Me…

Thank you for taking the time to review my first brand, Pear Collections, and read my blogs. At this point, you’re probably wondering who I am, why I care about pear-shaped women and why you should read any further…

Well, here we go.

My name is Angie, and I am a stereotypical Canadian woman, born and raised, who loves her hockey, whiskey, and maple syrup. I started travelling the world when I turned 18 and migrated to Australia over seven years ago.

When I was a little girl, all I wanted to be was a prima ballerina. I worked tirelessly to achieve my goal, which resulted in multiple hospital visits and arthritis in my hips, knees, ankles, and feet. Sadly, all my efforts were in vain when I realised I would never have a ballerina body. 

Around the age of 12, I came to the realisation that not everyone has the same body type. Here I was, 12 and just assuming I would get my Barbies’ bodies and that life would be great. As chance would have it, I am NOT Barbie, and my pear-shaped body took over my childhood dreams.

Always a planner who needs goals in my life, I quickly altered my life goals and focused on a life in fashion. For years, I had become obsessed with drawing dresses, and after leaving pages of designs all over our house, my mother decided it would be a good idea to have me learn to sew. 

With sewing lessons, I created my first business, Ani Designs. Though I was young, I truly cared about this business and worked to perfect my fashion skills so I could mend and sell garments. Ways down the track, I ended up getting my Advanced Degree in Fashion Design, which led me to believe I would hate to be a high-end designer, and I began a career working in the background on growing fashion brands as a brand manager.

Throughout this career development, I was struggling with a lot of self-hate due to my body, and although I was passionate about fashion, I hated anything that had to do with my body. I would hate shopping trips and often only purchased clothes when it was 100% necessary. In fact, I will never forget a trip I took in 2013. I went home to Canada to see family when my sister forced me to go jean shopping (I had mistakenly told her I had no pants that fit me anymore). Since she knew the issues I had with shopping, she tried to keep me positive and even offered to buy me a pair. Needless to say, we entered the first shop, and after finding a pair I absolutely loved, I ended up breaking down crying in the fitting room because nothing fit.

This experience has plagued my adult life up until a few months ago. After having another horrible shopping experience and crying to my partner, he looked me down and simply said: “Then do something about it”. At that moment it was like someone slapped me in the face. I have multiple friends who experience the same issues with clothing; however, I had never considered that I could be the one to change things until that moment. I started to ask myself: “Why couldn’t I do something about it?” I had been working within the industry for years and knew how to run fashion brands; “Why not fix the problem?” 

So here I am, fixing the problem. Pear Collections is not this innovative fashion brand; it is a common-sense brand that simply creates classic, beautiful, comfortable and practical garments for women who shouldn’t have to cry every time they go shopping.

So, this is me. This is why I created Pear Collections. This is why I care.