iDesign Lab
Welcome to the iDesign Lab a Podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design hosted by Tiffany Woolley an Interior Designer, a style enthusiast along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott. A place where they explore the rich and vibrant world of interior design and it’s constant evolution in style. iDesign Lab is your ultimate Interior design podcast where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and it’s constant evolution in style and trends. iDesign lab provides industry insight, discussing the latest trends, styles and everything in between to better help you style your life through advice from trend setters, designers, influences, fabricators and manufacturers as well as personal stories that inspire, motivate and excite. Join us on this elevated, informative and lively journey into the world of all things Design. For more information about iDesign Lab and Tiffany & Scott Woolley visit the website at www.twinteriors.com/podcast.
iDesign Lab
From Belts to Brand: Hadley Pollet's Journey of Ethical Design
How does a moment of personal tragedy transform into a thriving 20-year fashion legacy? For Hadley Pollet, it began with a simple belt made from vintage trims wrapped around a buckle—a design that caught the eye of five strangers at a Boston brewery who all asked the same question: "Where did you get that belt?"
That serendipitous moment sparked the beginning of an accessories brand built on the radical notion that fashion should be personal, not disposable. With no formal fashion education but armed with innate creative talent and business savvy gained from publishing and PR careers, Hadley found herself at a crossroads after 9/11 claimed the life of her mother's husband. This profound loss became the catalyst for reinvention, pushing her to embrace design as both creative outlet and healing process.
What sets the Hadley Pollet brand apart isn't just its vibrant colors or distinctive jacquard designs, but its deep commitment to ethical production and female empowerment. Hadley personally visits every factory partner, ensuring they're locally owned (preferably by women) and that female workers receive equal pay to men—sometimes having frank conversations with male owners about wage equity. This matriarchal business model extends to an artisan training program that teaches craftspeople in developing regions how to cross-pollinate techniques and reach global markets.
While many designers chase department store distribution, Hadley deliberately shuns these channels, criticizing them for "building their business on the backs of creatives." Instead, she partners with small boutiques that create meaningful shopping experiences and understand the brand's unique value. As she explains, "There's too much sameness in the world"—a philosophy that's kept her brand vibrant while others struggle with unsold inventory and identity crises.
Ready to discover accessories that speak to your authentic self? Explore the colorful world of Hadley Pollet and join a community of women who understand that true style comes from expressing who you really are, not following what everyone else is wearing.
Learn more at:
https://twinteriors.com/podcast/
https://scottwoolley.com
This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design. Curator of interiors, furnishings and lifestyles. Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, an interior designer and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott, idesign Lab is your ultimate design podcast where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and its constant evolution in style and trends. Idesign Lab provides industry insight, discussing the latest trends, styles and everything in between to better help you style your life, through advice from trendsetters, designers, influencers, innovators, fabricators and manufacturers, as well as personal stories that inspire, motivate and excite. And join us on this elevated, informative and lively journey into the world of all things design. On today's episode of the iDesign Lab podcast, we welcome Hadley Pollitt, designer, entrepreneur and creative force redefining what fashion can be. With roots at Ariasd and a fierce commitment to ethical design, hadley's work blends bold artistry, sustainability and a deep belief that fashion should be personal, not disposable.
Tiffany Woolley:Welcome to the iDesign Lab podcast. A creative director and created her own namesake brand and has a very fascinating story on, you know, creating some things beautiful, so welcome.
Hadley Pollet:Thank you for having me.
Scott Woolley:So tell us a little about yourself. You reside in New York.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, I reside outside New York. Yes, I started my company actually in Boston, but it really it really. I grew up in Connecticut so it really does have. It has a little bit of an East Coast vibe.
Tiffany Woolley:I would say it does have very much an East Coast vibe. Yeah, old money, my kids would call it.
Hadley Pollet:Oh, that's, very kind of them. Yeah, I mean.
Scott Woolley:Did you jump into fashion like immediately? Did you go to college for it? I didn't.
Hadley Pollet:I went to college for English and American literature.
Voice Over:Okay, and.
Hadley Pollet:I started in publishing at Little Brown Publishers. I'm a very hard worker, so I interned at Little Brown. I went to NYU and I worked 20 hours a week and took my classes for three years. So by the time I was done with school I had a job. I had a job three weeks before I was done with school.
Scott Woolley:In publishing. In publishing.
Hadley Pollet:Then I moved into. I worked for Mullen, which is now, I think, what Mullen Loan Partners. I worked for Mullen, which is now, I think, what Mullen Lohan Partners, in advertising for companies like mine. For specifically, yeah, a textile company called Malden Mills and they make or at the time they made upholstery, high-end jacquard fabrics, upholstery fabrics and then polar tech, and my job was to support 222 brands because they're an ingredient brand, so I supported everybody from dkny to patagonia very cool.
Scott Woolley:Yeah, 220 brands, it's a lot of brands.
Tiffany Woolley:Yes, and it's a fascinating insight into a business that wasn't what you were doing, right like it's kind of kind of a backdoor entry.
Hadley Pollet:It is a backdoor entry. So the ceo wife, though she's now passed away, her name is Louise Fierstein. She had a high-end specialty jacquard division and I would take her on press tours and we became very close.
Scott Woolley:When you say jacquard, jacquard, like jacquard textiles, okay, yeah.
Hadley Pollet:It's a woven textile. So, actually on our belts are made of jack thin jacquards. Okay. So I would always spend extra time with her picking yarn colors and I mean they did not know this at Mullen, but I I loved her studio, I loved picking all the yarns and, you know, learning how all the textiles were made, and that possibly could be because my family was in textiles okay in the Barrington, rhode Island area, long before everything moved south.
Hadley Pollet:So you know, I think it's in my blood. Yeah, um, but yeah, and then I went to a startup and then I started my company but what made you decide to go out on your own?
Scott Woolley:well, let's see I was there someone that you know you were inspired by someone. That was something that happened I?
Hadley Pollet:yes, well, I was taking one class at rhode island school of design yeah, that's right and 9-11 happened and during that time I did have two public relations clients. But I really felt I was frustrated because the clients, you know they didn't get top right corner or they were.
