(YOLKE’s founder and designer Ella Ringner)
YOLKE is a brand close to my heart, starting with stylish silk pyjamas they quickly saw the rise in sleepwear for daywear due to their eye-catching stripes and fantasy florals. The brand has since launched LiTTLE YOLKE (a matching children’s collection), a sustainable ready-to-wear collection in keeping with the brands signature style as well as their first homeware collection.
How did YOLKE get started?
We launched Yolke back in 2013 with the desire to build a lifestyle brand together. Anna, in interior design and PR and me with a fashion background and interior degree from CSM it was a project discussed over Summer dinners that we finally launched in the Spring of 2013, the same month I found out I was pregnant with my first, Scarlet. Lifestyle soon turned to pyjamas when stores popped up asking us for stock, from Fortnums one season to Selfridges the next we followed the trend and embraced the ability to make lifestyle garments alongside our homewares.
Ready-to-wear was something I have always been keen on since having children and no longer feeling comfortable wearing silk pyjamas out, I needed a waist and something to nip, tuk in places and accentuate in others.. Sometimes a print is so beautiful you don't just want to wear it inside but not everyone is ready to wear pyjamas outside hence the arrival of the dress!
(Yolke Girl’s showing their support, creating content while in lockdown)
Starting your own company can be a little daunting at first, have there been any challenges that you have had to overcome?
We’ve had some challenges, one being that we are completely independent and so everything we do is based on how much we sell. We are a small team of 3 and all wear many hats. I am the designer, producer and accountant not to mention head of sales and recently during lockdown customer services. But we love it, we thrive on a challenge and it’s so exciting to see the response to day wear. In 2018 Anna decided she wanted to move on to new projects and handed the Yolke baton solely to me. I had 2 children under 4 and a husband working full time too but we embraced it and I actually found my feet and confidence. The late nights and early starts became a lifeline and I still call on Anna often to discuss new ideas and projects.
We began ‘Yolke Girls’ a year after we launched, it felt so right to be seeing our clothes on girls like us and not like us rather than models all the time. Being a small independent brand it’s so important to have a strong girl gang we can call on and them on us when we have launches on our favourite Golborne Road in the Summer not to mention the response on social we have from women seeing someone inspiring rather than paid.
How do you get inspired?
Books, dreams, flowers, poems - my mother was incredibly creative, from fabrics and dressing us up like Boudicca to paint all afternoon in the garden, it was a creative atmosphere growing up. She had such a history of design she would share with my sister Thebe and I and I think we were just like little sponges. I tend to dream up the new collections and sleep with a notebook on my bedside table so I haven’t forgotten the print in the morning when Blue runs in to jump on me!
Could you tell me a little bit more about your design process and where the pieces are manufactured?
I spoke too soon above.. notebooks by the bed are very important to me! Having children and all of life’s busy things doesn’t help with time to think and create so I tend to find when I have a shower or meditate in the garden a lot of ideas pop in my head again. A clear mind and a few deep breaths.
We manufacture in 3 countries at the moment, our company motto has been to follow the fabric so we make linen in Lithuania, Viscose in Bulgaria and our signature stretch silk in China. I have a wonderful team of creatives who are also my friends. Jenny I met at Temperley oversees our production and Lela who’s been with us a year oversees our press and social but together we discuss all the designs and new ideas; who would wear it, when, how, how would it travel, what price point should it be and it’s so inspiring to have these meetings. Currently on Zoom! Sometimes we just bring in friends for another opinion it’s heaven!
What is your favourite piece from the latest collection?
I LOVE the foxglove Valentina dress in linen - I dreamt of it a year or so ago, my friend Fiona introduced me to a wonderful factory in Paris and I went out to meet Philippe and the team and fell in love with them all. It’s the beginning of an exciting new venture with them and I am so excited. Next stop Madagascar.. when we are allowed!
(Ella’s husband shooting at home for @yolkegirl)
Luxury loungewear has become the look of 2020, do you have a special spot where you go to relax and watch the world go by?
Currently in lockdown we are in my husband’s sister’s house in the countryside. We moved here before lockdown, back in March, so it is sitting out the back of the house watching the kids teach themselves how to do handstands. I long to see my Dad in Bristol and go for a bike ride with him ending in a neck oil beer. Simple things, both he and my sister ‘s husband are restauranteurs so we can do a whole cycle along with river and stop in a few for divine food and wine.
What are you looking forward to in the future and what does it look like for YOLKE?
Working on more exciting projects such as the one we have just done with Cressida Jamieson, & expanding both the homeware and day wear collections direct to consumer which allows us so much freedom and of course lower prices for the customers!
We are also calling on friends near and far to shoot for us whilst travel is restricted and also to reduce our travel so a new freelance international team is developing which is exciting! I have just sent my cousin in Ibiza all our new homewares to try and shoot on her iPhone.. watch this space!
Focusing on our responsibility to the wider community is something we are working hard on in light of everything going on around us - we recently did an instagram charity sale selling off our archive of pyjamas that we have collated since 2013. Being independent we are always cash poor/ clothes rich so we sold what we had and with thanks to our amazing customers raised £8000 for 2 charities in about 4 hours which blew us away.
But most importantly a renewed appreciation for the amazing women we can work with in the future and a commitment and respect for our responsibility in creating a space where women of all colours can see themselves in our imagery.