The idea of being a “multi-hyphenate” is something that resonates with a lot of us. How are you able to take your skills, experiences, taste / preferences, etc. and use them across disciplines?
I am just a person who has a ton of ideas and gets excited about all creative outlets. I am also very entrepreneurial and have a high bandwidth, but yes, I do refer to myself as a multi hyphenate. I think we are all many things. I make clothes, shoes, I design homes but I’m also a mom and a wife and I am a landlord and an investor. I see a through line in most of my creative work. The pieces I create tend to have a depth of story to them, they are not fast fashion, more like future classics. Elevated everyday iconic kinds of pieces that tend to get better with age. The things that resonate with me in clothing mirror my work in homes. A great vintage wash in denim is a product of patina and changes over time. My work in homes is something that is also honoring a story over time and a thing’s authenticity, maybe finding a perfect denim wash is akin to stripping douglas fir wood trim and finding its grain and original finish, or finding the perfect waxed finish on Italian buffalo is like letting unlacquered brass age and gritting through the water spots to get to the good stuff. My loafer obsession has always stemmed from amazing mens vintage loafer inspiration, pieces from the 70s that have gotten better with age. All of these things are all interrelated.  I also think that when you are a creative and you understand the process of design and making, you can apply it to multiple outlets. Designing a home is similar to designing clothes, but with a different process. The through line is knowing what you want and having a vision and finding confidence, which comes from experience and developing a trust in yourself. Being a good designer is really just trusting your inner voice to the point of vulnerability and being comfortable enough to surf in that space.
As a 22-year veteran of the fashion world, you’ve had an inside look at the industry for a while. What do you think has changed the most in the business of fashion in recent years?
A huge shift is the direct to consumer business model that celebrates the designers voice and conversation with their community in a more intimate way. This has had a huge impact on the fashion industry and will continue to evolve and change designers' relationship with their customers and with stores. Of course you can say social media has had a huge influence too, and has influenced the pace of inspiration and trends and saturation.
Things have shifted so much. Especially in the last 5 years. The rise of the influencer has really taken over, new paradigms of influence continue to evolve and rise up out of nowhere and everywhere all at once.
22 years ago we were faxing tech packs to China at the end of each day. Now I “whats app” Italy at 11pm and get an immediate reply.  Same and different. We used to create catalogs and seasonal lookbooks, now I focus on daily content and monthly creative. It's gotten faster and more and more. It’s a lot to be honest! Ask any creative if the pace of creation is sustainable and likely the answer is no. 
And I too am in a bubble, my Echo Park bubble that is focused on myself. The previous versions of all the jobs I held don’t seem to exist anymore in the same way, or I am just too far removed from them to understand it. It all seems very different. When I was young there were big retail companies. I worked at a few of them and I was lucky to see their inner workings, to see how it works on this big massive scale. And then I was lucky to escape it.  Retail is dying, very apparently and these behemoth stores don't exist anymore. And the rise of independent DTC brands is replacing that as well as community boutiques, stores with a strong conversation happening with their curated clientele. It has become about relationships, the one between the design company and the consumer and the one between the consumer and the local store.  Big retail doesn't seem to be having these intimate conversations at a local level.  Maybe when it gets too big you just can’t connect that way anymore. I think people want more community, more connection, more locality (the locality can be digital) and are happy to engage on more personal levels. I think people are also happier putting their money in a brand they feel connected to.
Last year, you created a collection of loafers with celeb interior designers Pierce + Ward. What do you find you’re able to get out of collaborations like these with like-minded creatives?
Honestly, I get joy out of it. Sometimes it's just fun to meet other creatives and work together and create. I don’t think the end result of what a collaboration would do mattered to either of us. We both just were excited to make something together and that excitement translated to cool product. It wasn’t about a sell through or a marketing campaign, it was just about making something we both thought was cool and that’s why it came out so good. Opening your horizons up to the input of others is a good practice. I really enjoy collaboration and seeing my brand through the eyes of people I admire.
We certainly have our favorites, but we’re curious which of the shoes in your collection you personally wear on a day-to-day basis?
From March to June I wear Ballet Slips 90% of the time, although this spring I have also spent a good amount of time in the Camp Loafer. From May-June through to October I pretty much live in sandals and Juttis. From October to March I live in loafers and I’ll add socks when it gets cold, below around 65. I started the company with the Jutti, then the Penny Loafer as I was always a barefoot, no sock kind of vibe and always gravitating towards a slipper. When I started the company I had three slipper styles in mind, the Jutti, loafer and ballet. Three versions of a slipper sole, that's how I did it and those are still the styles. We’ve expanded now with sandals  and we continue to grow and keep trying new things.