Hadley Pollet:you know people always complain about, you know where their placement is way back when in the press and stuff and I thought how did I just go back to this after working at this startup and now I've got these clients again and I'm tired of this? Right and I was taking this design course and 9-11 happened and my mom's third husband that's another story, but anyway, who's really her first love died and I was on the phone with her Because of 9-11?
Scott Woolley:Yeah, really, he was in the second tower to be hit.
Hadley Pollet:The first time he was on the 90, I think 92nd floor and the plane came in at 91 wow yeah, and she was on the phone with me. So I saw one tower burning on tv and I called her where's john? She was clicked over to him and the plane came at him and he said Jesus Christ on the phone and bam.
Scott Woolley:So she was on the phone with him when it happened.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, and then it just the phone went dead and she happened to be in Rhode Island. She had just moved to New Jersey from Connecticut because they had just gotten married. Wow, and she happened to be in Rhode Island, near me.
Hadley Pollet:And so you know cause they shut all the bridges, bridges down I never would have been able to get to her but so we went and picked her up and she came straight to my, my place in boston and at the time I really hated what I was doing. Something like that has an effect over you of Totally.
Tiffany Woolley:It's so fast, Of course. What a profound change immediately.
Hadley Pollet:Just I'm doing the wrong thing. You only live once.
Scott Woolley:Right.
Hadley Pollet:You know, let's go. And my teacher had said to me at Rhode Island School of Design she had taken me aside. She worked for brands like Anne Klein so long ago, but you know brands that we all know. And she had said to me I've never had a student like you. You have a look, you have a feel, you understand branding you have to do this, you know and you have to do this hadley, like I'm just telling you. If you're thinking about doing this, I want you to do this so what is doing this?
Scott Woolley:so you have to start this business and what was the idea behind the business that when you started it?
Hadley Pollet:well, my line, this is so funny. So we were designing a line of clothing and I was kind of annoyed because everybody wanted to do, you know, ball gowns and I was like, well, that's so boring, you know. So I'm going to do modular. I'm going to do a modular pregnancy line. Oh, that is a riot. And I had decided that, you know, I had never been pregnant. I decided that you could wear a belt. You know that you could wear a belt up high. So I decided that I was going to use all these trims and buttons and buckles and things and you could unzip the bottom of your pants and change them so you wouldn't have to buy a new pair of pants to go out for dinner and you could.
Hadley Pollet:It's very now, actually was really ahead of its time. We're working on some modular pieces now, but, um, yeah, so I that's what I decided and and I wore a piece of trim around a buckle, literally wrapped. I mean it was not sewn out to dinner. One night with some friends in Boston we were at a brewery and we were just waiting for somebody's birthday party, waiting to sit down, and five people in line said where did you get that belt? And I, I, just I looked at them and I said how much will you pay for the belt?
Tiffany Woolley:Yeah, that was so like you had. You had an aha moment in a way, probably right then and there I did. Like this is where we're leading.
Hadley Pollet:This is my yeah, so then I involved my mom.
Scott Woolley:Uh-huh.
Hadley Pollet:So you know that was a way to take her mind off the grief. I mean, the grief was just overwhelming for her. I can't imagine so yeah.
Tiffany Woolley:So then we started with vintage trims and buckles, and did you go and play with them in stores and collect and get inspired? How did you even know where to begin to look for collecting the vintage pieces?
Hadley Pollet:Sorry to interrupt you. My roommate's now mother-in-law founded Vera Bradley, okay. So she said you know, founded Vera Bradley. Okay. So she said you know you have carte blanche. She was very kind. What a great, like you know.
Tiffany Woolley:Very matriarchal and very kind.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, so any questions?
Tiffany Woolley:we had.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, we just asked and also people told me, like you can go to this trim store in New York or you can, the trim store told me where to get the buckles Right and it just started to. It lined up very quickly with the belts.
Scott Woolley:So were you making these yourself? I had a factory, you had a factory, yeah.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, I had a really small factory in Boston making them Woman run Really, yeah, from day one.
Tiffany Woolley:And was that sourced through the Vera Badly? Connection that was somebody, somebody, you were just totally led into. Wow. So that's like heaven sent, yes.
Scott Woolley:So now you're making belts, and then how are you getting in front of consumers?
Hadley Pollet:Well, I went to my two favorite stores in. Boston, where I was a good customer.
Scott Woolley:What stores are those?
Tiffany Woolley:I went to college in Boston.
Scott Woolley:Oh, you did, it's one of her favorite cities I love it there.
Hadley Pollet:I went to Wish. Okay, and what was the other one? Eye of the Needle. Eye of the Needle, that's another Palm Beach too. Yeah, yeah, and they bought. I had a little basket that was like this hand-painted basket with a little lid on it.
Tiffany Woolley:And I would open it up and show them my belts.
Hadley Pollet:And a friend of mine from New Canaan founded Wish, so she was very sweet and ordered right away, but they sold out In two days. They each bought like a dozen belts and the belts just went really fast. And so then they started ordering substantial amounts, and in advance, you know right, and they were part of a network of buyers or they knew other buyers in North Carolina, in Florida, so they started referring me to other places and you know I got myself into 50 stores within like three months, that is amazing yeah, I mean that's like a pretty big start.
Tiffany Woolley:Could you fulfill all these orders right away? Or did you ever get to that stressful time of like we've come with new collections and we need new prints and we need new always?
Hadley Pollet:um well, one of the girls at Eye of the Needle worked for Nanette Lepore oh my goodness, All these really cool brands.
Tiffany Woolley:Like you had a lot of amazing connections which I guess the Northeast kind of they're all there, they're all there, yeah, the.
Hadley Pollet:Northeast is really beautiful that way. But she was looking for a job in fashion and I said to her well, how much do they pay you here? So I paid her $2 more an hour and said come, you know, you can still work here. I, you know, I can't give you full time right now. So she started with me. Her name is Natalie. I still. I adore her still.
Scott Woolley:What did she? What was she doing? What would you bring on for so?
