Never Fully Dressed founder on global success, new partnerships, and dopamine dressing

"I think through colour — if you’re having a rough day, it brightens your day. It can be quite infectious."

Mon, 27 May, 2024 - 11:09

Following in her family’s footsteps, Lucy Aylen began selling her designs on a market stall on the trendy Portobello Road in London. Her love of vibrant colours and unique prints found a cult following. From there Never Fully Dressed came to life.

“My parents were market traders and they had a lot of stalls when I was growing up. I had that shop store in my blood, so it just grew from there,” says Aylen.

As the brand evolved into online, social media was in its infancy, which worked in Aylen’s favour. Social media was a nice place to be and Aylen cultivated a community around it and the brand.

“I think when social media came about that was the birth of that bedroom business. It enabled really small independent businesses to have a shop front but to the world,” explains Aylen.

“You didn’t need a big massive marketing budget, you could get a bit of a following. When it first started there was the real meaningful community and collaboration.” Despite her global success online, you can tell by how she talks about seeing customers buying her pieces in person that there’s a big pull for Aylen to have a real-life retail presence.

“It’s so wonderful to be on the shop floor when I see someone try something on to see the confidence it gives someone. I think through colour — if you’re having a rough day it brightens your day. It can be quite infectious,” says Aylen.

Following the opening of her New York store, Aylen began to look to Ireland, her fourth biggest market, for a retail space.

Lucy Aylen, founder of Never Fully Dressed, pictured at Avoca Suffolk Street

A partnership with Avoca was a match made in print heaven for Aylen.

“I love that real creative vibe Avoca has, it feels like a creative space. There’s quite an eclectic mix of brands with beautiful print mixes and you are buying into the whole energy there,” says Aylen. “You can do head-to-toe and your whole life in one store, from a bit of homeware to a dress for a night out. I think our print and label suits that mix.” On meeting Aylen, you instantly feel her energy and it’s easy to see how her brand mirrors her personality. For Aylen, the energy you feel from what you wear is important. It’s this same energy that attracted her to Ireland.

“I like Ireland, there’s that fun approach to dressing. When you’re here you can see that Grafton Street is heaving. There’s a great buzz about it which resonates with me.” Building a community around Never Fully Dressed has always been important to Aylen, so it seems natural for her to have a retail space. During Covid, when the world shut down, Aylen became more present online, nurturing the community she had already established.

“During covid it really came down to how we communicated with our community and our customers. It was also a turning point for me where I had never been on our Instagram, but through Covid my husband built a set in the garden,” she says. “It was the first time I was present online and I think that closed that bridge between me and the customer.” Despite the darkness that Covid brought, it was a big growth period for the brand.

“It was scary at first, but people turned to that dopamine dressing, colour was a nice bit of escapism for people,” reflects Aylen.

The Never Fully Dressed mantra is all about feel-good dressing. As a female business owner, producing clothes for women, Aylen knows what women want. She also knows that we aren’t all the same size, so having a brand with sizing from a UK 6-28, was a must for her. And more recently they have launched a petite range for women under 5’ 3, which is a win for me.

Aylen’s days running a market stall has led her to running her business more consciously. Never Fully Dressed was the first brand in Britain to start a Preloved initiative.

“We’ve been doing it for about 10 years. You can sell your preloved NFD to us and you get points. It’s about shopping consciously and continuing our circular programme of fashion.” In keeping with sustainability, Aylen is always looking at ways from production to the fabrics she uses, to improve the carbon footprint of the brand.

“We have an honest voice on how we run all levels of the business so naturally that comes into the product as well. There’s no wastage in any of our processes, even into how we lay the patterns efficiently, so there’s less wastage that way,” explains Aylen. “We use to use the left over fabric as facemasks, but now we use them as scrunchies.” Aylen admits she is constantly learning and that knowledge is key when it comes to sustainability.

“All of our knitwear is sustainably sourced, our viscose is made from wood pulp. We are being really conscious where we can. Most of our fabrics are sustainably sourced,” says Aylen. “And we are now moving more to natural fibres rather than recycled as we learn more through education. Recycled fabrics can only be recycled once. This knowledge helps us to improve the process and products that we make.” Anyone who is a fan of Never Fully Dressed, will know that print is at the heart of the brand. Over the years, the development of the NFD prints has evolved from Aylen’s simple sketches to intricate detailing that would run cohesively through a range.

“The prints are unique in that they are hand-painted. The designers come on a lot of research trips. There’s a real integrity to the design process,” explains Aylen. “For example, we would scan the inside of a shell. It would almost have a shell footprint. We would add in layers all the time, revisit and rework the print. The more you look, the more you see. It might look like a geo but if you look closely there might be a little martini glass or a little lobster.”

Rolling out into six Avoca stores throughout Ireland, customers can expect a feast for the senses with a lively explosion of colour and an instant hit of dopamine dressing, which is synonymous with Never Fully Dressed.

“A lot of the range and design was inspired by European Summer. There are a lot of Lisbon influences, Portuguese tiling and ceramics can be seen in the print,” explains Aylen. “Where we print colour into natural fabric, it absorbs slightly. It’s bright but there’s a slight mutedness to it, so it’s not harsh and feels really soft in the colour for summer.” The range will also include NFD’s icon pieces that include sequins.

“Expect to see our sequins, that is just the best quality sequin in the game. It’s beautiful and has a heavy drape to it.” Aylen says beaming. “We also have a nice plisse pleated fabric, that works well on different figures and shapes.” As I bid farewell to Aylen, I can’t help but think that the retail-partnership with Avoca is just the beginning of Never Fully Dressed in-store presence in Ireland. And if feel-good dressing looks this good, I’m here for it.