching your subscription box?

Georgie: I wanted to turn something I enjoy into something which can be shared for others and Peony Vintage is just that. Peony Vintage is a Margate based vintage brand specialising in women’s original vintage clothing and a carefully curated accessories edit. We are for women who create their own trends and are happy to give a nod to times gone by in their attire. We have grown enormously in two years!

Since opening the physical store in the heart of Margate , online stores have been opened, I’ve exhibited at London fairs and started my own career as a freelance stylist for costume and fashion, which is amazing. I’ve also design and make vintage inspired acrylic jewellery which is available in store and online. The subscription box has come from a place of loving good old fashioned post. It’s a nostalgic thing to receive love letters so why can’t we send them to ourselves with original vintage treats inside?

HOC: Couldn’t agree more! It’s so nice to receive post that isn’t from the tax man…. There are so many subscription boxes on the market at the moment. What does yours offer that we can’t get elsewhere?

Georgie: I haven’t seen any subscription boxes that are in the UK and deliver quality original vintage and retro inspired accessories so this is where mine comes in! This box delivers a nostalgic nod and bundle of smiles every month, with so much detail in the literature inside too.

All items have been personally sourced and handpicked by me and packaged up for lovely souls to open. Pieces range from original hairpins to handmade necklaces, earrings, screen printed totes and belts.Some pieces of my own jewellery range are also included. It’s only £19.99 per month, with some boxes having a retail value of £40. It’s one box per month and each dedicated to one particular era.

As it stands, this is only a 4 month subscription at the moment so can be gifted and also won’t feel like a lifetime gym membership for those subscribers that do fancy treating themselves. One box per month is dedicated to one particular era.

HOC: Wow. Sounds like so much work has gone into these and we love the sneak peeks of the inserts in this photo above! What makes vintage so important to you?

Georgie: Vintage is so important for style, fashion and reducing waste! People underestimate the impact fast and throwaway fashion can have and by buying true vintage clothing you not only know it’s been made to last, or made in a time where things were valued more, but you know it’s not been made in a sweatshop.

You won’t walk down the street in the same item as someone else, and it won’t be something you then are told by various media sources or shop windows that that item has ‘gone out of fashion’. With vintage you create your own trends, your own style, your own you.

HOC: Who is the ideal Peony Vintage customer?

Georgie: Ummm…I guess someone who is open to try new things or OLD things. No pun intended! Haha.

HOC: You clearly have a wealth of knowledge about vintage style. If someone wanted to learn more about vintage clothing and style how would you recommend them getting stuck in?

Georgie: For me, I’ve more or less grown up around vintage clothing as I was around a lot of musical theatre when I was younger. Shows like Sunset Boulevard and Phantom of the Opera have really inspired me and my outlook on fashion. Influences and knowledge can come from all different sources: for instance, I love Mad Men and I listen to Fleetwood Mac. Inspiration is all around us but as for one recommendation, I’d say get a book called ‘The Vintage Fashion Sourcebook’ : this was my bible when I first started.

HOC: And finally, can you tell us about a recent ‘Girl Boss moment’ you’ve had?

Georgie: To be honest, any time someone tells me the shop is beautiful or I make a sale is a ‘Girl Boss’ moment for me. When someone comes in and doesn’t buy anything but says how much they love the store this means just as much to me. It means my vision makes people happy. I love watching people smile about the past or hear a squeal of joy from the changing room when they try something on that makes them feel beautiful.

The Peony Vintage Subscription Box launches in September with the 1930s box and a few remaining boxes are available for pre-order now!

The subscription lasts for 4 months so is the perfect treat at £19.99 a month with a value of up to £40 per box. Each box is designed and hand packed to bring life to a specific era of the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. Each month is a surprise with at least 2 original vintage items and a retro inspired piece of jewellery designed and handmade by Georgie, complete with fun facts.

To snap up your box head to peonyvintage.com/subscription-box

If you are looking for a solid kick up your butt this week, our chat with Emma McIlroy is sure to deliver that in a swift and exacting manner.From starting a sorely needed brand, Wildfang (wildfang.com) , through her inspirational TedX talk on being a ‘yeah, maybe’ hustler, Emma is the person we need in our lives when things are getting a bit stagnant or complacent.

We spoke to her about the growing political stance of Wildfang, the unique collaborative environment of Portland, where she and the brand are based, and plans to continue the WildFang takeover.

HOC: Hey Emma! The well-documented story of the origins of WildFang place it as an epiphany you and your best friend Julia had while pondering why men’s style clothing wasn’t readily available for women. At the time you were working full-time at Nike – how did that set you up for entrepreneurship?

Emma: It’s really interesting as it was Julia’s idea and in that moment I thought, I can’t leave Nike but if you want to build this – I’ll help, I can work in your store at the weekends! I grew up in a small town in Northern Ireland and my dad was a retailer in that town. I saw how hard that is and that the level of service people expect is so high – you disappoint one person and that news goes right down the street! So I’d never wanted to do retail for this reason. However, the more research we did the more we realised it had mass appeal. While I was trying not to go into retail, the idea for WildFang had real merit!

At the time, I was working at Nike – which taught me both a lot and nothing! In terms of what I did learn a lot about, Nike is incredibly consumer-centric – every department is obsessed with the consumer! I worked on the Nike + products, which – as a new digital product- meant that everything went wrong. I remember a runner writing to the VP of the running department with a complaint and that VP took time out of his holiday to write a 4 page response. That really set the tone for me about how the consumer fits into the picture. Now, with WildFang, if we fuck up, I get right on the channels and apologise and we also listen, some of the best new ideas to come into our business have come from single consumers and a great idea they have.

