As we close the doors on our first pop-up at Space At Seventeen, founder Cat shares more about what's to come for treen.
'Where to begin!
The first three months of treen have been just incredible. As a team we started with a goal, but the reality ended up being more than we could have imagined. treen (who I always speak about as a person) is alive! Breathing, speaking, real.
In August 2018 I put pen to paper and wrote down exactly what steps needed to be taken to open an independent, ethical fashion boutique. There were 10 points. From then on we worked our way through each step. These initially distinct stages of course grew arms and legs on the daily, but that was ok, I was learning what needed to go where and in what time frame. Fast forward to May 31st 2019, the day before our launch as an online (and offline!) store, and we had a fully fledged website ready to go, had arranged our stock on rails in our first physical home at Space At Seventeen in the heart of Edinburgh's beloved Stockbridge, and were set to welcome the community around us to attend our launch event! Each and every day before this moment was worth it.
From the minute we opened we knew that Space At Seventeen was the perfect temporary home for treen. The welcome on St. Stephen Street by businesses, residents and locals alike was next level! The huge sense of community there is evident and everyone is openly supportive of one another - like one big family. From working for years in frontline retail I live, eat and breathe shop life, and have always valued above all else creating a memorable, inimitable shop experience. Being here has allowed us to make this a reality and show you all what we are about! In the store we were open daily and were able to host a string of events - Q&A, Sustainable Living Panel, Vegan Cheese and Wine evening - all the first of many. We can't thank everyone who visited the our first physical location enough!
Our new home from September onwards is the creatively inspiring Custom Lane in Leith. Walking into the space here, you know instantly you are in a special environment and we're excited to join another community and spread our wings further as a business. Whilst we won't have a daily 10 - 6pm physical store for now, we will be continuing to host regular pop-up shops and events. The rest of the time we will work on injecting the same energy and experience we had in our first pop-up at Space at Seventeen into the website. We love the idea of translating this. Remember it is always me at the other end of the DM’s!
What else is to come? London is on the cards. We are keen to pop-up in other locations and widen our community. We want as many people as possible being able to touch and try on the product we stock, plus bringing positive fashion to the masses. And perhaps most importantly, treen needs a home or as I keep calling it the mothership. A hub, a destination, a base where treen can stretch its legs. To be continued... you'll be the first to hear.
For now - a huge thanks to all of your for supporting the start of our journey. We couldn't do it without you.'
Celebratory images thanks to the talented El Inspired!
