Meet Chloe
A Word of Advice from Chloe:
"Just do THE thing. Don’t waste time trying to make it perfect. Success will never be in reach if you don’t take the next step even if you don’t feel ready."
- Chloe Ayissi-Etoh
We are excited to welcome Chloe Ayissi-Etoh, a rising fashion designer, to Hems & Brims!
This feature highlights her creative journey and what she is most excited to learn as she joins our community of emerging fashion creatives.
Four years into running her own brand, Chloe understands that the strongest designers never stop being students. "I've learned a lot, but I know there's so much more to master," she says. "Right now, I'm focused on building a stronger foundation in the fundamentals of fashion design so I can truly excel." For Chloe, that kind of growth is best learned by doing.
Chloe's clearest turning point came wrapped in a pretty stressful challenge. She had three months to create eight outfits, with no funding and a team of fourteen peers she pulled together herself.
"Walking into the gym, anxiety hit as everyone looked at me," she recalls. The days that followed pushed her to think fast and lead in real time. One afternoon, she was teaching models how to pivot in heels. Next, she was working with makeup artists to create cohesive looks across different skin tones. And then came the setbacks: missing materials, chaotic rehearsals, and last-minute changes. She handled each one calmly, delegating and solving problems as they arose.
What she took away from that experience went beyond a successful show. "No amount of planning replaces the ability to adapt. Getting over that discomfort transformed how I collaborate." It also showed her something about herself she hadn't fully recognized before, a real gift for mentoring and creativity.
Every project she takes on starts in the same place: with a question. What is this piece for? What is it trying to say? From there, she builds moodboards pulling from architecture, landscapes, and textures, sketches out multiple directions, orders fabric samples, and works through the toile process until something real starts to take shape.
That kind of thoughtfulness shines through in her work, especially in a piece called Salvaged, a bag from her collection Illusion. It's made from over 200 individually cut denim fragments and took more than 40 hours of handwork to complete. The idea behind it was to push back on the false narratives people build around emotions like depression, using worn and frayed pieces of fabric to represent resilience and the quiet process of putting yourself back together. "It was the first real abstract design I did. It pushed my limits and showed me just how creative sewing can get," she says.
More than anything, she wants people who experience her work to feel something real, refreshed, inspired, and a little more confident in themselves. "My goal is for the garment to feel like a breath of new energy," she explains.
Chloe is candid about where she is right now: her creativity is outpacing her technical skills. Draping is a big focus for her at the moment because she wants the freedom to design more intuitively. She's also putting real energy into marketing to grow her sales and build a community that actually connects with her designs.
Beyond design, she’s curious about the business side of fashion. She’s especially interested in how brands build something that lasts and how sustainability can become a natural part of her process.
Chloe was drawn to Hems & Brims because she wanted to be around people who genuinely get it, creatives who share not just her ambitions but her experiences too. "It feels grounding to be in a space where people understand what it means to create while supporting one another," she says. As she steps into this next chapter, she's looking forward to building real connections, learning more about sustainable business practices, and continuing to grow as both a designer and a creative.
Chloe’s Advice to Emerging Creatives:
"Just do THE thing. Don't waste time trying to make it perfect. Success will never be in reach if you don't take the next step, even if you don't feel ready."
She's lived every word of that. Chloe knows that the work itself is the teacher. You just have to be willing to show up and start.
Welcome to Hems & Brims, Chloe. We're glad to support you along your journey!
See Chloe’s creative projects and fashion portfolio here