New York to Paris: Life is not always glamorous for local fashion designer Stacey Martin

One local designer is on a mission to prove that fashion has a place in the business world.  Growing up in Ottawa, Stacey Martin spent a lot of time dancing at the competitive level. At 17, her passion for dance took her out of the city, landing her positions as a dancer at Canada’s Wonderland […]

One local designer is on a mission to prove that fashion has a place in the business world.  Growing up in Ottawa, Stacey Martin spent a lot of time dancing at the competitive level. At 17, her passion for dance took her out of the city, landing her positions as a dancer at Canada’s Wonderland theme park in Toronto and on a Royal Caribbean Cruise ship. At 18, she moved to New York City, ready to fulfill a dream of dancing on Broadway. It took until she was almost 19 for her to land a role in Saturday Night Fever, a Broadway show based on the 1977 disco movie starring John Travolta.  Meanwhile, Martin was cultivating a love for fashion. She’d had a desire to become a fashion designer in high school, but ended up pursuing dance. When auditioning for dance roles in New York, Martin told OBJ she would make her own clothes, since the standard attire for dancers didn’t fit her “small but curvy” frame.  It was through this that she had an epiphany. “I loved the comfort and mobility of dancer clothing, but they didn’t have fashion styling. I didn’t understand why comfy clothing had to be sloppy in design,” she explained.  So she started being more creative when it came to putting together her clothes: interesting fabrics made from sustainable materials, and shapes, something to dance in and then go out in. She started getting comments from friends, family and peers, some of whom wanted to get in on the action.  “I was making clothes for myself. It wasn’t really to have a fashion design brand … People just kept asking me, ‘Where did you get that?’ So I started selling (my pieces).”  In 2017, Martin said she was asked to present a collection at Toronto Fashion Week. “That was the first of me seeing myself as a viable brand. It was more than just making clothes for myself and my friends.”  By 2021, she was ready to bring her brand to a new level. She rebranded her business to Stacey Martin Lifestyle and looked to grow through investment. The business had been bootstrapped up to that point, and finding investors wasn’t easy.  “I went to get regular investors but it wasn’t successful, so I ended up doing an equity capital raise. I used a company called Frontfunder and did an equity capital raise with the community. It ends up being like a Kickstarter, but instead of the person getting a product, they get shares in the company. With that, I got 167 shareholders from the community that invested between $200 and $30,000,” she said, adding that she raised $297,000 from the campaign.  Initially elated, Martin quickly realized that the business was going to require more than $300,000.  “When I looked at it afterwards, (for) a lot of major companies, $297,000 is nothing to start a brand. It was the beginning of me thinking, ‘It’s amazing, but it’s not near enough to make a product.’ I have to make 100 units of each piece and that’s just one piece, in one colour and one style. In order to continue to have a brand where you’re pumping out two seasons a year, it’s a lot of money – and that’s just inventory,” she explained, adding that her storefront/atelier on Ottawa’s York Street and marketing contribute to her overhead costs.  Still, the post-pandemic years have proved fruitful for Martin, as she just completed her third showing at New York Fashion Week this past weekend. To present in what she calls “the Olympics of fashion” takes a tremendous amount of work in very little time, Martin said. 

“It’s like being an Olympian, but you train for all these years, but you only get one short shot. For me, it was a six-minute show.” To prepare, she had to put together the clothes she wanted to present and assemble the team that would make everything a reality — models, assistants, media team and hair and makeup. Once in New York, Martin said her team had 48 hours to do fittings, rehearsals and present the show on Sunday night. Still, having a presence at New York Fashion Week is hugely impactful, Martin said, as it remains one of fashion’s biggest networking events.  “When you’re attending, you meet managers, buyers and all sorts of different people … Apart from the show itself, there is a huge level of networking involved,” she said. “The more you do it, the better you feel because people start to recognize you and the brand starts to build credibility.” Now back in Ottawa, Martin barely has the time to catch her breath. She’s been invited to present her collection at Paris Fashion Week on Oct. 5. But, with a little over two weeks to go, Martin is unsure if she’ll be able to attend.  “To get the invitation is such an honour for them to see me and to get recognition at that level. But I always give this analogy: it’s like getting into Harvard. You’ve been invited, but you still have to pay. I’m excited to be invited, but how am I going to make up the funds to be able to make it happen? Do I push really hard to make it happen or do I wait until (next season’s show in) March?” With outside investment improbable in such a short time, Martin said she’s given herself until this weekend to make her decision on whether or not she’ll go.  Despite her recent wins, Martin said being an Ottawa-based fashion designer is difficult.  “When I was doing my equity capital raise, I had proof of concept (and) thousands of buyers. None of that made a difference because I was in fashion. A lot of (investors) are looking for a tech company to invest in. They’re looking for whatever is next, but they’re not looking for fashion.  “Fashion is a very difficult business to go into to be recognized. Not just in Ottawa, but (being in) Ottawa makes it more complicated. The people here have been some of my most loyal customers, but overall the masses of customers here are not the most fashionable. There is difficulty in breaking that mould (so) that Ottawa could be seen as a fashion city. It is the home of fashion designers and I hope investors see that we’re a viable brand they can invest into.” She also felt that she wanted to lean into what her brand represented. “When you look at most eco-conscious brands, most of them are like Patagonia or Mark’s, where it’s for outback living. When you look at my clothes, it’s not that at all. It’s for the woman who wants to be eco-conscious while she’s going out for dinner or travelling to the islands. Now that I understand that, I want to hone in on it.” Outside of the world’s fashion weeks, Martin said she’s looking to push Stacey Martin Lifestyle forward by exploring B2B corporate partnerships.  “The vision is to sell our stuff online, but to also have corporate partners. I’d love to do robes and terry cloth sarongs that go in luxury hotels so that Stacey Martin Lifestyle could partner with beautiful hotels and give them the essence that we’re building through a B2B space,” she added. Ultimately, Martin wants more people to appreciate that fashion is a business.  “There’s whole communities that are working to make this work. People don’t understand it. They just think I make clothes and have girls walk down runways. There’s so much more involved. The more that people shop local and support local designers, the more they’ll see that. Everyone wears clothes. Fashion is a business. We don’t often see it as a business, but if we gave it a little more credibility, it would be helpful for us all.”