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Amrita: in 2008, the Syrian refugee crisis was all over the news. They were talking about the challenges of, women resettling in the United States. And it spoke to me because I feel, growing up back in India, this is what the women in my family did. Like in the evenings they would all get together. and Hand embroider

 Jasmine: welcome to Make Good Fashion, the podcast that's all about starting, launching, and growing impactful fashion brands. I'm your host, Jasmine Rennie.

Hey guys. I am so excited about [00:01:00] my interview today with Amrita Thadani founder of Neo Coco. Neo Coco is a social impact fashion company that empowers refugee women through community femininity and hand embroidery. Before Neo Coco Amrita graduated from the Parson School of Design, the new school, and worked as a fashion stylist for 15 years.

Neo Coco has been featured in all kinds of publications like Los Angeles Times refinery 29, and most recently NBC, California Live. I love what Amrita does so much and how she's able to provide jobs for these refugee women and everything that she does. And I believe that you're gonna learn so much from her story, and hopefully it empowers you to make change through the things you create too.

So let's get into the interview with Amrita Thadani.

Jasmine: Hi, Amrita, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. I so appreciate you.

Amrita: Hey Jasmine, thanks for having me. I'm excited.

Jasmine: Yes. Okay, so it's so funny cause [00:02:00] I feel like we've known each other for a couple years now, but I've never heard the story of how you started your brand. So I'm really interested in knowing how did this start?

Like, take me from the beginning, how you got started, your background, all of that.

Amrita: So I grew up in India, you know, and I moved to the United States in 2008. That was the time I got married, and I moved here with my husband. I started study at Parsons at the time the School of Design in New York.

But while I was in India, I was working as a costume designer on films traveling a lot for work, you know, and I, I grew up. You know, learning all these different techniques and hand embroidery being exposed to weavers and nonprofit organizations that were, you know, working with small scale businesses weaving, doing really specialized skills in certain kinds of embroidery that were very specific [00:03:00] to that region in India.

 While I was traveling for work and when I moved here to the US and started studying, you know, I was it was so different for me. It was also new, you know, it was this gush of Western influence and I really enjoyed it because Parsons was such a diverse school, you know, and there were kids from all over the world.

And it was interesting to see how everyone, what everyone's take on fashion was. You know, and how everyone dressed up. But at the same time, you know, it was difficult for me to like, kind of like push those boundaries. I was just so new to the place, getting to know everyone, getting to understand, you know even in terms of education, you know, submitting projects you know, getting used to move, working faster, you know having deadlines and things like that.

So it was all very new to me. [00:04:00] And while I was learning all of that in 2008, the Syrian refugee crisis was all over the news. You know, people were talking about resettling families, they were talking about the challenges of, you know, women resettling in the United States. And it kind of like spoke to me because I feel, you know, growing up back in India, this is what the women in my family did.

You know, like in the evenings they would all get together. And that was their time. You know, they would hand embroider and they would spend quality time with each other. You know, talking about what they did during the day, you know the challenges of being a, a woman in the house, you know, like bringing up a household and things like that.

And I just felt that there, it, it felt more like a solution to the problem. And I was, you know, I felt connected to them and. I just said to myself like, okay, I'm going through this, you know, [00:05:00] whole cultural shift in my life, you know, and what I was missing, you know, like back home, all the women and my family, and here I was, you know, there were women from all these different countries coming to the United States facing their own challenges, and it just felt like a solution to me.

Where I felt, you know, I could be of some help and I just wanted to dig more. So I started reaching out to different resettlement agencies, local churches, and it, a lot was going on in my life at that time. I even had a my daughter at the time. So everything was moving really slowly. You know, I was graduating Parsons at the time as well, so it was a slow process.

It took me years, you know, we moved from New York to Los Angeles. So it was many, many years in the making, you know, but it was something that was constantly on my mind. And when I moved to Los Angeles, you know, I started working with [00:06:00] another stylist. In the time, in the meantime and on weekends, I would, you know, reach out to different agencies.

And local churches and, you know, just find out, you know, where these women were, like what they were doing. And a lot of them lived in low income housing. They were single moms, you know, they were members from the L G B T Q community. You know, a lot of women that had left their families and had to move here or were separated from their families and husbands.

And now suddenly they found themselves being, you know, the breadwinners of their families. So I got a small group together and we, you know, started talking to them, figuring out what their needs were and yeah, like culturally, you know, like most of them knew how to hand embroider. It was something that they were familiar with.

