What it's like to design a collection with SENIQ
History of gingham, an interview with SENIQ co-founder, Valentina Thompson, and what's in the news
Welcome to TOGS! Here we explore the culture of fashion in the outdoors, test clothing and gear, poke at trends, and bring you interesting stories like the one you’re about to read today.
We are a reader supported publication, so consider becoming a subscriber below to receive our all of our letters and support our work
Hello readers!
Kellyn here.
We have a lot of exciting TOGS related things coming up. We have a new and exciting refresh to our newsletter on the way, a visit to Switchback to discuss the future of functional fashion, and a few more things we can't wait to share. We couldn’t do any of it without you and we are so grateful to every single one of our amazing readers.
Here are some good and some...less good headlines this week:
-J.Crew and Timex released a beautiful little fishy collab watch that sold out real fast yesterday. Between this and Swatch’s Audemars Piguet Royal Pop collab that went bananas, I think watch crossovers are going to be ramping up in popularity this year.
-Tech companies are desperately trying to associate themselves with taste, and the practice has been labeled ‘tastewashing.’ Spy tech firm Palantir just released a chore coat, which would be funny if it weren’t so grim. Last year Anthropic hosted a pop-up café in Manhattan and gave away trendy baseball caps embroidered with the word ‘thinking.’ Lockheed Martin merch went viral in Korea. These companies are co-opting the aesthetic of slowness, quality, and craftsmanship to tastewash you into thinking what they’re selling is the antithesis of that. Eeyuck. Good articles on the topic from The New Yorker, Dazed, and Huffpost. Fashion is political.
-I just attended another year at Mountainfilm—the best film fest in the world, in my opinion. I can’t recommend attending enough. The entire experience is amazing and I walk away feeling so deeply inspired and energized to do good in the world, a feeling that is far and few between these days!
-You probably heard the news that Everlane, the brand built on transparent and sustainable practices, was bought by fast fashion super-villains, Shein, in a 100 million dollar deal. Yikes! Bye Everlane.
Michael Preysman, the brand’s original co-founder who stepped down in 2021, has spoken out against the move and vowed to start a new venture. We’ll see!
-Pas Normal and Salomon released a new collab, with products ranging from race jerseys to hydration vests and running shoes. And more polka dots! I talk about the resurgence of the print in my last letter and I’ve been loving Pas Normal’s organic and sporty take on the print.
On to this week’s letter:
This past week, a project that I’ve been working on for the past year went out into the world. Cue the confetti cannons!
Introducing The Strange Garden—a collaboration between SENIQ and myself. A three-piece women’s hiking collection featuring gingham pants, a skort, and a snap-sleeve jacket.
For this letter, I wanted to dive into the process of creating the collection, speak about the design, and a share quick conversation with SENIQ (pronounced like Scenic) co-founder, Valentina Thompson.
Over a year ago, when we first started thinking about this collaboration, the topic of print came up. I was hesitant at first because prints are so hard to get right, and adding a technical fabric into the mix felt like it raised the stakes considerably.
In any collaboration or consultation, I always start with who is at the core of the brand.
The SENIQ customer, to me, is a proudly feminine outdoorswoman who is thrilled to see bold colors like hot pink and bright purple in technical gear. I love the unapologetically feminine space SENIQ occupies in the industry, and how they serve an underrepresented demographic of women. As someone who celebrates femininity but tends to dress a bit more masculine in outdoor clothing, I wanted to make something that was just as exciting to that pink-loving SENIQ girl as it was to me.
I wanted to find femininity thoughtfully—to achieve it somewhere deeper than just obvious colors. So we looked to prints rooted in history that hardworking women have been wearing for centuries and, of course, found gingham.
Gingham
Gingham is an evolution of striped fabric from Malaysia in the 1700s, where it then came to Europe and became more of its now-recognizable checked design in the UK and Holland. The French town of Vichy began manufacturing it, and it became so recognizable that the name became synonymous with the design, which is why gingham is still often referred to as Vichy.
The United States got its hands on gingham in the 19th century. Typically made of cotton or muslin, it was known as a low-cost, durable fabric option that could withstand lots of use in factory and farm work.
Gingham became the fabric of choice for tablecloths, picnic blankets, and aprons because of that durability, and through centuries of domestic association, it became associated as a feminine print. Gingham lived in the home: the fabric of aprons and curtains, kitchen tablecloths and napkins, the everyday textiles managed almost exclusively by women.
It crossed over from the home and into fashion and pop culture—
Gingham occupies a uniquely democratic space. It’s historically domestic, but somehow equally at home worn on royalty and in Hollywood. That range exists because of its history—rooted in function and durability, and then elevated by the women who wore it. For all of those reasons, it felt like the perfect print to bring into women’s technical outdoor wear.
