Shannon is 28, was born in Waikari and lives in Christchurch City. She is the Creative Director / Founder of OUT OF COMFORT a young clothing brand striving to create a space of creativity, substance, authenticity and ultimately finding your comfort against the grain!
Her favourite colour/s are 50% Green 50% Purple her favourite cafe is C4 and her favourite city in the world is a tie between New York and London (it was too hard to decide).
We interviewed Shannon because she is an awesome human and wanted to hear more about her journey.
What does a day in the life of Shannon look like?
Every day is so different... generally -
5am - gym
7:30am - Admin - emails and checking in with the plan for the day,
8/9am - In Studio (Salt Lane Studios!) - COFFEE - then most days I am working on production or current orders for a solid 5hrs, checking in with machinists, cutters, my wonderful intern Mya, meetings, ordering fabrics etc.
Then I will always spend the rest of the day working on the current collection either designing or working with my patternmaker developing new pieces, fabric sourcing etc.
Working on collaborations and side projects are always mixed in there as well!
I'm a night owl - So I don't mind a late night session in the studio every now and then!
Shannon at Salt Lane Studios (this photo and the header photo was taken by Charlie Rose Creative)
Tell me about your childhood...
A country kid at heart, grew up between North Canterbury and Arthur's Pass. My mum lived in Arthur’s Pass and my grandparents in Hanmer Springs.
I was lucky and very grateful to be able to experience the outdoors from a young age and grow up in such beautiful places.
I grew up in a very creative family, both parents and grandparents were very much into - hands on creative projects and jobs.
How did you get into fashion design?
I spent a lot of time with my grandparents growing up. My Nanna is a seamstress so I naturally gravitated towards her and her creativity. I eventually annoyed her enough for her to start teaching me at the age of 5. She planted the seed and I never looked back.
The idea of creating my own product was really exciting and rewarding to me! I was always really fidgety as a kid and could hardly ever sit still, so doing something productive and creative was a really great thing for me!
Do you have any advice for people who are worried to embrace their inner style?
GO FOR IT!!!! I think that, if we are only given this one life to live, it's more than worth doing what makes you truly happy!! Your style is a representation of who you are, whether it is pared back and simple or a little more extravagant - DO YOU! no matter what, you owe that to yourself.
JUST BE YOU - ALWAYS!
Like Dr Seuss once said - “those who mind, don't matter and those who matter don't mind”
What would people be surprised to know about you?
I have heard before - “I didn't know you could snowboard!”
I LOVE the snow - and being on the mountain is one of my favourite places to be!
Without a doubt I’ll have a Season Pass every year, if I'm not in the studio I'm most likely going to be up the mountain! (in winter of course)
What was the happiest moment of your life?
So many special moments to name just one, but one that will always stand out from the rest was working on my first collection with my nanny and presenting the entire collection together at my - Label Launch Party in 2017. It was a full circle moment - from sewing my first pair of pyjamas with her at the age of 6 to creating an entire range and presenting it together was insanely special and a moment I will never forget.
Who/what inspires you?
People who are doing what they genuinely love every day inspires me, seeing their hard work, the struggle, the drive and ambition to get up every day and do what they love is super inspiring to me...
Also living in London and New York made me realise how much I love people watching, sitting in a cafe for a few hours, watching the world go by, seeing something different every day, how total strangers put outfits together is cool!
Film and music is always a good emotional trigger and can kickstart some big ideas!
If you could have one superpower what would it be?
To be able to cure Cancer.
What does beauty mean to you?
I don't want to sound cliche but I do believe that Beauty is within… beauty is love, beauty is honesty, beauty is friendship, beauty is the person you are inside...
You could be the most beautiful person in the world, but if you have a trash personality, you really aren't winning.
Thank you so much, Shannon! You are doing such cool stuff and we can't wait to see what's next for you and Out of Comfort.
