By Megan Valle 

If you’re looking to spice up your graphic tee collection, you might want to check out the new UK brand House of Alice. Their first drop launches on January 29th. 

British Fashion Buyer Alice Thornton, 31, founded House of Alice during the UK’s COVID-19 lockdown. 

“Coronavirus hit and I was unfortunately made redundant,”

Thornton said.

“I've always wanted to start my own brand. So, I thought now is the right time.” 

House of Alice, HOA, specializes in sustainable, 90s inspired t-shirts for the modern woman. Thornton hopes to bring graphic tees to the forefront of people’s wardrobes, especially when most people in the UK are working from home. 

“It's wearable, it's for the time, you can wear it during the pandemic around the house,” she said.

You can style it up, it's really versatile. The point of it is to bring a graphic tee into your wardrobe that you can style with anything and it just looks amazing.” 

The first drop is a t-shirt with the letter A covered in daisies to symbolize the brand’s launch. They’re priced at £35, roughly $48. 

Thornton has been a fashion lover her whole life. She knew at just 13-years-old she wanted to be a fashion buyer. 

A fashion buyer typically works for department stores, wholesale distributors, or small retail stores. They’re responsible for selecting and purchasing clothes from designers, manufacturers, and wholesalers for retail. 

After getting her fashion degree in London, Thornton joined the industry as a Buyer’s Assistant at Harrods, a luxury department store in England. She then moved on to join a fashion startup in 2018 where she stayed until she decided to create HOA.

Thornton was inspired by the brand Réalisation Par to create her city girl on the go, vintage style tees.

“Someone who wears my tees is that kind of girl where she's just like walking around town on the Paris streets or the London streets,”

she said.

“The kind of city girl who's working, but she's not got loads of money.” 

Thornton also envisions her customer to have a considered approach to their fashion choices and is decisive in their actions. She’s “a woman who wants to have a positive impact on the world.”

Thornton's experience as a fashion buyer made her extremely aware of consumers' appetite for sustainability.

“People are now asking you questions, they're wanting sustainable crafts,” Thornton said.

“They're wanting more transparency in the supply chain. And also, me personally, I am interested in it. I buy sustainably.”

HOA’s t-shirts are made from 100% organic cotton, the dyes are all water-based, and the packaging is made of recycled materials.  

“Everything is completely sustainable and recycled,” she said.

“Even down to the things I don’t have like a swing tag or a back neck label. The label is printed on the back, so you don’t need to have a label tag. It’s just unnecessary.” 

HOA’s pre-order model also intends to create zero waste. Each t-shirt is available online for a limited time. Thornton plans to have a new drop every month. So, if you miss the first drop, you don’t have to wait too long for the second. 

The next drop will feature more colors and the following drops will present new designs. 

“They’ll be like cool graphic tees, oversized, possibly a bit of collegiate vibes from America like old school,” she said. “I've got loads of stuff coming inspired by old school logos.”

Every aspect of HOA is done locally. Thornton has a UK-based designer, web developer, photographer, models, and suppliers. She ships locally to avoid any air travel and while she hopes to expand her team in the future, she plans to remain a local, online business. 

“The fashion industry over here is moving into a new direction which has been accelerated because of COVID-19,”

she said.

Online shopping has boomed during COVID-19 as many retailers were forced to close both temporarily and permanently. The Office for National Statistics October 2020 retail sales publication reported: “online sales reaching higher than usual levels over the course of the pandemic”.

Online purchases represented 28.5 percent of total sales in October, about a 7 percent increase from February 2020.

Thornton says as people move to online shopping, the desire to support small brands has increased. 

“Now, I think people are looking for something different and something new,” she said. “I think we’re that brand that when you find it you think, oh okay cool, I found a brand where I can get really cool, unique tees.” 

Thornton is excited to finally launch her brand after months of preparation and planning. Most importantly, she’s ready for people to enjoy what she’s worked so hard to create. 

“As a buyer, I always loved seeing someone actually wearing something I helped design and bought,”

she said.

“I have that same feeling. Seeing someone wear it and seeing people like what I made, that’s an amazing feeling. I’m really excited.”  

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