TORONTO — Sasha Ruddock founded Flaws of Couture, a Kardashian-endorsed plus sized fashion brand.
“Flaws of Couture Wraps everything that I am, up. I’ve always been very high fashion and couture,” Ruddock explained.
“I was hearing so many people in the high-fashion industry saying ‘You know women don’t want to see plus-sized women on the runway, they want to see what they want to be on the runway,’” Ruddock told the Brandon Gonez Show, calling this triggering.
One of Flaws of Couture first pieces was a sweater with the slogan “Pretty for a Big Girl?”, acknowledging the double sided compliment many plus-sized women receive.
“It’s people’s way of saying that they think you are pretty despite you being fat, despite you being the most terrible looking thing ever, you’re pretty! It’s such a backhanded compliment,” Ruddock said.
Recently Ruddock was crowned the winner of the Shein 100K Challenge. But said it was not an easy road to win the approval of Khloe Kardashian. She worked as a server for nearly 11 years to fund her business.
“Everything I’ve done up until this point has been on a server’s dollar, so a lot of people need to realise it’s a hustle,” she added.
Ruddock says that she would put collections of clothing out, and hope that people would buy them. Despite having a loyal customer base, she said designers are always hoping that their clothes will end up in front of the right people.
“Eventually something happens, and I think this whole Khloe (Kardashian) situation was one of my eventually,” She said.
As a winner of the 100K Challenge, she was given a cheque for a one-hundred thousand dollars to invest in her business.
“We’ve got to flip that 100K to a million,” Ruddock said.
Ruddock’s first runin with Shein was not a smooth one. She was first introduced to the online clothing company when she recognized one of her designs being sold on their website, without her knowledge.
“I was frustrated in the moment, but eventually after speaking with them, speaking with the team on the backend, I was blown away by how they helped me figure it out, and how they listened to me,” she told Brandon.
“In my mind, when I know better I do better. So when it comes to a company that is so open to saying ‘Hey my bad, let me make this right, let me explain how this happened,’ I’m not going to pretend like I don’t understand. As a business woman I understood it on a business level, I understood how it could happen, and I moved on,” Ruddock explained.
Flaws of Couture will be dropping a new line soon, but Sasha has her sights set higher than that.
“A goal of mine is to show at New York Fashion Week, it seems in my mind almost unattainable, which means I have to do it. If your dreams are not scaring you you’re not dreaming big enough,” she added.
Ruddock says that while founding her brand she has learned to rock what other people consider her flaws. While designing clothes that bolsters the confidence of plus sized women, she also works to inspire youth to be their authentic selves.
“We need to consistently be telling young people ‘comparison is the thief of joy’,” Ruddock told the Brandon Gonez Show.
When asked what advice she has for younger people, she says “stay the course”.
“If you give up you are never going to see what you wanted to see, that’s why you’ve got to stay the course,” Ruddock said.
