Fleur (19) had been looking for the perfect hat for years, but never found the hat that suited her. For lack of anything better, she now makes it herself.
LINDA.meiden calls Fleur to talk about where she gets her inspiration from and what her goals are.
PASSION FOR FASHION
Fleur has always been crazy about clothes – so crazy that her mother used to have to put a lock on her wardrobe because she changed too often. “Everything related to fashion has always been a passion of mine,” she says.
She got her creativity from her grandmother. When she was little, she was always allowed to watch her grandmother make ‘the most beautiful clothes’ on the sewing machine. “That inspired me,” says Fleur. That’s why she got her own sewing machine for her tenth birthday, with different fabrics. “From then on, I started sewing my own clothes.
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Fleur with her grandmother on her tenth birthday.
MAKING HATS
Fleur started selling her handmade items when she was twelve. She sold her handmade jewelry on Instagram. She did that for years. But last year, right after her final exams, she also started doing something else: making hats.
“I was always looking for a nice hat. I just could never find one that was nice and affordable”, says Fleur. That’s why she made it herself – and it didn’t stop at just that one. She sold the first hat she made for someone else via Vinted. With success, because that same week she sold ten more. She buys the hats in all kinds of colors, but she sews the bands around them herself with different fabrics.
OWN COMPANY
Not much later, Fleur receives a message from a girl. She asks her if she wants to stand at an event of a student association in Utrecht to sell her hats. Without hesitation, Fleur says 'yes' and buys all kinds of fabrics.
Her grandmother helps her make a stock of hats, so that she can fill her stall well during the event. The many nice reactions she eventually receives there motivate Fleur even more to continue. "I see this as the start of my company," she says.
HIGH SPEED TRAIN
Partly due to TikTok, her sales have gone through the roof: she sold forty hats in two days. Things are going so well now that she will soon have a website. “I am quite busy and combining it with my studies is tough, but I also get a lot of energy from it.”
Fleur is not getting carried away by the success of her hats, though. “My goal is to first get the propaedeutic certificate for my Dentistry studies. After that, I will see what happens next.” That does not mean she is abandoning the sewing machine. “I already have a lot of fun ideas in mind for the future,” she says.
02-15-2023
JARA HELMS
(this article is copied from the Dutch magazine 'Linda Meiden'. See the original article here. https://www.linda.nl/meiden/meiden-trending/fleur-maak-eigen-hoeden-oma-inspiratie/