Meet Jamie Haller | Jamie Haller, Creative Director / Designer / Founder / CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jamie Haller and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jamie, what matters most to you?
One of the values that has been a guiding force in this journey of designing my shoe collection and now the RTW & denim collection has been to follow designs that I authentically want to own and truly wear. I have worked in fashion for a long time and there is a difference between designing anything for a customer and designing fully for yourself. There is no customer in my brand, there is only me, I come first, and I’ve really focused on making myself happy. The only question that resonates with making decisions on how to proceed when challenges come up is what makes me happy and brings me joy, and leaves me feeling peaceful and satisfied. I don’t want to carry the weight of not being completely happy with my own product, I feel like if I am not willing to wear it with conviction, my name shouldn’t be on it. That is guiding me right now. I have made some choices that have even caused me to lose money in order to do it right (by me) but I am left feeling correct, like it’s aligned. I think people can feel that alignment, they understand what I am doing and then trust me for it. That means something.

What should our readers know about your business?
I think the interesting thing is that I have actually been a fashion designer for 24 years. I started the shoe collection at the beginning of the pandemic as I needed something new to do and a creative passion project to keep myself busy in a time when everything paused. I realized I wanted to be working for myself and that I needed to be in control of myself so the collection was a palate cleanser of sorts. I had wanted to make a pair of shoes, recreating a pair of Indian jutti slippers that I owned for 20 years so I made my very first shoe in Italy. I didn’t plan on what would happen next when I took that first step but I decided that I would just make a small business out of it. I shot the photos on my bed with my iPhone, I cold called stores and I did all the things you do when you start a line, but small and by myself.

Once I made the loafer things shifted and it all really started to pick up speed and expand. It happened that we tapped into the very beginning of the loafer trend that was becoming popular. The business was very tiny as it was just me for the first 2 years and I shipped from my garage. At the time I was still working for someone else, I had been the Creative Director of a company for 12 years at that point. I was at a point in my career where I needed something different. Covid was a real job disruptor as I think it created a helpless feeling for everybody and I had this feeling that I wanted to do something I was in control of, that was mine. That was the first motivation, it was really satisfying to make something purely for myself. At heart, I am a maker, a creator, a designer.

At some point the growth became a conflict with the company I was at and I chose to leave and pursue my own shoe collection. I had no real experience in designing shoes but I think that was actually really exciting, because I didn’t know what the rules were. I could blindly create, and maybe it would be wrong, but it also would be different. I eventually hired sales reps, because I needed help doing it all and things started to grow more quickly. It was about two years after this that I started to toy with the idea that I might do clothes again.

I never thought about it early on, but by the time I launched the denim line I was so much farther ahead than I realized I’d be. Although small, We had built up a direct to consumer following and a wholesale store following. It was very different from when I started the shoe line. I did a 15 piece capsule collection (small by fashion collection standards!) and I launched it at NYFW market. Instead of selling 2 stores the first season, we sold 15 stores, because those were stores that were already buying the shoes. We did as much business in our first market for RTW as we did 4 years into selling shoes. It was a much more propelled start and I didn’t really project this. To be honest, I didn’t project much. I created a line and didn’t think about what came next. I am not naive about production and we were prepared to produce the line, but I soon realized I needed the what’s next. It’s a train you jump onto when you do it for real and not as a hobby and the pace of that train is overwhelming and intense.

I have been proud of our ability to move at a fast pace but also be authentic to ourselves. We say no a lot when it’s not right – when it’s not the right store or the right alignment. With 24 years of experience, I get HOW to do it, but still it’s my first time owning the whole business and running the show, being the boss. This is where my team is everything and I am nothing but grateful for them and I am really proud of how good of a job we did. We made it across the finish line for our first season, we have stayed financially afloat and we didn’t dip – that in itself is an achievement. We are beating our goals, which is an achievement. Every time my phone makes a ‘cha-ching’ sound, signifying a sale on Shopify, I feel like that is an achievement. We are doing it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
During the day I would take them to the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena and at night I would take them out for margaritas on the patio at Salazar or to the Hollywood Bowl. Maybe I would suggest we rent a MCM in Palm Springs and just lay around the pool for a few days and be silly and have fun. That’s my favorite thing to do with my best friend, nothing. Just be.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are a lot of people I could shout out because I don’t think you can do too much as an island. I can do a lot, but it’s always in the form of connection and accepting help, which really amplifies your work. I have Rachel in Italy who has really helped me manage the Italian side of things in the shoe collection. She has been a mentor, a sounding board and someone who helps organize everything in Tuscany. She was the first call that set things in motion in 2020 and is still connected to me today.

When I was thinking about starting the denim collection, I basically couldn’t help myself and I needed it to be more than just jeans. I needed it to span across multiple categories of clothing, to authentically represent me, but I couldn’t have organized that lift alone. I worked with Michelle for 8 years at my last job. We reconnected a couple years after I left, she was interested in working with me again. I was actually waiting for her to be ready, to show up, because in my mind we were always going to work together again. The truth was, I wasn’t quite ready for her yet. But here she was, I took it as a sign from the universe that I could start my denim and RTW collection because she was there to help and I just jumped. I am completely grateful for her.

My husband Craig has really picked up the slack over the last year or so because I’ve been super busy. Sometimes I just can’t be as present, pick up the kids, walk the dog, or contribute my true 50% share. I have been getting home later and later, I have had to travel A LOT every year, and he has just filled in in every place I have become overwhelmed. I couldn’t have done it without him stepping in and allowing me more space to build this business over the last year.

Website: https://shop-jamiehaller.com/

Instagram: @shopjamiehaller

Other: https://jamiehaller.substack.com/