They, you know, just like the women in my house, you know, they grew up doing it you know, enjoying hand embroidery and. Weaving and [00:07:00] crushing with the women and their families back home. And we just put a few designs together, you know, and we started showing them around to people and the people really enjoyed them.

And we, and at that moment I realized we had something going on there.

Jasmine: That's amazing. Yeah. Your designs are beautiful and I've always wondered where, why specifically you guys chose hand embroidered t-shirts, but it seems like this was something that they were already skilled in.

Amrita: Yeah, and we didn't want, you know, the challenge was coming to the United States and finding you know, trying to learn something new that they were not familiar with.

You know, whether it was learning the language or learning how to drive, you know, culturally just trying to fit in and. You know, trying to find a job that they had never heard of or were not familiar with, you know, and they kind of just drifted more towards loping, not, I wouldn't say loping jobs, but [00:08:00] jobs, you know, where that they were not used to doing, like cleaning or dish washing and, you know, jobs like that, which a lot of the women were, they had never, you know, like I don't know.

It was just a challenge for them. So this worked out well, you know, and I think it also gave them the flexibility to work from home, which was a huge part for for me, you know, and in conversations that we would have with them, we realized that it was, most of the women had little kids that, you know, were still not going to school.

You know, they were still at home, so they wanted, and they were looking out for a job. That could give them that flexibility to stay at home, you know, not drive. So this worked out well for them.

Jasmine: So how did that work? How did you arrange that? Did you speak to these agencies and arrange something so that they would be able to work that way?

Amrita: So we work [00:09:00] individually with each of the women. Mm-hmm. You know, understanding what challenges they are going through and being specific to them. We don't work typically, like most business models do.

You know, we have a few extra steps to the process. We, but we do figure out the logistics of the pickup and the drop offs of the t-shirts. You know, there's some agencies that we work with where they may be More women that are still under case workers. And then we have a space where they can all come in there, you know, so we go in there once a week.

For example, one of the organizations we work with here in Los Angeles, we have a weekly workshop. So every Monday, you know, I go in, the women come in every Monday, and that's where we do the pick up and the drop offs. You know, we do the quality control. Everything happens during that workshop.

Jasmine: I love that so much.

Yeah. So tell me where you found the inspiration for the designs that these women are creating.

Amrita: It was from the women themselves, you know, from their stories and.[00:10:00] As we started meeting them, there was this common thread, you know, in all their stories, you know, where growing up they were just never encouraged to work. You know, they were and a lot of the women, you know, they wanted to do something with their lives, you know, and that's how hand embroidery was something that they leaned towards, you know, anything that was artistic they, they would, that's something that they.

Did in their free time, you know, and I know a lot of the women also didn't study after a certain grade, you know, maybe sixth grade. And that was it. You know, some of them went to university and that was it. And when I spoke to them, like that was the most special. Time in their lives, you know, growing up and studying and being involved in community and, you know, having those dreams and aspirations as well.

But they were just never encouraged to work. So I feel the female artwork[00:11:00] the female form came about, you know, as we were learning these stories. About all the women and understanding that there was this underlying, you know, suppression that was in everyone. It was like a common thread. So we kind of like used that and I wanted the, the artwork to be powerful in a way where, You know, it was hand embroidered.

It was the female form, and it meant something, you know, I mean, I, we could have hand embroidered anything like flowers or lilies and butterflies. Like, it could, could have been anything. But, you know, I just wanted the the people to look at the t-shirt, you know, feel something and, you know, have a conversation around it.

And I didn't think at the time that it would be a conversation starter, but there were so many people that bought our T-shirts and our biggest sales are through referrals, you know, because. People see the t-shirts, they ask people where they got it from. You know, they wanna have a [00:12:00] conversation around it.

They, they talk about, you know, the artwork on the t-shirt, the hand embroidery aspect of it, and then it just trickles down to like, who made it and, you know, their story. So I think there's something really wonderful that has formed through the artwork and, you know, the story itself. So yeah, I mean, That's what I love about it.

Jasmine: Yeah. I think that's what I love about purpose-based businesses in general is that not only are you buying a product, but you're, you're buying into this mission and buying into these women's stories and empowering them and helping something greater than yourself. So I can see how that's possible that people are speaking about what you're doing and spreading the word.