Hadley Pollet:she was. She bring on, for she was a designer for Nanette Lepore that had just moved to Boston, so she really, I mean then she knew where to get the trims made. So we started designing the trims and I was going through, I had, you know, a one-minute marriage I would call it was a mistake and I sold my wedding ring. To help finance To fund the first big slew of orders. That's amazing. I did Amazing.
Scott Woolley:I took the ring back to Shreve. Crumpin' Low and said, oh, that's funny, but you're just doing belts at this point.
Hadley Pollet:I was just doing belts and then I was on the beach on Martha's Vineyard my family has a place there with my cousins and my cousin's friend said to me you need to meet this woman, cynthia O'Connor. You need to meet her. I mean, she's going to die over this. My friend works for her. I'm on the beach and I really do believe in if you're aligning yourself Well for sure, if you're in places, you love doing things, you love things unfold for you this whole story has been a story of unfolding, I mean even the one-minute marriage.
Tiffany Woolley:I mean right, like it was all part of this process of becoming.
Hadley Pollet:It really was. And so she called me on Monday and said okay, here's my friend's number at Cynthia and they showed Cynthia. I had a website which a lot of people, a lot of the stores, did not like. I did not care. I knew that was the feedback.
Scott Woolley:Because you were selling on the website. Is that why? Yeah, I understand why.
Hadley Pollet:In 2003,. Right, they're so mad, right that you have a website. And I said well, that's too bad, you're going to have a website soon too. So Cynthia went to my website and she faxed me a contract before we even talked.
Tiffany Woolley:She just called me and said we're faxing a contract right now. I have to have you in my showroom. Well, she, she's the woman that really exploded Kate Spade's sales. So you've really been able to design the life you wanted with the brand you created by literally trusting the process.
Hadley Pollet:Yes, you just leap, you took a leap, you just leap, you always leap success.
Tiffany Woolley:Yes, you just leap. You just took a leap. You just leap, you always leap. I, we have my husband, I have this conversation. You can't overthink it. You take a jump.
Hadley Pollet:You want to move, you just move so this is the early 2000s.
Scott Woolley:At what point do you start getting into other items?
Hadley Pollet:well, cynthia, cynthia, um, she's now retired. And you said c O'Connor, o'connor, yeah.
Scott Woolley:Because I knew O'Connor's and Martha's Vineyard. They own the big inn. Is this the same oh?
Hadley Pollet:no, no, she was in Manhattan.
Tiffany Woolley:Okay, good fashion.
Hadley Pollet:So she I think it was five weeks before a trade show in January called me and said I'm putting you at because she would have like a whole row at the trade show and that's where a lot of the buyers would come first. And to start I had a little closet of a booth, smaller than you know than where we're sitting right here.
Scott Woolley:Right, right Just belts.
Hadley Pollet:And she said to me I'm putting you at the front of the row, You're the feature. You need to do bags. I had five weeks to create bags.
Hadley Pollet:And design them. Yeah, it was crazy. And she said I know you can do it. So I was in New York City in negative six degree weather designing bags and I did. I came up with a whole bag line in six weeks, begging them, begging every of the manufacturers. You have to make these samples for me, please. I know, I know, I know I'm not a big brand for you, but I will be. I promise you, I'll give you the business. Cynthia will sell it. You know this is going to be really great and they knew who she was so that helped.
Hadley Pollet:So we got into bags very quickly. I mean, I wouldn't, I wouldn't say they were the best bags. What?
Scott Woolley:type of bags were they?
Hadley Pollet:They were. So the canvas tote bags were amazing and our canvas tote bags are still great. And those were inter. Do you want me to pick that up? Those were interwoven trims and very sturdy. They didn't have any leather. Now we have a leather detail on them.
Tiffany Woolley:But then we also did laser-cut leather over canvas, which we have laser-cut belts and other laser-cut your clutch that I gave you is laser-cut and I do like just how the line has stayed somewhat true to, like the Jacquard, Like you're incorporating the original designs into the newer products, Like it's staying on tone.
Hadley Pollet:Yes, Thank you. Yeah, that's very important. We've had some challenges with the jacquards for a little while because a lot of the manufacturers were starting to use polyester and I was like cheap, cheap, no no, no. We don't do polyester and now it's funny, they're coming around and realizing they can't sell polyester in Europe. You know, there are all these regulations coming back saying, no, you can't sell plastic.
Tiffany Woolley:Right.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, so I really stuck to my guns on that one and I've been kind of a pain to to some of them that I work with only a true designer.
Tiffany Woolley:Yeah, like that you can't get in the way of that creative process, right? You hold true to what you, your vision is yeah, and you have a.
Hadley Pollet:We have a certain quality that we really stick to and, from consumer perspective, there's also a dialogue that we like to create, a secret dialogue with our consumers so that two-finger clutch.
Hadley Pollet:only Tiffany will know that when she slides her hand in there, that there's the trim that she has on one of our belts Right, she can feel the texture and just. We design our bags ergonomically. We really think about the proportion of a woman's arm, how it's going to look on them, how it's going to feel. Is this something that is going to become part of her?
Voice Over:or is it?
Hadley Pollet:something that she's going to really just want to throw down when she gets where she's going. Yeah.
Scott Woolley:But you now do bags where people can kind of create their bag.
Hadley Pollet:Well, yes, yes, we do so going to the website you can select different options.
Tiffany Woolley:It's a new personalization process? I guess right.
Hadley Pollet:Yes, and we did try the Personalize your Own Belt back in 2005, and it was ahead of its time, but I think Well, I think websites weren't where they are today, so that might have been. It was Flash.
Scott Woolley:Oh.
Hadley Pollet:If you know what that is yeah, yeah, yes. Yeah, so we have the Make your Own Bag section, and it really speaks to the characteristic of our brand, which is that we want you to be you.
Hadley Pollet:That's your philosophy, your founding philosophy Authenticity is the highest vibe. Yeah, we all know that. That means you love yourself. So it is a form of love and so we want you to be you, we want you to see yourself in our products. So, you know, we do have stores in Vermont and stores in California and different stores around the world that carry our product, where women might be bohemian or you know it could be bohemian or preppy, and the belts really do take on that vibe.