So when it comes to knowing nothing… I thought I was really good at something as a Global Brand Manager at such an established brand. With that comes established doors of opportunity and a existing community to network with. I had a total John Snow moment when starting out with Wildfang – it was such a different proposition and I knew nothing!

HOC: And since then, the brand has evolved so much, recently raising $250k for RAICES charity through the sale of your “I really care, do u?” jacket in response to Melania Trump back in June this year. You say yourself that the brand took a different turn in 2016 and became more political, can you tell us about that?

Emma: Sure, it was really after the election that I realised we needed to use WildFang for good and make a positive impact. On the night of the election, I’ll be frank, I didn’t know if this company had a future. We’re a bunch of brand marketeers so we throw one hell of an event and we had 600 people at our election party [Editor’s note: ready to celebrate the first female president]. As you can imagine, it turned into the saddest party ever thrown with a room full of people crying who were utterly devastated.

I wondered if our brand and the target market we had in mind was all wrong and if we were way off the beat of what people wanted for this to happen. The next morning we held a team meeting to see how my team was feeling – everyone shared a feeling of complete despair, but for varying reasons – some of my team were worried about their rights to abortion care, a trans-man in our team was concerned about whether he had rights at all, another woman was terrified of what losing Obama care could mean for her and the mental-health medication she needed to live her life.

For the next 3 days we didn’t share anything commercial online – on newsletters of our channels. This wouldn’t be such a big deal for a large corporate but as we literally keep an eye on every dollar coming in, not sending out emails like our new arrivals one that comes out every Wednesday was a big deal. But we didn’t think it was right to push products until people had had a chance to find themselves again after the news. I wrote a letter via newsletter to our fans to share that we were also devastated and that they were welcome to contact us via social, email, phone – that we were there to listen.

Those 3 days were the our biggest 3 days of the year. I went from thinking ‘Oh fuck, did we choose a target market that doesn’t exist?!” to THIS!

HOC: That’s incredible, tell us a bit about the team you have around you at Wildfang?

Emma: My team work so hard and believe me I would pay them all the money in the world if I could, but we pay a totally normal salary. The reason they come to work everyday is that they believe they are genuinely helping women’s lives. We give tonnes of money back to charity and every level of Wildfang believes in what we are doing – it’s not just talk, we all live and breathe it.

I have to think about the decisions we make as a brand as a decision I make can affect my team. For instance, I wanted to run an IndieGoGo campaign to support the Sioux Falls Planned Parenthood Clinic in South Dakota where one of the options was to fund someone’s abortion. Obviously, that’s controversial but I’m pretty courageous as a queer, immigrant women!

I knew this would affect my team. It’s one thing if someone comes and threatens me at my house, but what if someone came into a store and threatened my staff? I brought my team together and explained what I wanted to do and gave them the opportunity to email me if they weren’t comfortable with it. Instead I got emails saying ‘let’s fucking do it!’. I don’t have 10 levels of marketing team so we can make decisions based on what feels right in our gut. Sometimes this means we make mistakes and we handle those mistakes with integrity.

HOC: How do you find the right people for your team?

Emma: Hiring has got to be the hardest part of my job. As we grow, it’s easier to understand the skill set we need but cultural and attitude fit is much harder. The best people have both hustle and personal accountability. Joining a start-up is hard and isn’t right for 99.9% of people. I don’t mean it to be judgemental but it’s not the place for most people!

We collect resumes as we go and recruit from our own networks. It’s also crucial that our team love the brand – that in itself tends to attract the right people.

HOC: You are based in Portland, how has the city shaped WildFang?

Emma: Wildfang would have looked very different in another city. Portland made Wildfang and shaped our brand values. It’s a very positive, can-do city and there’s a cheeky, quirky spirit to Portland; it doesn’t want to be LA or NY.

Collaborative spirit is an overused term and can come across pretty soft. But for us, here in Portland, collaboration isn’t about money or “doing good”. It’s about making a great product. We built our retail store here on a super tight budget, working with 12 artisan craftsmen and women. They all came together and decided that they would help us build it and worked on the part of the store they were most positive about.

We work on all kinds of weird and wonderful collabs with other Portland brands: last year we made a beer where everyone who worked on it was a woman, which is that industry is pretty impossible [Editor’s Note: see v12 of House of Coco for more on this] and a wine in a can with Underwood where 100% of the profits went to Planned Parenthood.

We’re not getting in a room and singing Kumbaya – we’re all obsessed with making a great product.

HOC: There seems to be more and more brands getting on board with political messaging, what are your thoughts on this?

Emma: You’re right, people say to us that they’ve seen the ‘Wild Feminist’ space explode since 2015 and hey, you know what, as long as they are walking the talk – considerate of body type, ethnicity, gender etc –they are welcome to the club, there’s nothing wrong with that. I’d love nothing more than people coming into the space.

I do get pissed off when we get copied by people without values, places like Forever21 have completely ripped us off in the past. We own the trademark for ‘Wild Feminist’ but lots of things aren’t copywritable.

HOC: We’re inspired by your story so far and look forward to what comes next. What’s happening for Wildfang for the rest of 2018?

Emma: We opened our second brick and mortar store in NYC earlier this year at 252 Lafayette alongside Maison Kitsuné, Scotch & Soda and Supreme. It was 5 years coming so is hugely exciting for the brand. We also launched our workwear collection this year so expect to see more from that…

With that, with dial off our nearing 1 hour conversation with the awesome Emma, fired up to step up, lean in and be more conscious consumers. How often can you say a fashion brand has had that affect on you?

Find out more about Wildfang at wildfang.com and explore more of Portland’s creative landscape at TravelPortland.com