My name is Maryam Jebara and I was a student at Queen Mary for 6 years, from a foundation year through to my masters. I graduated with a BEng in Sustainable Energy Engineering and an MSc in Sustainable Energy Systems.
At first, I wasn’t aware of any enterprise competitions/awards being offered by QM’s Careers and Enterprise team, but during a visit to campus last year, a friend mentioned the Zero Waste Shop opportunity. I applied for that, got through the interview and was able to display my products at the shop for a couple of months.
The idea of starting a clothing line never really crossed my mind before the pandemic. I have always been an artist and I’ve always enjoyed drawing, but that was mostly a hobby and I ended up choosing a degree in Sustainable Energy instead.
Throughout my course, I was introduced to a handful of environmental issues that most of us are completely blind to. From studying about climate change, waste, plastics and the dangers to marine life, to seeing the crucial effects our way of living has had, made me think to myself “WHY?”.
During lockdown, many of us watched as the ozone layer began rebuilding itself, and it was quite astonishing because it was proof that limiting the use of harmful sources of energy would in fact work.
The fashion industry is one of the major polluting industries in the world, and produces 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions. In addition, up to 85% of textiles go into landfill every year (enough to fill the entire Sydney Harbour). Clothes made from polyester and other micro-plastics release up to 500,000 tons of microfibres into the ocean (equivalent to 50 billion plastic bottles/year) when washed.
After learning about these facts and the urge I felt to do something were what pushed me towards creating this brand. I read somewhere that “design is where art and science come together” and I became more confident that this was the best way to bring the two things I am most passionate about together. The name is a pledge of loyalty to the planet and to each other.
I think my goal for this business is to watch it grow into something great; a brand that people talk about, not just for its unique designs but also for its quality, the way it makes you feel when you wear these items, and the reasons behind the materials used.
It is not just about offering environmentally friendly and socially responsible products, we want to inform and inspire a global community to embrace more sustainable lifestyles.
Next steps right now would be marketing and getting the name out there and in turn having more people see and wear our items, because once they do, the feedback has been incredible.
As cliche as it sounds, my best advice would be to believe in your idea so much that you see yourself doing it before you actually take the first step. I remember talking to my family and I told them “next year we’ll be choosing what to wear from LOYALTY”. This was before I even starting working on our first designs. In other words, manifest.
Not only that, believing in yourself and your idea also helps you block out any doubts you might have because you are so sure of what it is you want to do and are so determined to make it work no matter how difficult in may seem.
This has not been the easiest journey in the slightest, and at the moment, I do everything myself, so the pressure does get to me sometimes, but when I look back to where I was a year ago, seeing how far I’ve come gives me another push to go again.
A lot of different people will have different opinions on so many things. Don’t let that sway your decisions. Yes it is great to get advice and it helps give you access to new ideas that you may not have thought of before, but you should always have your own clear vision of where you want to go and only you know the best way to get there without compromising your touch on your business. And if you are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur and starting your own business, I wish you the best of luck and I hope you do it, because thinking about it now, it is the best thing I have ever done and most importantly, it is something I can call mine.