Tiffany Woolley:You can style them in your own style.
Hadley Pollet:Yes, and that's the point. So you really feel like we're uplifting you and our products are uplifting you and raising your vibe and making you feel unique. And right now, there's too much sameness in the world. Too much. What Sameness?
Scott Woolley:Yes and right now there's too much sameness in the world too much.
Tiffany Woolley:What sameness? Yes. So when I was like researching for the podcast and I, you know, realized that was such a strong philosophy with you and my business, I had recently a conversation with a person in real estate that we do some work with and we were talking about like, with all this fast fashion and this cookie cutter, because we were talking about it in homes, for example, and obviously what I do in interior design and the way you're doing in fashion design, you know you're wanting it to be unique and obviously speak to an end user. And in this and I was saying how my, how my kids, like they don't even think you wear something twice. You know what I mean.
Tiffany Woolley:They're like well, and I was like years ago people would collect forever to create their wardrobe. You don't just clean out your closet. I mean, it was like you collected. And I hope and we do talk about this a lot, it comes up in our podcast of kind of going back to some of these old fashion ideals. Even we we had somebody who you know was in the jewelry bit like going back again, not just this fast fashion, and really start to build a wardrobe again. You know, collect pieces.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, I, we, we do. We have women that collect our belts and our bags and I've had. I had a really close friend of mine I knew her mother since I was little and her mother passed away and she had no idea. She went into her mother's closet and she said Hallie, she has like 30 of your belts. I mean, I knew she loved your belts, but you know, that must have felt so good it was really, yeah, that was really touching to me.
Hadley Pollet:Um sorry, um, but yeah. So that's definitely the intent behind the products that we create is that they last a long time.
Tiffany Woolley:They're timeless in their time. Aesthetic they really are, I definitely. And I, in their ageless, like any child, I mean literally from a teenager to any generation is somebody that could. I mean on the golf course. I mean you can pull it to your own vibe.
Scott Woolley:But your line is more than just belts and bags. You have other items.
Hadley Pollet:Yes.
Scott Woolley:Tell us about the other items that you have.
Hadley Pollet:So we've expanded. So I love yoga, okay, and so we have athletic wear now.
Tiffany Woolley:Which is a huge thing in the world we live in now this athleisure generation yeah.
Hadley Pollet:Well, I would never do sweatpants.
Tiffany Woolley:Right, good for you. I'm all for that. I'm on team athleisure, but no sweatpants.
Hadley Pollet:I'm with Karl Lagerfeld on that one you need to rethink your life if you're wearing sweats. Yes, I agree, but we do do these really really bright, vibrant, you know bra tops and crop tops and leggings, and they have inspirational sayings on the inside to the conversation, about creating a conversation with our customers. So when you put them on it might say shine bright today or you are loved, or whatever, on the inside band of your yoga pants or bra top.
Tiffany Woolley:I love that. So what is your efforts to get the line out to the rest of the world? I mean, is it through stores, brick and mortar, is it through social media, or is it?
Scott Woolley:online.
Hadley Pollet:It's all of the above. All of the above, yeah.
Scott Woolley:I read somewhere that I don't know if this is correct or not, but like some of the big department stores you've kind of shunned away from.
Hadley Pollet:I have.
Scott Woolley:Tell us why.
Hadley Pollet:Because they're selling the same thing every year over and over again to the same group of people. And whatever I can find there, I can find on Timu.
Scott Woolley:Which I think makes your brand much more unique.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, Also, there's some difficulties with the department stores right now.
Tiffany Woolley:You know, I mean you're right, they're kind of on their way out.
Hadley Pollet:Actually Saks is not paying people yeah. And they were a big partner of ours, but I you know they're not paying anybody and as a designer and a creative, I feel that creatives should be protected, not taken advantage of.
Hadley Pollet:That's so important and those stores have been taking advantage of creatives. They've been building their business on the backs of creatives, not paying them on time, giving them tough terms, and you know this might be a controversial thing to say, but that's. I've had the experience of it and, um, I don't really care that it's controversial. That's what's happening. And if I were to guide anybody, I don't think it's controversial, I think we're trying to get back to a shop.
Tiffany Woolley:Small mentality, I mean I, you know the mass-produced nothings are really not exciting anymore.
Hadley Pollet:No, so, yeah, so we don't sell to any big department stores, none, and I really believe in small partners around the world that are a destination shop, correct, so?
Tiffany Woolley:everybody here knows they have to go to a love shop.
Scott Woolley:Yep, yep, you're right, and those places know more about the product as well.
Tiffany Woolley:Yeah, they know us, they know you, correct they know the connection, they know the love that's put into each unique piece.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, and they're building community, and I think everybody needs community, especially right now. People are thirsting for more community because of technology. Right now, people are thirsting for more community because of technology. Technology, I mean they, they think they're finding community online, but I I think it's much better in person it's true, you know, and women still love trying things on, I agree, and so you know they want to. They want their friends to tell them what looks good and what doesn't look good and it's an event yeah that's such a really beautiful philosophy behind the brand.
Tiffany Woolley:Do you use social media regularly, or influencers or anything like that, to continue to build, or is it mainly the you know, the relationships that you're building um stores we?
Hadley Pollet:use social media. We don't use a lot of influencers um. I think that that culture, the culture of influencing, is also collapsing right now.
Scott Woolley:Toxic yeah.
Hadley Pollet:And if we do work with anybody that you might call an influencer, she has to be using her influence positively, so she has to be building something for young girls or influencing a certain law that she believes in doing something, using her voice in a way and her platform in a way that actually creates positive change specifically for women. I love that.
Scott Woolley:Yeah, so the brand seems to have a lot of positive direction around it.
Tiffany Woolley:It does, it does. I feel like that's such a huge part of the brand, it almost needs more. That's the founding principle. What do you see doing? Are you going to incorporate any other new items in the near future, or do you stay focusing on the belts and the bags?
Hadley Pollet:So our accessories business is the business that does the most for us monetarily. We have clothing and other things that we do, but people really love our accessories and I think we're economically at a point where people are going to start buying more accessories and less clothing. We're just in that kind of trend.
