This fashion brand tackles mental illness and it’s also really damn cute

Wear Your Label, is the gaining traction in the fashion world, and it’s no wonder. With really cute clothing, and the message to match it all, we spoke to the creator of Wear Your Label, Kayley Reed, 23.

What is Wear Your Label?

Wear Your Label is a fashion brand dedicated to ending the stigma around mental health. We design products with messages all about positive reinforcement, to remind people it’s okay not to be okay.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPtjb84hZf2/?taken-by=wearyourlabel

What inspired you to start the company?

I started it three years ago when I was still in university, and I was struggling with an eating disorder and depression. I didn’t tell anyone in my life about it because of the stigma. In my head I had this vision of what mental illness was supposed to look like, and I didn’t think I fit that image. Thankfully, I got help, but I realized that not everyone’s story ends the way mine did. So, my co-founder and I decided to create a fashion line that would create conversations about these issues through something tangible and something physical in our daily lives. Something that is as simple as clothing.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BU8E9suB7kE/?taken-by=wearyourlabel

When I first started Wear Your Label I was still very much in the midst of my recovery and very much learning about my mental health issues, and Wear Your Label has been the thing that has helped me the most in my own recovery. It has helped me meet so many people and create this amazing community of people who get it and who are also dedicated to ending the stigma.

I’m really lucky that I’m at a great place with my mental health and my part of my motivation to keep going is the desire to create something that I wish I would’ve had when I was struggling, and to design things that if I would’ve seen when I was at my lowest could have helped me reach out and get help sooner.

One of the things that inspires me everyday is hearing these messages from our followers and our customers reaching out and saying that they are talking about mental health for help for the first time, because they saw our brand or they purchased a product. It’s a really amazing feeling to know that we’re creating something that’s creating conversation and putting it in the hands of people all over the world.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUKbD20hIg0/?taken-by=wearyourlabel

What are some of the most powerful responses you have received?

Two instances stand out in my mind. One, is from a father who purchased one of our hats for his daughter. He recognized she was struggling with body issues and self confidence, but he didn’t know how to talk to her about it. So, he bought her a hat and gave it to her as a gift as a way to open up the conversation and say ‘look you can talk about this with me. ‘

The second one was of a young girl who was experiencing depression and was very suicidal.  She had actually planned out in her head the way she was going to attempt suicide when she got home from school one day, and upon getting home from school she opened her bedroom door she had gotten a package. Her mom put the package on her bed, and it was a Wear Your Label package, and she opened the package and saw the clothing and the notes that we put in the packages and she actually decided not to commit suicide that evening. That story always gives me goosebumps, because it’s a way of actually knowing that we can save peoples lives just by purchasing something positive for people.

What is the ultimate goal of the company?

Our mission state is pretty bold. It’s to end the stigma surrounding mental health, that’s clearly not something we can do on our own. We are focusing on cooperation and working more with mental health and nonprofit organizations forging a lot of underground work, because Wear Your Label is just sort of one piece of the puzzle. We’re the awareness piece. We’re creating new conversations, but we can’t do everything and we recognize that. So, building these partnerships with different organizations across Canada and the U.S. in order  to really support organizations who are providing mental health services and making mental health more accessible is really important to us.

Where do you see the company 10 years from now?

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In ten years from now I hope to be able to look back and see a massive shift in the way that people think and talk about mental health. One of the things that we talk about at Wear Your Label is one in five people live with mental illness, but five of five of us have mental health. So, we all feel happy, sad or anxious at some points. We all need to practice self care. We all need to manage mental health in the same way we practice physical health, and so really breaking down those barriers of mental illness and mental health is vital. As is helping people who might not experience a mental illness in their lifetime recognize the importance of self care and the importance of talking about these issues for people who are experiencing the stigma.

What is your favorite product?

All of them! One of them is the ‘sad but rad’ t-shirt, which isn’t on the site right now, but we’re bringing it back. The other is the ‘it’s okay not to be okay’ anything. We’ve redesigned it multiple times, and we try to include it with every season. That slogan, to me, is the epitome of what Wear Your Label stands for.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRlRBA1B993/?taken-by=wearyourlabel

What advice would you give to someone who is struggling?

I would say find someone or people who get it. So that you can recognize that there’s a community of people who are already talking about  these things, and you’re not alone in what you’re going through. It’s okay to reach out for help. It can be the scariest thing in the world, but it’s also so important.

What would you say to someone who is specifically struggling with the stigma aspect, like you were with your mental illness?

Yeah, that’s definitely what I experienced when I was going through my eating disorder. I think the beautiful thing about the digital era we live in is no matter where in the world you are you can find people online who are going through the same things as you. For example, there’s tons of really positive Instagram accounts and communities on Instagram that are talking about mental health really openly and are really safe places for people who might not be open to talking about it with their friends or with their family yet. They can still find comfort in following these accounts and use them as a way of building up confidence to talk about it with someone in their real life.

In addition, there are a lot of online services for people who maybe can’t access therapy in person. There are crisis text lines and online counseling services that are accessible throughout North America. Even if you are living in a place where the stigma is really heavy and maybe there aren’t resources available to you physically there are things online that you can access.

How can we all be allies to those struggling with mental health?

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Education is really key. If you haven’t personally experienced mental illness, educating yourself, on what difference symptoms mean and what different disorders and diagnoses mean is important, so that you can talk about these things with people who are experiencing them. Being a good listener is also really important.

@TheTab