And personally, gingham has been a favorite print of mine thanks to a pair of pants my mom made for me years ago. The sewing machine broke as she was finishing the last leg and, after hand sewing the final hem, we realized one leg was about an inch and a half shorter than the other. They’re my favorite pants for this reason. It makes me smile every time I look down and see one ankle peeking out. I can hear my mom groan and I giggle.
So, we set out to develop the right gingham. We worked with amazing SENIQ designer Georgia Newman, who saw our vision, and worked tirelessly to bring it to life. Over many many rounds and edits, we revised and dialed the print in.
And just in the nick of time, we landed on this final iteration only a couple months ago! But hello?! It’s perfect!!!
As you can see, the final version is rich with texture and has a very real, soft, weathered look to it. Compare that to some of the above samples and you can see the massive difference. Flat and printed, vs rich and textured. Hallelujah! All credit goes to Tina and Georgia for figuring out how to make it possible.
The second samples got in, I went out to LA to link up with my exceptionally talented pal Ian McMullen who was shooting our launch video and photos. We ransacked some craft stores, made some life-sized paper cut outs, rented this greenhouse for a day, and all got to work:
Truly can’t recommend working with your childhood best friend enough. Especially when is he one of the most talented and hardest working artists out there. I hardly have to say anything out loud because our telepathy is never stronger than when we’re in creating mode, together.
You can watch our little launch video here :)
This collection sold out within minutes on the SENIQ website, which none of us expected. At first I actually couldn’t believe it and thought it was surely a technical issue. It was not. I stood staring at my computer with my jaw on the floor for a good 10 minutes.
At the time of this publishing, there are still a few jackets, a couple of XS pants, and a few XS/S skorts still available on evo. (I wear an XS in everything.)
Because this was just a limited drop, they don’t have plans to restock, but if there’s enough interest maybe that can change..?! Either way, it won’t be our last project!!
Interview with Valentina
I spoke with SENIQ co-founder Valentina (Tina) Thompson to learn more about the brand, how it came to be, and what exciting things are coming—
Kellyn: Hi Tina!! Can you tell me a bit about your background and what roads lead you to SENIQ?
Tina: My love affair with product development runs deep and through generations of my family. I grew up in Columbus, Ohio in a retail household, with a working mom who built her career in production and sourcing. Dinner table conversations revolved around manufacturing, quality issues, and new product launches. I fell in love with the world of retail as a little girl, and was so captivated by the idea that this could be a real career that I never imagined any other path.
It started with landing my first job as an assistant merchant on the Victoria’s Secret Sport team, where Madi and I built our friendship and fell in love with the active industry and the craft of developing product with a true end-use. We both had the opportunity to move to Utah in our twenties, where we experienced world-class outdoors right in our backyards and got to deep-dive into the outdoor industry working at Backcountry HQ. We had the best product access in the market, an incredible employee discount and gear from every brand, but still couldn’t find a hike pant we were actually excited to spend our money on.
We had moved from Ohio to Utah bright-eyed and eager to build out our outdoor closets, only to find that the worst part of getting outside was getting dressed. Finding pieces that functioned, fit, and looked the way we expected felt impossible. We felt this collective shift, in ourselves and in our girlfriends across the valley, a real craving for better product. So we decided to develop our own collection and seize the moment. That’s when SENIQ was born.
Kellyn: Who makes up the SENIQ team? How many people work at the company? Are you still filling orders from your house?
Tina: We’re a small but mighty team of seven here at SENIQ. Madi & I, a brilliant two-person design/sourcing team, a head of sales managing a network of incredible female reps, our fearless operations lead, and our newest hire: a community and content lead.
As for fulfillment, we hand-packed every single order out of my mom’s basement for the entire first year of the brand. It’s an experience we genuinely cherish. It taught us so much about the trickle-down effect of product decisions through the full retail chain and reinforced how much the little details matter. We’ve been working with a great 3PL partner for about a year and a half now, but those early days in the basement shaped so much of our business to this day.
Kellyn: Can you explain the process of creating the print, why it was so challenging, and some of the background of that process?
Tina: Print is challenging whether it’s your first or your hundredth. It’s polarizing. It’s personal. It’s specific. That’s exactly why we were so excited to take on this challenge with Kellyn. To really push ourselves and take the path less traveled when it comes to collaboration.
This particular gingham, with all of its detail and dimension, was a special kind of chaos to bring to life. The print went through numerous artwork iterations before ever being applied to fabric, sometimes with 50+ colors living within a single piece of artwork. Nailing the artwork alone is its own challenge, but executing that vision onto a technical fabric is an entirely different ballgame. Technical fabrics are visually flat by nature, and the real craft is maintaining depth and dimension despite that.
