Cinnamon Clothing Co.

Cinnamon Clothing Co.

I did it! I relaunched my clothing company this weekend (Friday, November 21st, 2014- I mean, these things should be documented right?!)
Ah, what a rollercoaster! I have been working on this for months and months! I was reminded that I first officially launched almost ten years ago! How insane is that?! Prior to that, I was making clothes in college- I would go thrift shopping and run whatever I found home, pull out my sewing machine, recreate it (pattern-less), and post ot on fotki! haha! I need to find my old account. My girlfriends would come over to my dorm and I would dress them and enter my clothes into local fashion shows. haha! My entire college career, on my desk, stood a sewing machine in lieu of a computer (thank you Jess for my first sewing machine when I was 16-17 years old)! & thank you to my Allysona and Lucy for always loaning me your computers to get through UCLA, haha!
Cinnamon stems from my maiden last name: Canela, which means Cinnamon in Spanish. A name I grew up detesting- it set me apart from others because it was uncommon, and opened up questions from my peers that I could never answer. I would lie and say my father was a cinnamon farmer (what?! haha). The truth being that I had never met anyone with the same last name as me, including my biological father. Every time I moved to a new school, I would beg my teachers to call me by my mom's last name so I felt like I belonged to someone...Yet, as I grew older, I began to create my own identity for Canela. I embraced it and made it my own. & eventually, named my little dream after it. Because there are not many things in life that are solely mine.
Cinnamon has grown with me as I have grown through the stages in my life. From patternless sewing, re-creations, to photography into heat-pressed shirts, to baby clothes when my close girlfriends started having babies, to painting on vans and purses.  And now, to my new little collection of Mamahood: the biggest challenge of my life! Celebrating everything mamas go through day and day out, and the littles that make our world go round and upside down!
I have SO many ideas that I am dying to put into action. But for now, I am starting very slow.
This weekend was full of emotions. Lots of self-doubt, lots of gratitude, lots of thinking I'm not good enough, yet so grateful. Not meeting goals vs. wanting to give everything away because that's what I've always done in the past. Then feeling guilty for letting my friends support me. A true rollercoaster. I have no idea where this little venture will take me, nor do I have any expectations. I am not looking to become famous, I am not looking for followers in social media, I am looking to create and represent the unity & support that we need for each other.
I am looking to believe in each other. To raise each other and know that we all have in common way more than is portrayed on the surface.