Alice Pelati interview for Kerosene Magazine

Alice Pelati is the CEO and Founder of Alis 1996, a platform showcasing emerging fashion designers and helping new talent emerge. Born in Italy, the 24-year-old fashion entrepreneur currently resides in London. Raised in a family of Italian artisans, Alice was fascinated by the world of fashion while observing her mom managing the family atelier. Already at a young age, she started making clothes and collecting fashion magazines. Alice studied and graduated in fashion design at the European Institute of Design (IED) in 2018. After winning the graduation prize for her thesis project “FLYLIGHT”, she moved to London in collaboration with Schmid Milano. Her aim was to start a new life independently and to get new influences for her creativity. Initially, Alice worked as a commercial and visual merchandiser. In September 2019, this budding girl boss started collaborating with UK-based photographers for editorials and decided to open her website to show her portfolio.

How did you become an entrepreneur? Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

I grew up in an Italian family of artisans who have continuously started businesses from scratch up to date. My mother was managing an atelier of historical costumes, and my father had a mobile phone shop back in the 90s. I have felt the fashion industry since the beginning. I started to collect fashion magazines at the age of ten and began to sew with industrial machines at twelve. At fifteen, I approached the web, creating my first fashion blog, "Alice's fashion dream". Later on, I graduated in fashion design.

My family history taught me that building your own profession is really hard, but I guess I have it in my DNA. When I moved to London in 2018, I felt that here you can truly grow from nothing. I first started to collaborate with many photographers as a fashion stylist. Meanwhile, I was working in fashion retail as a visual merchandiser. And then, the colossal step came last year during the lockdown when I founded Alis 1996, an independent platform dedicated to showcasing emerging and small fashion brands. We support slow fashion and ethical beauty. Today we have ten different designers that joined the website, but we are looking forward to expanding our network.

As an entrepreneur, what is it that motivates and drives you?

I seriously started to dream of building my own company when I moved to London. One day I would like to be able to work from anywhere around the world of my choice. I am very ambitious and the kind of person that needs a challenge every minute. Being on your own is the best way to be versatile and manage many departments in the company and learn everything from scratch.

Are there any obstacles you came across in your journey?

Yes, many of them. First of all, facing the competition. Nowadays, bars are set so high. New platforms and businesses are born every day, especially since the lockdown began, and people have been at home following their passions. When you start your own brand, you have to understand that out there is full of people doing what you do and to accept the fact that there will always be someone doing it better than you. But this fact has to be a positive motivation every day to push yourself to do more.

Another of the many obstacles I found at the beginning was getting to trust people. Especially in the case of my platform, it took six months before finding designers to join it. Of course, when you are not known, it is challenging to do the first steps.

Could you describe your life as an entrepreneur in one word?

Adventurous. Every day is a different adventure.

What would you describe as the key elements to starting your own business?

First of all, concretely define how you can propose your idea. In my case, in the beginning, I had in mind to build entire e-commerce, selling the products of small businesses physically. But it turned out to be too complicated initially, so I developed the idea to create an affiliate marketplace, also focusing on promoting the brands via interviews, articles, and editorials.

You have to create a business plan to define targeting, brand promotion, goals, and everything useful for you.

Who inspires you the most?

Virgil Abloh, Florence Welch, Vittoria Ceretti, Tyler Mitchell, Celine (especially with the art direction of Phoebe Philo), Jil Sander from the 90s and many emerging designers that I collaborate with, Sissell Gustavsen, Nadja Striib and more.

Why do you think it is crucial to showcase small and ethical brands?

I think today is more critical than ever. I believe that the fashion industry is one of the latest to join ethical and sustainable groups. For many years, We've had electric cars in the automotive sector, KM0 food in culinary arts, and solar panels in construction. Still, it's just now that caring about the planet has become a way of life in fashion.

This is one of the main reasons I chose this niche for my business. I always wanted to support small companies founded by young women like myself. Women with great talent and ideas continue to face many difficulties, especially at the beginning, as I did.

What do you hope to see in the future for small businesses in the UK?

I would like to see small businesses being as important as luxury brands. I know that it is a utopian dream. Still, I would love that the idea of exclusivity, uniqueness, and richness that compels people to buy luxury could be transmitted in small business because being small requires you to have the same attention to each customer as luxury fashion does.

I also hope that soon the three realities of the fashion industry (luxury, small business, and fast fashion) will coexist together without interference between them. In the end, they represent three different versions and intentions of proposing fashion.

As an entrepreneurial woman, did you experience any misogyny in your line of work?

Fortunately, I have never experienced any episodes of misogyny towards me. Mainly because Alis1996 was born as a womenswear platform showcasing female designers.

Nevertheless, I recognize the harsh measures in my line of work in which women have to navigate daily. And I believe we need to shine more light and advocate for better equality in the workplace.

What are your future plans?

I am looking forward to expanding the platform soon, gaining more attention from visitors and brands that want to join us. By next year I am planning to define all the aspects of it.

In the more distant future, I would love to open a couple of boutiques worldwide, hosting many small businesses. I would like to build my own app, finance scholarships for fashion students, and who knows, maybe even opening my own fashion label.

What is your best advice you could give to aspiring entrepreneurs?

If you really want to pursue this career and have a great idea to develop, try to do it in the right place at the right time. Research, learn as much as you can, take time, prepare yourself and just do it!