Hello, First name / friend! Hey everyone! It’s Rashida here, jumping in the room for our first post! Welcome to the Charm Pack and thank you for joining us on this new adventure! It’s so hard to believe that it’s been 10 years since we’ve been working together first as Cotton + Steel and now as Ruby Star Society! Truly a decade of making magic together. We have built an incredible bond over the years and we’re now not only colleagues, but a family. Sisters. I love this group of women more than words can express and I’m looking forward to seeing what these next years together have in store for us. |
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When we all signed up to become Cotton+Steel, we hadn’t previously worked together, and had no idea what to really expect. Our first trip to meet up and start work on our initial collections was to LA in 2013. We spent a week there holed up in a hotel together, working around the clock on our first collections, having daily meetings with our parent company, and essentially taking our crazy idea on its first test drive. That trip went far better than we could have imagined and we all bonded right out the gate. We joked and laughed and told stories and shared meals; we stayed up too late and drank lots of coffee to recover each morning, and we left LA feeling like we had just gone to Summer camp and made new life long friendships. |
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This special blend of amazing personalities, work ethics, talents, and a deep love for collaboration was something we had all been craving. We each bring something different to the table and that’s what I think really makes this team work so well and continue to work so well together. |
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Our support for one another transcends far beyond our work as designers. Hardly a day goes by that we’re not in contact in some way, not only discussing work, but sharing personal life stories, sending silly memes, having difficult conversations, venting, crying, uplifting each other, and especially laughing. Oh, the laughing! I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve stepped away from a Zoom meeting or a phone call with my face hurting from all the laughing. These women are all so funny and I love so much that we can crack each other up. |
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Our journey hasn’t always been easy. There was a period of a few years when things were quite difficult and we weren’t able to speak publicly about any of the maddening and exhausting things going on behind the scenes with our parent company. We continued doing our work and meeting our deadlines and pushing ahead, even while it felt like things around us were falling apart. Those days were difficult and we weren’t sure if we would land on our feet, or have an opportunity to continue working together. But, we persevered and found a new parent company, Moda Fabrics, and have rebuilt our brand from the ground up. We chose a phoenix to represent Ruby Star Society because this venture would be a new beginning for us, a rebirth. |
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Since starting RSS, we’ve continued to experience great challenges (the pandemic, anyone?) but also enormous growth as individuals and as friends. Now, ten years in, we’re ready to try something new. We’re ready to share a little more of ourselves with all of you, without whom our entire journey together would have been impossible. Thank you for being here. We will forever be grateful for your love, support and for joining us on this journey of perseverance, sisterhood, creativity, and fabric magic! |
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here on The Charm Pack on September 5th! |
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