nettle started as a project after college with my friend lili. it was sort of a response to having to find a job and be an “adult”. i knew i didn't want to work a traditional corporate fashion job and nettle was filling the void of not having anything fun to sew. i have a degree in technical fashion design (basically sewing and pattern making), so being so close to the production of a garment has always been my favorite part. we started in a realllllly small space (i think it was 64 sqt!!!!), with a focus on suuuper small batch production with fabric from la. some of the very first pieces were even made from fabric we still had from college. 

we knew a few things right away when thinking about what to name our clothing brand: we wanted capital letters, we loved the way a double t looked in a word, and we wanted something that felt a little angular and sharp. for a few weeks, we wrote names on a board and stared at them like they were going to eventually tell us what to do. then one day, i looked down at my vitamin bottle and saw the word “nettle.” we wrote it on the board, stared at it for a few days, and it just stuck. it felt perfect because nettle is medicinal and poisonous, which felt very on brand for my emo youth that inspires everything i do, hehe.

the “studios” part of our name came not long after. originally, nettle was going to be a bespoke, one-of-a-kind brand, but we very quickly realized we did not have the money for that dream. or near enough clout. lol. now we use both nettle and nettle studios, but most of the time we just say nettle. “studios” feels like our last name. the more formal version. we have come a very long way from the basement storage unit with no bathroom, but we will never forget that is where we started.