Yeah. Cause it's such a powerful story.

Amrita: Yeah. And we've had a lot of people ask us, you know, don't they feel offended when they're, you know, embroidering this artwork? Mm-hmm. And seriously, [00:13:00] Jasmine, like, never have I heard it from these women. You know? Never. Yeah. Like, I've never had a single woman in our team.

They actually look at it and they're like, this is beautiful. You know, some, it connects with them. Mm-hmm. And. I, I feel like, you know, there's still so much, you know, shaming in, you know, like the female form and when people see it, and we do so many, you and me like together, you know, we've done so many live events where we are doing markets together.

You know, you get to see people's reactions when they see the products. And some people love it and some people are just not having it, you know? And that's okay. Yeah, it's not for everyone. Right?

Jasmine: Yeah. But you've also expanded recently, so I see that you're doing, you've kind of expanded out of the t-shirts and you're also doing home goods.

You're doing children's toys and all these different things, which is really cool. Cuz you're expanding your offering to a new customer. So how did you get the idea for these newer items?[00:14:00]

Amrita: Yeah, I mean, hand embroidery is something, you know, a a lot of the women know, but we also. Started working with women who knew how to crochet, knew how to weave, you know, and knew how to know how to knit.

So we wanna use those skills, you know, they, they have them, you know, they're excited to make these products and we wanna use them so, It, it, it was just a very, not a natural transition. It happened very organically. You know, we started making samples if it was something that turned out well and, you know, looked good and we knew that there was a market for it, you know, we introduced it to the public as well.

Yeah.

Jasmine: Yeah. Okay. So I love this beautiful story side of the business, but I wanna get into the back end because even when we have these, you know, powerful stories and these missions, running a business is hard, right? Yes. We go into it very optimistic and very just [00:15:00] like hopeful about what it can be.

But I think sometimes we don't always hear the reality of just how difficult it is and how challenging it can, challenging it can be as well. So I wanna know, has this been what you expected and like what are some difficult things you've faced so far running your business?

Amrita: yeah. I mean, you know, how do you sustain this?

Right? It's and the reason why we are so slow with it, you know, we, we take it we, I, I feel is because also figuring out the logistics, you know, in terms of. Okay. We are helping these women, you know, trying to figure out drop-offs and pickups and trying to get them, you know, meeting with them in specific place spaces, but how long can we do this?

You know, so that's like the backend of it, which is figuring out all the logistics and the quality control. You know, and the more women that we help, you know, we would be expanding to. Different cities [00:16:00] like New York, you know if anywhere where these agencies are working with communities of resettling families.

So how do we do that? You know, so we, it's, it's challenging, but I feel like with the small core group of women that we've been working with since the last three years, you know, we've come to a point now where, you know, the women. Have gained enough confidence and experience in traveling to a space so we can, you know, typically like, potentially think of, you know, renting a space where everyone can come to work.

That would be amazing because, you know, that would be the space where we can work on multiple products at a time. And yeah, like the, you know, the business side of it is how do we get the products out there? You know, how do we get more eyeballs on the work that we are doing? So we are constantly looking at, you know, collaborations, like trying to do [00:17:00] markets, you know, increase our sales.

It's, it, it is challenging. I mean, it's a lot, but I feel that I'm happy with the pace that we are at, you know, and I would rather go slow than, you know, like dive into something that I'm not Not, not familiar with, but, you know, I'm willing to take like risks. But, you know, as a small business, obviously they are more calculated risks.

Yeah. But it, it is a very challenging, you know business to be in. But I feel so passionate about the mission and what we have achieved so far that, you know, we are just taking it one, one day at a time. Yeah.

Jasmine: Yeah. And that brings me to my next question. What has been something that you have been most proud of that you guys have been able to accomplish in this time?

Amrita: I think it's the women in our team. You know, just getting them to a point. And the fact that, you know, we started with two or three women and now we [00:18:00] have six full-time employees that are working with us, you know, and we. Have these collaborations and partnerships with some of the biggest resettling a agencies in the world, like the International Rescue Committee, you know, program for torture victims, which is one of the agencies that we work very closely here with in Los Angeles.

The, you know, we've, we've gotten to a point where we have these partnerships with them where, There if there's a new arrival in the country, you know, like they will pick up the phone and they'll call us. You know, because they understand that we are that company which will provide this platform for, you know, any woman that's looking to start working and being financially independent.