Tiffany Woolley:How do you find following these trends? How do you stay up to date on, like the industry itself?
Hadley Pollet:I'm very intuitive yeah.
Scott Woolley:Are you creating your own?
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, I'm creating my own.
Scott Woolley:That's how I kind of think that you are kind of creating your own path.
Hadley Pollet:Thank you so much for saying that you do it. Look at the sustainability you have too.
Scott Woolley:I mean.
Tiffany Woolley:That's huge to me that you're able to continue and grow. I mean, that's what everybody looks for when you're creating a brand. I mean. 20 years is a long time.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, 20 years is a long time and our sustainability piece happened because we had trouble with a factory in China. They were sending us like red bags when we ordered yellow.
Voice Over:Yeah, I mean it was crazy, Like the factory only has red leather.
Hadley Pollet:And then we're like, but we didn't like, are you kidding? Yeah, so at that moment we actually had to sue them and we won the lawsuit, the lawsuit, and we were able to, which is very unusual. But we had a pivot this really close friend of mine from Peru he's now a very close friend of mine, he worked for the Peruvian government and he reached out to me and said we want you to come to Peru. It just happened. I was so down and out thinking I cannot believe all these things are showing up bad and I have to sue this factory and this. You know, this is terrible and it just happened at the same moment and we were a little skittish because, you know, we were meeting him in like a hotel in Boston and he had these, you know, bags full of products and he had to change the appointment twice and I had my husband come with me.
Hadley Pollet:And then he said well, you know bags full of products and he had to change the appointment twice and I had my husband come with me. And then he said well, you know, we're going to fly you down there. And we actually told him well, we need to meet you at the consulate in New York.
Tiffany Woolley:Oh, that's so funny you really protected. I really felt like I'd been scammed from previously.
Hadley Pollet:So now I've got to really make sure.
Scott Woolley:Now he's like a brother to me.
Hadley Pollet:I mean he's just like the nicest man and and I mean he's. So you're having stuff now manufactured and made in Peru. Yeah, we, we actually cross-pollinate between lots of different countries, so but we do have some things made in Peru, we have some things made in Southeast Asia, some things made in South America, you know, in the United States. It just depends.
Tiffany Woolley:And I feel like that's fitting with the brand ethos too. I mean repopulating and, you know, bringing good energy into all those being. You know economic systems too.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, the economic empowerment piece is really important to us, so we do visit every factory that we work with and we prefer them to be owned either locally by women or a family, small family owned, and we make sure the women are paid equally to their husbands. We've had instances where they're not and I've had to talk to the husband and say I'm happy to do business with you when you pay your wife. I love that.
Tiffany Woolley:So how did that get incorporated, as the business was growing and you taking on such a obviously not only the design role, the creator role, but taking on that whole business aspect and doing these negotiations and everything Like? How does that look like?
Hadley Pollet:It's very fluid, to be honest with you. I mean, if we, you know, if we my husband and I we travel a lot. So if we're traveling somewhere and we think that there are, you know, artisans or people that we want to meet or see, or we hear about something, then we go and we meet them and see them. We do have certain governments reach out to us, Like the Indian government just reached out to me from India to come to like a textile fair. So we do have, you know, relationships, you know, and we have been to different or sort of like organized things like that which help. You know, I can't say I do it all.
Voice Over:I was going to say what is your team EJ off camera here?
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, he's critical. My husband's very critical in the the whole process. How we met was he was supposed to be my consultant I was being knocked off and really we were finding our stuff in chinatown in new york and it was really terrible. And somebody introduced me to yi zhang, to um, to help with redesigning the entire line so that it would not be knocked off. And so he says I got a good deal so when you're on a date right away when you say redesigning the line so it doesn't get knocked off yeah what do you do to redesign a line so?
Hadley Pollet:so you introduce a lot of different elements um, like that about even like the two-finger slide or different elements into all of the design that if somebody were knocking it off, they wouldn't even notice it. Right, and also you create a dialogue with your consumer that they know what's real and what's not real. Right. So you know whether it be the, the two finger slide on the clutch that I gave you or um, you know we have bags with handles that are woven like a japanese sword.
Hadley Pollet:Oh, so cool or um, you know, I have a bag over there that, um, the tassel is hand beaded in taiwan and the bag is made, you know, in South America and the textiles are made in Europe. Wow, they really are quality it's really cross pollinating different countries and what their strengths are as well.
Scott Woolley:So these different elements are being made in different locations. So then, they're all being brought to one location for it to be assembled.
Hadley Pollet:And is that here, either the United States or, if I think, you know there's a place that's better, then we go there.
Scott Woolley:Yeah, yeah so from a retail standpoint and the products being sold. Is it throughout the United States? Where could like the audience find your?
Hadley Pollet:I I would love it if they went to our website first yeah, but um, there are also a lot of small stores, so in places like nantucket and the vineyard, and shopping little districts, yeah.
Tiffany Woolley:yeah, there are a lot of small stores, yeah, but like you said too, californ California has that little, you know, like the bohemian side, that they can fit right on into as well.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, I would say the East Coast, california, illinois and Texas have always been kind of like our biggest areas. South, where people love bright color. I mean, I really I do believe color is energy and I think people in the South understand that more For sure.
Scott Woolley:No, your line is very colorful. It is and it has.
Tiffany Woolley:I mean, I think it is a preppiness to it too.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, which I love. I mean, I grew up in New Canaan. Yeah, exactly, we're the preppiest of prep.
Tiffany Woolley:Exactly, and I love that. But yet they have a whimsy too.
Hadley Pollet:Thank you, that can be incorporated. Yeah, and we sell in other countries as well. The Japanese love cute things and we have occasionally this one store that will pick up one of everything in the line. They really get uniqueness, so we can't make them stick to the minimums. It's like I just want one of everything, okay. That's fine, because our customers don't want to look like anyone else. Right, which I love.
Tiffany Woolley:Yeah, I bet.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, if I could do that for every store, that would be great.
Tiffany Woolley:So do you typically still go to markets to sell the line we?
Hadley Pollet:don't, you don't, I don't think the markets are working anymore. Okay, so what makes you, when you've said like Well.
