Haley Solar’s eponymous brand of unique and environmentally friendly fashion is all designed, sourced, cut, and sewn within a five mile radius of Eagle Rock. The designs can be found, along with a curated selection of women-owned, sustainably made, and vegan or locally crafted brands, at her charming shop on Eagle Rock Boulevard.
Haley shares her design and business expertise to help others develop their own clothing designs through a series of design and sewing workshops at her retail shop.
Read on for an interview with Eagle Rock’s own fashion icon, Haley Solar, about the workshops, her store, and her love for Eagle Rock:
What is the story behind your career in fashion? How did you come to open up a shop in Eagle Rock?
I have been sewing my entire life. I made all the costumes for my high schools theater and dance teams and headed straight to design school at 18. I started as a design assistant for a contemporary label in LA and pivoted to the retail world as a buyer and store director for mid size boutiques. I spent about 6 years at Anthropologie before leaving to start my own label in 2011. After spending most my time in factories or at trade shows I was really struggling and took some time off, took a serving job while I planned my next step and decided I missed the customer interaction and wanted to be part of a community so I decided to merge my two careers… fashion design and retail, and to open a store in my neighborhood, Eagle Rock, in 2016. I opened my shop with a little cash I had saved and a $2,000 loan from a friend. I kept my waitressing job for a year, working 15 hour days until I had established a customer base. I moved to a larger space a few blocks down Eagle Rock Boulevard in 2019 next to Muddy Paw coffee and opened our second store in Silver Lake in 2020 (I know!).
What led you to start offering fashion courses? What are your goals for the program?
I started sewing at 6 years old and I’m still mastering my craft. I learn new skills every day, it’s a very skilled and challenging job. I wanted to start offering classes to educate people in my community on how apparel is made. Garment work is something our society has really lost respect for with so much fast fashion flooding into our closets and instead of being depressed and feeling that my craft is being devalued I thought I’d do something about it and show people one by one how challenging and rewarding this work is.
What is the process to develop designs from concept to a wearable line?
Lol that’s a long process. It’s like building a house, you need the idea, materials the blueprints the execution the details. We teach all of those things, from sourcing to pattern making, cutting, sewing, fitting scaling production and getting your collection to market. We offer an intensive package that can crash course a semester at a fashion school in a weeks time and consulting for fashion businesses. I have 34 years of knowledge and I love sharing it.
Who are these courses for and how can interested people apply?
Our courses are taught by working fashion designers and are designed to teach beginners who are looking for a fun hobby all the way to people who are trying to launch their own line. Classes are by appointment and can be booked online here: https://haleysolar.com/collections/courses
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Haley Solar
4606 Eagle Rock Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90041
(323) 381-5502
haleysolar.com
Mon – Thur: 10am-7pm
Fri: 11am-8pm
Sat: 10am-8pm
Sun: 10am-7pm