Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Le.
Hi Hannah, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Growing up, I watched my mom sew a lot. She does alterations for a living, and she taught me how to sew by hand when I was maybe four or five years old. Fashion design was actually the first “real-person job” I remember wanting as a kid.
As I helped her start her own alterations business in Tomball, TX, which involved picking the name, building the website, and planning the grand opening as a 13-year-old, I discovered the world of entrepreneurship and the opportunities that opened up.
I pursued a degree in marketing and new product development at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where a lot of my studies and curiosities surrounded product design, social impact, and mission-driven startups. After all, as someone who watched her parents start from nothing but continue striving to reach their dreams and giving back to those who needed it, I had no excuse not to want to help others. And the design side? Well, that was just fun.
This idea of being given too much in this lifetime to do anything less than what I’m capable of is what my life revolves around. We’ve all been given so much potential whether we feel that way or not, and choosing to do something with it is where progress comes from.
I started an online publication about startups that were saving the world, proving to readers that their jobs could be so much more meaningful and impactful on those they cared about, but I paused that endeavor for one reason: the public expectation.
All of a sudden, readers were looking up to me to tell them what was ethical and what wasn’t. What eco-friendly things they should buy and shouldn’t buy. How to find meaning in their own lives when their jobs sucked. I didn’t want to be qualified to do that.
It was too much of an expectation for me to be 100% “good” all the time. Because sometimes I didn’t want to be “good.” I just wanted to live.
I started missing the subtly-inappropriate clothing brand I had in college that paid the bills and had fun designs that really weren’t “meaningful” at all, but remembered I stopped working on it because it became meaningless for me.
These thoughts are what started my current business, RE.STATEMENT, not too long ago. The moral dichotomy between good and not-so-good, or impact vs. design, is what makes RE.STATEMENT feel the most on-brand for me. It’s the online marketplace for upcycled clothing that makes you stand out while supporting repurposed, sustainable design and small businesses.
The value in unique clothing that starts conversations and gives you the opportunity to express your ideas is limitless in itself, whether you’re trying to be a “good” eco-conscious consumer or not. However, the best two components of unique clothing are…
1. Rare fabrics, which can be found from used or secondhand fashion
2. And original design, which is done by small businesses and independent designers
When you have new, distinct clothing made from used or unwanted materials and support small businesses for the unique style they provide, you’re inherently doing good for the world from a sustainability perspective while still getting extra value from the clothing you purchase. RE.STATEMENT is my latest gateway that allows you to do good for the world because you have no reason not to.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think every day is a challenge when it comes to building RE.STATEMENT, but it’s what keeps it interesting. I always like to think, what’s good is never easy, and what’s easy is never good.
However, the day-to-day challenges feel like nothing compared to my fear of quitting.
Many have the fear of failure, but I realized in all my past business endeavors, I’ve never failed; I just quit way too early. Whether it was because I was bored, hit a road bump, or found other opportunities, I would always say “I don’t fail; I quit.”
Granted the idea of quitting could itself be a type of failure, bailing was something I was too comfortable doing. It’s part of why I push myself to take more risks with RE.STATEMENT and make decisions that are quick and bold, almost as if I am tempting the universe to say, “do it, watch me fail then, and see what happens.”
Part of it is about giving me the growth from learning how to be okay with failure, but another part is…what if I don’t fail?
I remember on the last day of my favorite class at Penn, the professor wanted to leave us with one key takeaway in entrepreneurship (and in life): “sometimes you’ve just got to be around long enough for something good to happen to you.”
My classmates didn’t like the passiveness that came from that idea, but that quote drives a lot of my entrepreneurship adventures recently, really optimizing for opportunities and serendipity.
So all the struggles or obstacles that I’m headed towards? Send them. I don’t want to miss out on failing anymore.
As you know, we’re big fans of RE.STATEMENT. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
RE.STATEMENT is the online marketplace for unique, upcycled clothing. This is new clothing created from used or unwanted materials by small businesses or independent designers.
Whether you care about looking good, sustainability, or both, RE.STATEMENT offers clothing that you have never seen before and will for sure make you stand out.
It puts your voice in the room before you even say a single word, and it starts conversations about the ideas worth sharing. After all, they’ve already wanted to talk to you; they just needed an excuse to do so.
What sets us apart from other marketplaces that eco-conscious shoppers and trendsetters like, such as Etsy or Poshmark, is that we sell clothing that you actually like without wasting too much of your time to find, as our exclusive partnerships with small businesses and designers are driven by the specific demand for original clothing that can only be created out of textiles that otherwise would’ve been discarded.
After all, these designers’ work shouldn’t be on page 18 of Etsy, they shouldn’t need to focus on getting Instagram followers, and they don’t deserve to be listed in the same place as a thrift or secondhand clothing only to end up in the trash. With RE.STATEMENT, their designs are put right in front of people who care about their mission and want to support small businesses.
I always try not to over explain RE.STATEMENT, and instead would rather let good design speak for itself. Let me know what you think after you see it here! https://shoprestatement.com
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
I think humans are fascinating, and I love to read about anthropology and behavioral economics because it supplements my curiosity of them. When it comes to skills or qualities someone needs to run their own business, I think empathy and understanding are crucial to my success.
With that being said, the one characteristic that will excel RE.STATEMENT is the next level of empathy and understanding: showing people what they want before they even realize they want it.
This is a skill that requires such a deep understanding of others and a mind that can innovate what it is they are truly looking for because they may not even realize it yet.
You may think you know what your style is when you shop for clothes, but the coolest people are the most adventurous ones, so they’re not even going to know what it is they want until it’s right in front of them.
Because RE.STATEMENT is a newer marketplace that is driven by high demand and a carefully engineered microeconomy, we have to be smart about listening to what our early adopters say they are looking for and draw conclusions that provide the right level of customer satisfaction but also a variety that may delight them.
There’s a quote that goes around saying “if Henry Ford had asked someone what they wanted, they would’ve said a faster horse,” not being able to imagine what a car would look like. Because fashion design is limitless, there is so much that people haven’t seen yet that they would love once it’s right in front of them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://shoprestatement.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/re.statement
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@re.statement