Scott Woolley:I think the markets have kind of dwindled away in terms of the amount of people that are attending.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, they'll just go on. We have a wholesale section of our site and people can just you know they can the stores can just log on and they can order. Yeah, if they have any questions we have you know salespeople they can talk to and if they want to see samples, we're happy to send them samples.
Tiffany Woolley:Wow, so you really, what does your team look like?
Hadley Pollet:today we have just a few salespeople. You don't really need that many, so we have three and yeah, and then it's Yi jung and I and a design assistant, and that's it, yeah but someone's doing marketing because your website has a lot of good photography yeah and sort of. You know well, that's models you guys, I I cannot take credit for all of it. I mean as I, my husband really is a huge part of this business. He takes all the photographs.
Scott Woolley:Oh, really Amazing.
Hadley Pollet:And designs.
Scott Woolley:He's here in the studio with us. He's here in the studio.
Hadley Pollet:He's always the quiet, humble one in the corner. I love that. But yeah, all the design work. Everything is collaborative, so everything work. Everything is collaborative, so everything that we do is collaborative. Ej has a branding company, uh-huh Okay, and because I worked in branding before, sometimes I help him on projects for his branding company.
Tiffany Woolley:Right, yeah, we collaborate on everything Are you looking to grow the brand?
Hadley Pollet:Yes, I'm looking to grow the brand always.
Tiffany Woolley:Okay, okay, yeah, I know, because I feel like there's so many little like back to this boutique shopping and, you know, shopping small, which I know there's like a certain Saturday every year, that's like shop small or something that they're like kind of promoting and I just feel like like this has so many homes that could be, you know, nestled into it yeah, we're always looking to grow the brand and we're always looking for good new partners.
Scott Woolley:And yeah, so what's the price point of um we started?
Hadley Pollet:originally they were 98 at retail and we've been able to hold them at 115. I don't know how that's going to go with tariffs, but we're trying to hold steady at 115 concern the tariffs, have you seen any? I haven't nothing yet. Yeah, we't. I think we will see. You know, I don't know, I don't know if it could change.
Scott Woolley:We haven't seen it in our business whatsoever at all and we're actually hearing you know from some manufacturers and vendors some of the prices have come down just a slight bit yeah.
Hadley Pollet:Well, there is negotiating room for negotiation now Definitely. Yeah, yeah, well, there is negotiating room for negotiation. Definitely, yeah, um, and our most expensive bag is probably. It's a huge tote bag with the trims all intertwined and that's around 1700. So it really just depends on what you mean. If you want a bra top, it's under 100 you know, it depends on what.
Scott Woolley:It's a pretty good.
Hadley Pollet:It is price line yeah, if you want a makeup bag or makeup bags, I think are, you know, around fifty dollars. It just depends on what you, what you want to buy from us. We have a really wide range and that's intentional. Um, you know, if you could, I, I want people to be able to get a piece of the brand. If they want a piece of the brand, yeah, so what is the website?
Scott Woolley:Because people should go to the website who are listening, because it's quite an interesting fun scroll through to see all of your items and the colors and the fabrics, and so forth.
Tiffany Woolley:Oh, totally, and I truly do remember seeing it in Love Shack. I mean, they're memorable pieces and they're so unique, oh, thank you.
Hadley Pollet:It's um HadleyPollettcom, which is H-A-D-L-E-Y-P-O-L-L-E-Tcom.
Tiffany Woolley:Yeah, so who fulfills the order, like the custom orders, like what's the time frame on a custom order or the customization process?
Hadley Pollet:So we tell people three to four weeks.
Tiffany Woolley:Okay, that's pretty quick and reasonable.
Hadley Pollet:Usually they're done faster. Yeah, seven to ten days.
Tiffany Woolley:Do you do any monogramming or anything like that?
Hadley Pollet:We can do monogramming. I don't have that. It's interesting. I've been thinking about putting that on the customization piece and then letting people pick their tassel. That's another thing. We're just adding little details now, but we can do monogramming yes, which is a great idea.
Tiffany Woolley:And like when do you in your own creative process for the brand? When do you decide, like it's time, like you got into yoga, so like the yoga line came in brand. When do you decide, like it's time, like you got into yoga, so like the yoga line came in. Like when do you say, oh, it's time to add to it. And what does that process look like for you?
Hadley Pollet:Well, there are certain touch points of a woman's life, like a Hadley woman, that we talk about internally, and so where can we touch her in different places of her life?
Scott Woolley:What's a Hadley woman?
Hadley Pollet:Exactly. So tell us more about the Hadley woman. Okay, so she's very empowered. That probably would be the number one. She's very empowered. She understands that her soul is unique and she likes to express that, and she likes to express that she loves color. She likes things that are different. She also does things like goes to yoga, you know, likes to shop, takes care yeah, takes care of herself, sees dressing up every day as a form of creativity. So she might go to Aspen in the winter and she might be in Greenwich during fall and spring, and then she might be in Nantucket in the summer so she might play tennis a lot, she might play golf. We do have some Hadley women that love horseback riding, because our belts are soft.
Tiffany Woolley:You know, they would be so cute with riding pants. I mean, they really have so much character. But understated too, it can go both ways.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, yeah. And you know they have that uniform they wear and the only thing they can change is their belt, so it's a form of expression for them, yeah, yeah. So we talk internally about what does she do? Where does she travel? Does she travel to the south of france in the summer, does she? You know where does she go. What does she need? You know what's going to help her.
Hadley Pollet:I had a woman at yoga the other day who came to we did this really fun event in greenwich a year ago with this kind of high-end little cafe and she popped by and bought a belt and she got out of her car we were going into yoga and she said I just took that belt for six weeks to Europe with me and she said I have to tell you that is the best thing I've ever had. I wore it this way, I wore it this way, I wore it that way, and so we do think about that that. You know they have a, you know a lifestyle where they travel a lot and they need pieces that stand out and something that's easy, are interchangeable a little bit.
Tiffany Woolley:You can use it with multiple different dresses or shorts.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah.
Tiffany Woolley:I know the belts are really sweet. Shorts yeah, I know the belts are really sweet. So how did the design of like the jacquard become?