So I think that makes me really proud. And if we are tied up with, you know, a couple of the biggest agencies, I think That partnership is extremely valuable for us.

Jasmine: Absolutely. [00:19:00] Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah. And so for someone who wants to start a business and wants to partner with refugees, what would be the first step?

Like where would they go first? Do they contact these agencies first? Where do they find them? Like where would be the starting point?

Amrita: Yeah, I mean, when I, you know, when I started similarly like, you know, I started online. I just went online and started looking at, you know, the process of how these families were coming into the United States and started contacting resettling agencies, even local churches, you know, they do a fabulous job.

They're obviously, you know, really small and. You know, they do the best to their capacity, but there are a lot of local churches doing amazing work. Yeah.

Jasmine: Awesome. Okay, and so what is coming up next for Neo Coco? Like, what do you guys have in the works? What are your visions? Like? What do you see [00:20:00] happening?

Amrita: We've got a couple of interesting things happening, but I, I cannot talk about it just yet. Oh. But, you know, they are partnerships with agencies that, you know, we've been working closely with. But yeah, I mean, just expanding our product line and, you know, like making sure that the women in our team, you know, are growing, you know, and are.

You know, on the part to being financially independent, like that's our biggest you know, mission. We wanna make sure that we can, you know, like potentially like hire more women and expand our product line as well. We are gonna try and be consistent with what we are doing right now. You know, there's, it, it's a lot going on, but I.

I like the fact that, you know, it's, I, I I love keeping it small and steady. Yeah.

Jasmine: Yeah. That's important. Manageable. Yeah. Yeah. And you, you guys are retail direct to consumer [00:21:00] right now, right? Yes. Do you do any wholesale. No, we don't. Okay. Yeah. Oh, is, is that something that you guys are looking into in the future, or do you wanna keep it direct to consumer?

Amrita: You know, I, I've been thinking about it and I know we've had this conversation mm-hmm. Before, but I wanna keep it direct to consumer. The, the business model that we have, you know, and considering, you know, the fair wages and the fact that it's made here locally in Los Angeles, our profit mar margins are not that high.

You know, so we wanna just keep it direct to consumer. You know, we want people to buy directly from us and understand, you know the breakdown of the product and the value that it is having on the women in our team and on this really small team that we have created. And yeah, we, we wanna keep it that way.

Jasmine: That makes so much sense too, because I feel like. With such a powerful story. Sometimes when you start wholesaling, that can get lost in translation. Yeah. So you [00:22:00] can't really manage and tell the story the way that you'd like to. And so yeah, that makes sense because you can kind of Yeah. You know, keep the integrity of the brand as you guys control it from Yeah.

You know, your own space.

Amrita: Yeah, I mean right now the focus is really to just get as many people to our website as much as possible. You know, because we want people to come on our website. We want them to, you know, go through, meet all the women on, you know, everyone's stories are there for people to read.

So we want them to go through that. We want 'em to meet the makers of the products on our website, you know, and I feel it's such a powerful tool that. You know, we have that I, I really, I, I think like direct to consumer is the best way for us to go right now.

Jasmine: Yeah. Yeah. And so I'm curious about what ways you guys do that storytelling.

I remember one time. At one of the live events that I saw you guys at, you had the [00:23:00] makers live at the event, which I thought was so cool. Yeah. Embroidering right on the spot. So what are some other ways, and if you wanna talk a little bit about that too that you tell that story.

Amrita: Yeah. You know, I'm also really trying to tackle with social media.

It's, it, you know, a tool that I feel that we've not really. We are not really using it to the best of our ability and I wanna like, you know, learn more and get there. But at the same time, you're right. Like when we do these live events, you know, I, it's such a great way to introduce the makers of the products to people and.

The couple of times that we have done that, you know, and then Covid happened, so we've not had these markets for a long time, but it's it's, it's a great way for them as well, you know, for, because when they see people buying the products that they've made, You know, it just gives them so much joy and so much pride in the work that they've been doing because otherwise, again, [00:24:00] like you said before, you know, it just kind of gets lost in translation.

They, they make it and then they don't know where the product's going. So this is a great way for them to like see it and then for people to connect with them, you know? And I've had so many people that would come to our booth and really welcome them. You know, they'd be like, like, welcome. Like, we are so happy to have you here.

