Our October Woman in Business is Christy Dawn

Based in: los angeles, california

Established: 2013

Combining vintage-inspired silhouettes with a mission to heal Mother Earth through their own regenerative cotton farm in India, Christy Dawn is transforming the fashion industry, one acre at a time. They have sequestered almost 1 million pounds of excess atmospheric carbon into their soil, actively reversing the climate crisis. When you wear a Christy Dawn piece, you are wearing a reciprocal bond that stems from the ground up. Their farm-to-closet collection supports farmers, ginners, spinners, weavers, and Mother Earth. It’s an exchange that benefits all of us.

What is your fashion/design philosophy?

I design the pieces that I want to wear. I’m drawn to feminine silhouettes that are both chic and effortless. I can wear a CD piece to the market, and to pick up my kids at school, and at the same time I can dress it up and wear it out to a special event.

Tell us the story of Christy Dawn, the brand!

The story of Christy Dawn is ever unfolding! My husband and I started Christy Dawn because I wanted to make beautiful dresses and he wanted to, in his words, make rent. We used deadstock fabric, the excess fabric of other fashion houses, because it was all we could afford. We quickly learned that the fashion industry is the second largest polluter on the planet, and by using deadstock fabric and having our dresses made locally, we could proudly say we weren’t part of that problem. For 5 years we built Christy Dawn using only deadstock fabrics and our community love it. But the dopamine hit of saying we were a sustainable brand began to wear off. What is it that we were sustaining? Mass extinctions? Climate change? Ecological and social disaster? We could no longer just sustain, it was clear we needed to start healing. For us, the answers lied in the soil. We set out to forge reciprocal relationships with the Earth and those who tend her. On a leap of faith, we started our own regenerative cotton farm in Erode India with our partners at Oshadi. We believed that if we started taking care of Mother Earth, she would in turn take care of us. What started as 4 acres has grown to 80 acres of land under our stewardship. We have sequestered almost 1 million pounds of excess atmospheric carbon into the soil, actively reversing the climate crisis. Every stakeholder, from the water to the biodiversity to the farmers and the customers have benefited from these relationships. When someone wears a Christy Dawn piece they are wearing that reciprocity, they are draping themselves in the values that bring life to all of us. My hope is that the story of Christy Dawn ripples out and it will inspire others to find more intimacy in their relationship with the planet and ultimately themselves.

“We could no longer just sustain, it was clear we needed to start healing. For us, the answers lied in the soil. We set out to forge reciprocal relationships with the Earth and those who tend her.”

 

You always have the prettiest textiles—How does pattern inform your style?

Thanks! Because we began by only using deadstock fabric, we had years of not designing our own prints. We had to work with what was already available. When we entered into the arena of print making we first asked ourselves, “What is significance of printing and wearing a symbol?” When one writes, one spells. What spells (either consciously or unconsciously) are cast when we wear printed textiles? What’s the energetic signature we want to create with OUR prints! For example we have an embroidered pomegranate dress coming out in fall. When we sit with the pomegranate, really take in the pomegranate and appreciate the way the fruit expresses itself, we experience the fertile abundance of nature. By including the symbol of the pomegranate, the dress serves as an ode to the fertility and abundance of life. It is an invitation for the wearer to call in and evoke that energy. And like this, each print that we choose carries intention, with the hopes of reweaving our connection to nature back into the clothing we wear.

Do you have an all-time favorite design or silhouette?

The Dawn Dress. It was the first ever dress I designed, and I wore it when I was pregnant and nursing. It carried me thru so many transitional moments in my life.

What inspires each collection?

Each season we look to Mother Nature to inform us, and inspire us of what’s unfolding in the natural world.

Your impact promise is beyond inspiring and very aligned with our ethos. Have you always had an emphasis on your footprint?

Christy Dawn and the Christy Dawn community has informed me as much as I have informed it. We didn’t start out with the intention of being regenerative. It's been an unfolding that has taught me so much. I’ve always drawn inspiration from wild spaces, but to become a steward of those spaces has gone beyond my wildest dreams.

What is ripening you as Summer comes to an end?

So much has ripened me this year, and Summer has been an especially enjoyable time for me to relax into the sun, take a deep breath and enjoy the fruits of my labor. (Literally and figuratively)

 

Christy’s Everyday Essentials

Rapid Fire

Coffee or go to beverage order? Homemade chai

Person who makes you laugh harder than anyone? My husband

Top music playlist or favorite song? Simon and Garfunkel, Graceland

Last book you read? Braiding sweetgrass

If you could only have 3 items for the rest of your life, what would they be? Machete, cooking pot and flint (my husband was on Survivor and taught me well)

If you had a day free of all responsibilities, what would you do? Hike, swim in the ocean, get a massage, take a long bubble bath, cook a nourishing meal.

Role Model? Mother Earth. She is so generous, creative, connected, and forgiving.

Favorite Clothing or Home Store? Christy Dawn, obvi :)

Biggest Fear? Skydiving or bungee jumping! Why do people do that for fun?!

Do you have any kids? Names/ages? River 8, Sage 4

Guilty Pleasure? Looooong bubble baths

What reality show would you thrive on? Great British Bakeoff (I think)

A place on your bucket list? Azores, Portugal