Hadley Pollet:like the signature part of the line. Well, we started with the vintage trims and it's funny, I gave a talk at my school that I went to my boarding school and they wanted to find out about, like how I became who I am basically. And I was pulling up pictures one day and realized when I was three, you wore this belt, I had these jacquard trims on my little robe that I wore at the beach. And then my mom always tells this story where we moved into a new house and there was this wallpaper that was like bright flowers and she just wanted to rip it off the walls and I mean I screamed at her do not take these flowers off my wall. You know, like so I really you know that's kind of where they were, like a comfort thing for you.
Tiffany Woolley:It's just a part of me.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, it really is, and so I really just loved the whole thing, and so when I was sourcing the vintage ones, I knew that was going to become a signature of ours. Yeah.
Tiffany Woolley:Where else do you look for inspiration? Nature?
Voice Over:Yeah, nature.
Hadley Pollet:Yes, all the color combos that we use come from pictures that I've taken.
Scott Woolley:Oh.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, I probably. If you open my camera roll you'd see, you know, moss and flowers and bugs and animals and you know sunsets and yeah. I take a walk twice a day with my dog and I take pictures the whole time so how many times a year do you curate or go to, you know, create new collections?
Scott Woolley:Do you follow the seasons or follow like the industry?
Hadley Pollet:We are always creating, you are.
Tiffany Woolley:Yeah, always. So when, like, do you upload new things like literally all the time, All the time, Wow.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, yeah, as a creative, and I think that the easiest way to stay clear-minded and fresh is to keep creating.
Scott Woolley:True, so I just keep creating, we keep creating From a business standpoint, because we have a dear friend who, in a crazy way, he's been in many different businesses and he went to Vegas and got off the plane with these three women. He was with friends and they saw the magic show and they were like, let's go to the convention, let's go see the fashion, and by mistake they created a fashion line and just going to the show, by mistake.
Tiffany Woolley:Well, when you first yes, when he started by mistake, he started by mistake.
Scott Woolley:But mistake, he started by mistake. But you didn't start by mistake. But when you first started, the first like sales that you got was was there like a lot of pressure, concern, like I.
Hadley Pollet:I didn't feel pressure, but when I was in PR public relations before that and when you're selling a story, my forte in the public relations department was getting people press. And so when you're selling something to a publication that gets I don't know how many calls a day, you have to figure out what they need. They need it, how they need it, what that person is like right and then you sell it. So I'm very good at reading at the target yeah, yeah.
Hadley Pollet:I'm very, very good at the target and analyzing, kind of like, okay, this store I know ai does all this for you now maybe, but you know this really this is what they need. So there is a lot of analytical kind of component that goes into it. But for the first two stores I wasn't afraid. But maybe I wasn't afraid because I was pitching USA Today and the New York Times.
Scott Woolley:Was there a point where you felt like, okay, I've got this going and this is really starting to work?
Hadley Pollet:Once I had a sales partner because before that I was wearing too many hats.
Scott Woolley:Right.
Hadley Pollet:And that's very hard. You really need people that know more than you do that can lift you up, and I think that's really important, um, as opposed to feeling like you have to do everything all the time right yeah, so I I've had moments where I've I've felt like oh wow, this is really big, how did it get this far? Like I've had those kind of moments right you know um, but I'm, I'm very willful. Would you ever want to?
Tiffany Woolley:open your own store Brick and Mortar.
Voice Over:I would you do Because, like I mean and I think of this.
Tiffany Woolley:you know, like, as like Stony Clover, Are you familiar with that brand? Yeah, you know, and it's, and my husband has a friend who does it in like the sports world and where they add patches. I feel like this has such a similar concept. Where you come into this cute store, it becomes like an afternoon activity and you create something unique. Between the vintage ribbons and the tassel, you kind of can put together your own signature piece.
Hadley Pollet:I would love that, and I have certain places that I like the store first. So where do you? Think that would be the first place I want. One is, um, uh, saint bart's. Oh, that would be amazing the whole fashion industry just like descends on there and I just remember like buying this bag really well during new year's eve at that time. Yeah, I just like to pop up there, even for like a season, and see how it goes Well, and that's what's so cool is pop-up is a thing now.
Hadley Pollet:I think that would be brilliant.
Tiffany Woolley:Even Palm Beach Delray, I feel like you could explode. Yeah, it's like, how much do you want to explode really?
Hadley Pollet:We want to explode.
Scott Woolley:Everything that you talk about your brand and what you just said a few minutes ago about what your average customer or your client looks like Palm Beach fits really well.
Tiffany Woolley:I know that I really feel so strongly that it really goes the gamut for ages you really could have, from little tweens all the way to grandmas. I mean that would appreciate and enjoy. You know the newest bag?
Scott Woolley:Yes, you know, I was mentioning about this friend who started this brand. I know one of the biggest things that he ran into problems with and I think a lot of it had to do with because he went to big retailers is inventory. Do you have to keep a lot or do you keep a lot of it had to do with because he went to big?
Hadley Pollet:retailers his inventory. Do you have to keep a lot or?
Scott Woolley:do you keep a lot?
Hadley Pollet:of inventory. We try not to. Yeah, we really try not to. We did have a problem with inventory at one point, um, because you had too much or not enough. It's the minimums, right. I think that the factories, they have these ridiculous minimums. I gave a speech about this in Peru, about the problems in retail and all the elements that cause problems. You know, part one is minimums right, well, minimums.
Scott Woolley:And then, if you're seasonal, or you're changing with the season, and now the season's changed and you've got all this inventory.
Hadley Pollet:It's not sustainable and I don't think that the future is going to lie in these minimums. We just had somebody I was. We've been designing these really beautiful, almost like pashmina, like shawls.
Hadley Pollet:That's another great and one factory who we met at an event said to me oh, you can order whatever quantities you want. And I thought, okay, that's great, because we're going to test these you know I I'm not going to order thousands right off the bat. I want to know that they're going to do well. And then he came back to me yesterday asking me for, like I don't't even know, $3,000 for one color, and I just emailed him back. You know, philippe, you changed your tune here.
