HIT THE SLOPES AND APRÈS-SKI IN LOCALLY MADE LYMOON
By: Hillary LeBlanc
Often the most popular images of entrepreneurs are young leaders who graduate from a fashion program, however there is no exact age requirement or specific pathway on realizing your dreams. When Susana Millan moved to Toronto she never expected her interest in fashion would lead her to being the founder of a sustainability fashion line. Millan immigrated to Toronto from Colima, Mexico after she and her best friend decided to take a gap year from university, which led to the decision of calling Toronto home.
During her gap year she worked in various industries until she ultimately got a job at local dress shop http://marlasfashions.com/. “After some time I became the brand’s creative director. This job revived my old fashion dream and at that moment I knew that I had to go back to school and to get into the industry as a designer. So I quit my job and enrolled at George Brown. I must admit, I was terrified, going back to school after some years off the hook, could be very challenging.”
On her website, Millan adds “It was the end of the 2012 summer and on my first day of University when our economics professor asked the class to share our motives behind choosing International Affairs as a career, the truth just slipped out when it was my turn - ‘I want to be a fashion designer, I don't know why I am here’.” This realization led to sweeping changes to pursue her dream.
After graduating at George Brown, Millan tried to find work within the fashion industry however, the COVID-19 pandemic made it extremely challenging. During that time, Millan chose to pick up a new hobby not knowing what it would lead to, “To keep myself busy I decided to open my first fashion blog called Fashstation, where I start writing about fashion trends, inspired mainly by big fast fashion retailers. I realized that no matter how much clothing I was buying I could never catch up with the fast-changing fashion trends, it got a bit overwhelming! I felt like I was losing my own style, my essence. That's when I knew I wanted to create a brand where we can really enjoy timeless art pieces that could be passed on in life, moving at a slower pace, and taking aspects into consideration, like sustainability, ethics.
Millan developed Lymoon, named after the Arabic word “ليمون” which means Lemon, “one night while making dinner with my husband, who is from Tunisia, he was trying to teach me some words and that is when I heard the word “ليمون” for the first time. I loved it.”
In developing her sustainability line Millan made sure all garments are designed and manufactured in Toronto, “We are super proud to contribute to the sustainable movement by opting for ethical garment construction. We try to use materials with recycled or natural fibres as much as possible. We use fabric scraps for filling in various items, some are donated to local community centers where it’s used for kids to make arts and crafts. We have a long way ahead on the sustainable path, therefore we believe that any little change towards a positive change can really make a difference in the long run.”
Lymoon’s first collection called Toby is an “easy, uncomplicated and cozy sweatshirt. Something you can dress up and down and still look cute in. I personally love patches and cute graphics on clothes, so I thought it would be fun to create a character. Toby, who is a Canadian beaver that likes doing winter activities, could be considered Lymoon's mascot or favourite pet.”
Recently, Millan was part of Startup Fashion Week and launched her Love Story collection, a collection which Millan feels is the reason she wanted Lymoon to exist, “I always wanted to make winter fashion, I mean we live in Canada! Our winter season is pretty long, I always felt winter fashion was my call. The Love Story collection is a combination of ski and snow suits, jackets and pants. We played with textures and used timeless neutral colours with the exception of a few pieces in soft pink to add a pop of colour to the collection.
All our designs are my personal basics pieces to spend the winter as warm as possible with style and flair. I want our customers to create a love story between their pieces and special moments in life.”
Outside of creating sustainable winter garments, Millan has also encouraged sustainability by using her website to create a Slow Fashion Club, described as “a community interested in slow fashion, ethical practices, sustainability. A place where we can find and share information about these topics, and maybe inspire more people to learn more about the slow fashion revolution.”
Millan hopes that together, we can encourage more designers to join the sustainable/slow fashion movement.
“I believe together we go further and make a difference.”