How Teenage Fashion Entrepreneur Hanalei Swan Is Turning Women into Conscious Mermaids
By Hélène
In recent years, countless influencers have raised their voice on the topic of conscious fashion, and while it is slowly but surely becoming the new normal, the ripple effect they have on their audience sets new standards for an ever-evolving world.
Vegan celebrities pull off their piñatex leather bags, jet setters flex in their hemp tee labels, and Instagram fit girls swear by nothing but leggings recycled from plastic bottles. It’s called fashion activism, protest fashion, slow fashion, mindful consumerism, "modivism" [okay, I made that one up]. In conclusion, it’s everywhere.
Hanalei Swan, a 13 years-young fashion designer, artist, author, international speaker, has understood this necessity a long time ago:
“When I came to Bali, I quickly noticed the plastic on the beach and the mountains of piled, random trash, she says. Nothing like any of the other countries I’d visited. After a quick search, I found out about fast fashion, the chemicals in textile dyes, the hundreds of gallons of water necessary to produce a cotton t-shirt - 750 to be exact - and the outsourcing to 3rd world countries of the workforce just about my age.”
Hanalei’s jacket collection is made out of bamboo.
The harsh reality is that fashion is the second leading cause of pollution after oil. It is every designer’s responsibility to make their clothing sustainable. “I know I do,” Hanalei adds.
But few little girls pass the stage of notebook doodling and turn their sketches into 6-figure businesses.
The young designer brainstorming for her new collection for the #weareslow campaign.
Aside from being a tool for conscious change by choosing brands that stand for our values and ethics, fashion has another secret weapon that goes beyond the causes we care about.
It is also a way to elevate ourselves, to embody new personas. To empower ourselves.
Just like mermaids stepping out of a shell, Hanalei Swan witnessed her first customers step out of the changing rooms transformed:
“I was born in a family of entrepreneurs, so I always asked myself: Who do I want to be now? instead of “Who do I want to be when I grow up.
What excited me the most since I was 10 was to style my mum and friends when we would go shopping, and bring out their inner beauty. I was intrigued by the fabrics, the colors, and geometric shapes... I found it interesting how someone could instantly feel more beautiful by simply changing outfits. They would sometimes be nervous before putting on an item that felt like 'too much', and come out of the changing room dripping gold.
I started my company with $20 borrowed from my parents to buy thread and fabrics. With which I sold for $300 worth of key chains. Fast forward, as I took the clothing design process seriously, I ended up hiring employees.
Once I got the first model to try on my designs, they’d look like princesses, coming out of a Disney movie or cosplay characters, revealing new facets of themselves, or embodying different persons, depending on how they'd use the clothes, and I knew that was it.”
Hanalei recalls.
The teen-entrepreneur shows one of her models how to pose for the camera.
“Do you remember 'Monster highs'? That was my first inspiration, she laughs. I was drawing monster customers, to begin with. And then transitioned from that to mermaid-like glamour. like the combination of flowy and airy silk with the strength and toughness of chains. It represents the balance in life.”
On the topic of the COVID pandemic, she shares how she had to pivot her company.
“I didn’t want to let go of my employees and created what people needed: face masks. I partnered with sea dragon studios to create colors and designs to express yourself even when you cannot show a smile. Eco-friendly fabrics, functional and good for the earth with bright colors, and fun designs.”
As often with successful entrepreneurs, their creativity emerged from a noticeable turning point. And Hanalei has not always been this extravert.
“I spent a lot of my childhood creating online videos and sharing my travels and thoughts. And I got bullied for it. A lot. One day, some kids replayed videos of me crying like a baby on the school projector, and all the classmates would laugh. Looking back, this motivated me to choose my happiness over the validation of others."
Swan concludes,
"I get to choose who I want to be and what I want to do. I dealt with not feeling confident in who I was and how I looked. And as I’ve overcome that, I want to inspire other young women to feel strong and powerful in who they truly are and love their reflection in the mirror.”
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In most cases, you can throw on your safety gear, plan a route into the wilderness, and set off to locations unknown, and in most cases, be back in time for tea!