Ginghams specifically can go flat and uninspired very quickly… think Brooks Brothers, think pizza shop tablecloths. There’s a delicate balance of scale, color, and texture that has to be perfectly dialed in to bring the vision to life. We went through 10+ artwork iterations and 20+ strike-offs before landing on the final version. It was a journey. And that’s exactly what made the end result so sweet.
Kellyn: I completely agree. When you’re creating new items for the brand, who is the SENIQ customer you have in mind?
Tina: I’d love to say we have a beautifully built-out customer profile. With high-level demographics that zooms all the way down to the flavor of tea she sips at the mountaintop. But honestly, 2.5 years in, we’re still building for ourselves. It’s so much more intuitive than strategic.
We founded SENIQ with nearly a decade’s worth of ideas and product needs drawn entirely from our own personal experiences. Most of these pieces didn’t materialize overnight. They came from years of trying on what was available, discovering more details we hated than loved, and a deep appreciation for vintage garments and the beauty of how things used to be made.
Madi, Georgia, and I think of ourselves as three-types-of-girls. We have wildly different points of view and aesthetics when it comes to both fashion and gear, and we come from different athletic backgrounds and interests. That tension is a secret sauce. We challenge each other constantly, while staying aligned on the things that matter most: fit, function, and a versatile aesthetic that doesn’t box you in.
We are building for the the girls like us. The ones for whom the outdoors is one of the most important parts of life, but doesn’t fully define who they are.
Kellyn: What have the first few years of creating SENIQ taught or surprised you? Any notable lessons learned in these first few years of the brand?
Tina: One of the biggest lessons, and the biggest surprise, is that taking risks is the only way to survive. Almost every second of every day. To create something from nothing, you have to drown out the noise, tune into your gut, and move swiftly. Against the odds. Because if you aren’t willing to do that, nothing monumental will ever happen.
If you aren’t taking risks, you’ll never tap the full potential of what you’re building. Move before you’re ready. Develop the prototype. Dive in. Get obsessed. Hire before you’re ready. Take on tasks, projects, partners that seem impossible. Go towards the discomfort. That’s where the growth is.
Kellyn: I’m always so inspired by your ability to just say yes and figure it out later. It’s such an important skill. Are there any upcoming designs/projects you can tease for TOGS readers?!
Tina: What’s on the development table right now: an exploration into the ultra-lightweight waterproof layer space for our trail collection, and the most innovative ski onesie on the market. Get ready babes. Party is just getting started.
What if TOGS became our fearless field testers? How sick would that be.
Kellyn: Our readers are truly some of the most amazing outdoorswomen and men I’ve ever met. I bet we could assemble a brigade of testers real quick!!
Anything else you’d like to add about our collaboration?
Tina: Two things.
#1: A reminder I don’t think we hear enough: create what you crave to see in the world.
Fuck ‘the audience’. Tap into your own rhythm. What genuinely interests you. Especially if it’s weird or different. And yes, I know I’m talking to an ‘audience’ right now. But y’all are different. And as you know, there is so much pressure on creatives to find their niche, to build for the algorithm, to focus on the outcome rather than the process. Don’t forget… your own perspective is the magic.
This project had more creative freedom than anything we’ve worked on to date. Every partner leaned in fully, and together we created visuals across product, photography, and video that we ourselves craved to see from the outdoor world. We didn’t expect most people to get it. Which made it all the sweeter when it resonated with such an incredible community of women. Trust your inner creative. She will take you places you never could have imagined.
#2: Lastly but not least, the worlds wildest thank you from the bottom of the entire team SENIQ’s hearts for Kellyn’s support for our brand from literally day 1. Kellyn was the 1st person I DM’d from the SENIQ account on launch day on March 13, 2024. She not only graciously field tested our gear but has been sharing our mission and championing us ever since. It truly has been one of the best experiences of this entire journey getting to create alongside her. Felt kismet. Can’t wait to keep bringing you physical manifestations of our collective brain children… hopefully every year until the end of time.
Thank you, Tina. I’m so incredibly grateful for this experience, it’s something I’ll cherish my whole life long. It was such a joy to work with such talented and driven women who celebrate each others strengths and just say YES!
If you still feel like reading more words, please enjoy this short piece I wrote to accompany this collection—
That’s all for now, folks. Thank you endlessly for being the best readers in the world, I’m so grateful to you all.
And one more massive thank you to Tina, Georgia, and the SENIQ team.
xoxox
Kellyn
P.S. Please send me pictures/tag me if you got your hands on this collection! I can’t wait to see it in the wild!
Mentally living in the Strange Garden for the rest of time. 🪴👩🌾 Beyond honored for your kindness, creativity, & pure brilliance 🤍