You know? And like for them, they feel like they're contributing, like they're being. Part of, you know, a community, like they feel so accepted. Like it's such a wonderful feeling. It's brought, it's, they've in a lot of tears at events. You know, when we've done that, it's, it's just such a,

Jasmine: I'm like wanting to cry right now.

Amrita: Yeah. It's such a wonderful moment and it gets really emotional, you know, sometimes, and. You know, sometimes people just come in there to like really hear their story, you know, and to welcome them and be like, Hey, listen, like, you know we are so happy that you're part of this team and you know that you found your place and really like, [00:25:00] thank you for doing this world.

So it's really incredible and I love that about. And that is one of the ways, but you know, yes. Like we are constantly looking for, you know, press. We, we just got, we were on N B NBC. California live yesterday, which was incredible.

Jasmine: Wow. That's amazing.

Amrita: Yeah. So that was like a good three hour three minute segment.

Three hour I wish. Yeah. Three minute segment which was amazing. So things like that, you know, it's so we are reaching out to people, you know, sometimes people reach out to us. So any kind of outreach, you know, as many eyeballs on the work that we are doing is incredible.

Jasmine: Yes. People need to know about this.

Yeah. Okay. So I have a question for you regarding advice that you have for people who are looking to get in this field, who are looking to get in fashion and don't say, don't get in fashion, but what would you, what advice would you give someone starting [00:26:00] today? Because I know things were probably different when you started your brand.

Things change all the time. So what would be some advice you would give someone starting a Yeah. Purpose-driven brand today?

Amrita: If it's a purpose-driven brand, you really have to be passionate about it. You know, there's so many you're gonna fail and fall so many times, you know, and being able to like pick yourself up and just.

Go with it, you know, learn from your mistakes. But yeah, like really you have to be passionate about it. It's something that, you know, I think of all the time, you know, I'm like constantly thinking of the women in my team. You know, I'm constantly thinking of like, you know, what products we can create.

Like what is it, you know, speaking with them and really understanding like what are the skills? Because a lot of times, you know, the women, they ha they know how to make. Other products besides just hand embroidery. They know other techniques as well, but a lot of times, like they [00:27:00] don't recognize it themselves.

You know, it's like I have to bring the materials to them, show them, and they're like, oh, I can do that. You know, it's easy. It's, it's things like that, like really understanding them and being passionate about it, you know, and trying to push like each individual to, you know, beyond what they can do and be like, Hey, like, would, would you like to try this?

Like, really being like part of it and being involved and being truly passionate about it. And you are gonna fail like so many times, you know? But being able to like get up and be like, no, I just have to keep doing and look at that fall as, you know, a lesson, learning lesson and just move on. Yeah.

It's a long game. It's a marathon. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon.

Jasmine: I absolutely agree about just needing to be passionate about it. Yeah. Because like you said, it is a marathon. A lot of things. There's a lot of challenges that you're [00:28:00] gonna face, but if you truly believe in what you're doing and Yeah, I think with you, you know, you have a greater mission even than yourself.

You have jobs that you're providing to other people and to, you know, these women who need it. And so, You know, that keeps you going. And I think if you have something that you're passionate about, then you will be relentless in it. It can't be just about making money, you know? I just Yeah, just for yourself.

 Yeah. Especially a

Amrita: purpose-driven mm-hmm. Brand. Yeah. Yeah. You have to be passionate about the purpose, about the mission. Definitely.

Jasmine: Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. So if someone wanted to get involved in what you're doing in any capacity, where can they find you and how can they get involved?

Amrita: So our website neo coco.com, you know, our Instagram is Neo coco underscore collective. Yeah, these are the two platforms that we typically use but our website definitely is the best place to reach out to us.[00:29:00]

Jasmine: Amazing. We will definitely head over there after this interview.

Love what you're doing. Thank you so much for being on. Thank you, Jasmine. I loved hearing your story and I just feel like so much more connected to the brand mission.

Amrita: I know we've met so many times, but I feel like this is the longest time that we've spoken.

Jasmine: I know all. Why don't I know all this, but yes, thank you so much.

Amrita: Thank you, Jasmine. Thank you.

Jasmine: Thanks for tuning in to make good fashion. I hope you found this episode helpful and inspiring as you build your fashion business. Please be sure to subscribe to our podcast, and if you enjoyed this episode, leave a review. Remember that building an impactful fashion business takes time and effort, but it's so worth it.

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