Hadley Pollet:And this is not sustainable. This doesn't align with our brand. You know, if you want to work with us, this is how we work. And it's that simple right and at this moment in time everything's on sale. I mean, saks is on sale yesterday for 70% off. I've never seen Saks on sale for 70% off right, yeah, so what does that? Mean. So that means, there's too much stuff.
Scott Woolley:Yeah.
Hadley Pollet:There's too much stuff and people aren't buying all this sameness all over the place, all over. And so there is a big reckoning happening right now and we just happen to be ahead of the curve, you know, in not taking people's minimums, as you know, at face value. So if you want to work with us and you want the reputation of working with our brand and the you know panache of working with our brand, then you know you have to meet the minimums that we want you to meet right, yeah, so what did philippe say?
Hadley Pollet:he came back and said how do we work together?
Tiffany Woolley:I like that. Yeah, because I think adding the shawl component would be amazing right your aesthetic.
Hadley Pollet:I I'm thinking weddings. Now, like all my friends, daughters are starting to get married and I feel like it would be great for brides to design bags for their, for their, you know what a great idea yeah, for their bridesmaids and and um, and give them pashminas.
Hadley Pollet:You know they could be initialed or they could have their theme on them. So I mean they would be Hadlefied, like you know, they'd have the Hadley aspect to them. But you know, I do think that there's like kind of this whole other, because they're really expressing themselves at their, you know, at this moment in time, which is a sacred moment when they're getting married and, you know, start, you know, kind of pivoting into a new life. So wouldn't it be fun to help them express themselves through, you know, some really interesting things?
Scott Woolley:So yeah, so at any one given time, like right now, how many different SKUs, how many different items do you have on the site?
Hadley Pollet:Oh gosh, I don't know, 100, 200? Oh we probably have 200 SKUs right now.
Scott Woolley:I would say that's a lot of SKUs.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, now I would say yeah, yeah, but we don't have too much of everything, right? Yeah, and yeah, it's a good variety.
Scott Woolley:Yeah, it's enough so that you can see a whole lifestyle.
Hadley Pollet:yeah, we want you to see the entire lifestyle, like the the event I was talking about that we did in greenwich, because it was at this high-end cafe and he has has really beautiful foods and stuff. We launched a home line, so we took his really Like towels or placemats or.
Tiffany Woolley:Placemats table runners, tablecloths, beautiful.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, and I used the lotus theme for all the products because I felt like the world needed peace and so I was feeling. I had been to Taiwan Say that. Felt like the world needed peace, and so I was feeling.
Scott Woolley:I had been to Taiwan. Say that again. The world needs peace.
Hadley Pollet:Peace and the lotus flowers about coming out of the darkness into the light and peace. So there was a whole lotus theme at this event and he has these big window seats with these just very bland pillows on the bottom, you know, just the bottom, the bottom, and I thought I mean, if we're doing an event here.
Hadley Pollet:We need like we need some color and we need right right, so I did pillow pillows, and those pillows would be amazing too. Yeah, they're on our site. Yeah, so I saw that yeah, so we transformed the whole space into you. You know Hadlefied.
Scott Woolley:So when I first went to your website and looked through it and Tiffany looked at it right after me. Yeah, I'm going to tell you, the first thing when I kind of walked away, that came into my mind, came into your sight, was three words yeah, peace, love and happiness. Oh, it kind of has that vibe and feel to it.
Hadley Pollet:Oh, thank you. I don't know if I'm off track there. No, you are. You're on track, you're completely on track.
Scott Woolley:That's exactly how I felt when I walked away from the screen, going peace, love and happiness. It's kind of how you feel when you see everything.
Hadley Pollet:Thank you. You see all your items. That's really. That's a big compliment. Thank you so much. I truly did.
Tiffany Woolley:And they all are so purposeful. You know each piece is so purposeful and unique, which you know we're all wanting purpose and to be our own authentic self. So I think it's really special.
Scott Woolley:I design lab. I always have to ask the question do you love designing I?
Hadley Pollet:love it. I mean have to ask the question do you love designing? I love it. I mean any kind of creativity, but I think designing is, for me, the ultimate form of creativity, and creativity is authenticity, Right.
Tiffany Woolley:I know and I feel like we get to hear so many wonderful stories and it's so funny, as these shows evolve and we talk to people, how many people really do get to end up doing what they love. You design a life around what you love and you took that leap, leaving what you studied and everything like that, and were able to truly take your passion and create something really special and unique and make it continue for 20 years. I mean to me that's a really profound legacy oh, thank you.
Hadley Pollet:Yeah, I mean I my hope is is that a lot of women that we touch get inspired that way and do that for themselves? I know yeah, I mean, that's really the hope. Yeah, even the artisans that we work with, we have an artisan training program and you know we'll drop into a country and train them and teach them what do you mean?
Scott Woolley:an artist in training program? What do you mean by that?
Hadley Pollet:We train artisans in different countries, so we'll drop in and we'll, you know, depending on the group that we're working with, they might pull together 10 to 30 artisans and a lot of them work in silos, so they might just make baskets or they make, you know. But we talk to them about cross-pollinate, cross-pollinating with other technologies, and you know, we'll look, do an evaluation of all their products, um, look at their brands, um, and see, you know, teach them where they can, you know, do better and how to sell internationally, and and all of that is just really about a matriarchal point of view of business which is just uplifting everybody, right?
Hadley Pollet:I don't have to extract what I need from you and run and run.
Tiffany Woolley:I love that.
Hadley Pollet:I have knowledge and information to impart to you that will help your economy grow and help the women and children in your in, in your area, for the future, yeah yeah, thrive, yeah, really really beautiful story.
Tiffany Woolley:Well, thank you for joining us today on the I design lab podcast. I know and everybody, please go check out hadley, paulette or paette if you want the French way. Dot com.
Hadley Pollet:Dot com. Thank you so much. This was so lovely. It's so much fun.
Voice Over:Welcome. Idesign Labs podcast is an SW Group production in association with the Five Star and TW Interiors. To learn more about iDesign Lab or TW Interiors, please visit twinteriorscom.
