Words I never imagined coming out of my mouth in a million years: my clothing line is launching on HSN! I never imagined saying this because as a girl growing up in Kansas, fashion was something only people in New York City did. I never imagined it because even as I found myself with a successful career in the fashion industry, I never dreamed of having a clothing line. Instead… I came about this partnership from being invested in and passionate for the cause.
In 2015, I traveled to Haiti with Rebuild Globally and fell head over heels with ethically made fashion. Seeing how clothing is made, and the way it does (or doesn’t) positively impact the lives of people who make it, changed me. In 2018, I joined the board of directors of Samaritan Village, a residential recovery program for women survivors of sex trafficking. Seeing the way this specific form of abuse rips into the hearts and souls of women in particularly cruel ways will stay with me forever.
Have you ever looked back on the path of your life and can see how it was leading you somewhere but you had no clue at the time? EDEN & IVY is the perfect culmination of these two paths in my life because our clothing line is (1) ethically made and (2) by women survivors of trafficking in Nepal. Empowering survivors with jobs that provide them with autonomy and dignity speaks to me on so many levels, but what really lit the match was hearing that there’s a waiting list at the factory of more than 300 survivors who still need jobs. So just a few months after we (me + my co-founder, Katie Martinez of Elegantees) put out our first collection, we applied for (and were picked up by!) the Home Shopping Network. Spark, gasoline. That’s what a little passion can do - the waiting list is already getting smaller thanks to this first purchase order from HSN!
This announcement was originally scheduled for March - our original launch date was April. But then COVID happened, which means some of our clothing is still (as of today) in Nepal, unable to ship out. In difficult times, our underserved populations are at risk of becoming even more underserved, and it is especially so with women who are victims of trafficking. So it is with great passion for both the women who make EDEN & IVY and underserved populations everywhere that we push forward with gusto, even during this difficult time.
The styles pictured below are available on HSN.com right now, and more are coming to both of our websites soon. You can watch me on-air starting July 2, and to hear more about our “road to HSN,” head to our Instagram and start with the first post.
I’m forever indebted to you for being a part of this blog now and over the past 10 years. In so many ways, this clothing line is for you, inspired by you and made possible by you. I’ll be sharing lots of fun EDEN & IVY posts over the coming weeks. Ultimately, our greatest hope is to empower you with styles that you love to wear, while also empowering the women who make EDEN & IVY. What could be more beautiful?
- xoxo, J.
Top: Eden & Ivy - coming soon!
Jeans: Levi’s, $35
Shoes: Jane.com, $28 (similar, similar)
Purse: TJ Maxx, $32
Headband: Amazon, $7
