Creating One of the Most Coveted Experiences in Fashion, With Nina Garduno, Founder of FREECITY
Dear FoundHer...
Lindsay Pinchuk
5 • 854 Ratings
🗓️ 8 December 2022
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“We want to make things that people keep, that hold sentiment and personal memory in this journey of life,” says Nina Garduno, Founder and Creative Director of FREECITY which she describes as a way of life more than a brand. Nina grew up in Laurel Canyon and began working in fashion in 1981. She worked for Ron Herman at Fred Segal, working her way from sales to Vice President of Men’s until 2006. She created FREECITY in 2001 with the idea of seeing, making, and experiencing art and commerce through the retail space. She opened her first shop in Malibu in 2005, eventually opening spaces in Hollywood, Tokyo and Venice, CA. FREECITY is a visual language that communicates through storytelling, shared space, graphics and collected materials that relate to the people who experience it. FREECITY’s prints are made in local factories, using custom developed materials, fabrications, washes and dyes. They are made individually and hand-thrown, using hand-mixed paint with on-screen mixed gradients. It carries an innocence and a simplicity, a feeling that the wearer could make it, too. The making of it is the being of it.
Top takeaways from today’s conversation include:
- How the pandemic woke stores up to the many ways they could make money
- The immediate validation of social media
- How to adapt when you’re forced to change
- How to move from dreams into reality
- How to avoid poisoning your pool with toxic elements like greed, branding, and money
- The way art and commerce push up against each other in the retail experience
Quotes
• “It didn't come easy. It didn't come fast. It's self-funded. And I've really kept it in a place that I could be really proud of, and I am proud of it.” (39:35-39:53 | Nina)
• “It's not about being ahead of time, it's about being on time.” (51:02-51:05 | Nina)
• “Now, I want to be on time and be in real connection.” (52:21-52:25 | Nina)
• “I have reached my potential.” (55:52-55:54 | Nina)
• “Dream it to real. Dream it to real ideas. Who cares? Show me. Make it find a way. That's FREECITY. That's what it is. Stick with it, find a way, make it, dream it to real. Do it again. Do it right.” (57:33-57:57 | Nina)
Connect with Nina Garduno:
Instagram | http://www.instagram.com/freecitysupershop
Website | https://freecitysupershop.com/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Dear Founder, as you know, there's no blueprint for entrepreneurship. You wear so many hats, |
| 0:08.6 | you burn the men'side oil, you pour your heart and soul into everything that you do. But without a doubt, |
| 0:14.1 | the journey is worth every single second that you put into it. I'm Lindsay Pinchuk, host of the Dear |
| 0:20.1 | Founder podcast. I say this because I've |
| 0:22.7 | lived it for over a decade. I started my first company with $500 in my pocket and a baby in my belly. |
| 0:29.3 | I grew it and I sold it all. This podcast is my weekly letter to you. We'll talk all things |
| 0:35.6 | starting, growing, nurturing, and in some cases, even |
| 0:39.3 | selling a business. Together with some of my closest contacts, I'm here to help you find your |
| 0:44.2 | own success, whatever that means to you. The ride as a founder is the ride of your life. So come on |
| 0:50.2 | and join me for another episode that will get you one step closer to reaching your own founder goals. |
| 0:58.4 | Welcome back to another episode of Dear Founder. |
| 1:01.0 | I'm your host, Lindsay Pinchuk, and I am really excited about today's conversation |
| 1:05.4 | because it's not always that we have a founder here with over 20 years of experience. Nina Garduno, who is the founder |
| 1:13.7 | of Free City, is a wealth of knowledge and experience. And as you hear her say it in today's |
| 1:19.1 | conversation, you learn best simply by doing it. And your experiences are truly the best school in |
| 1:25.3 | life. Nina Gardunio is the founder of one of my favorite brands |
| 1:29.1 | Free City. I have lived in the two pairs of sweats that I own from them for the last two years. |
| 1:35.0 | And today I'm really excited to share the story of the experience of Free City with you. |
| 1:41.2 | And as you will hear today, Nina describes Free City as a way of life, not a brand, |
| 1:45.8 | and hearing a founder take you through this kind of journey is a really unique conversation. |
| 1:51.6 | Nina is a complete creative and you will hear that coming from every which way in our conversation |
| 1:58.0 | today. I am so taken by her knowledge and her experiences that she |
... |
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