Today we’d like to introduce you to A. Finney.
A, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Andrea and Me and Me Too Apparel and Lifestyle, was founded in 1999 as an e-commerce online boutique selling an eclectic assortment of products and styles. The business was named after my daughter, Andrea, who passed away in 1997 due to complications of Asthma. We create for people with “way too much attitude” to dress or look like everyone else on the planet. Our motto is simple: Keep it affordable and make it beautiful! We are the design label with “plenty of attitude.” Our product collection consists of trendy and sometimes whimsical products.
It was hard to find beautiful one-of-a-kind things that were also affordable, so I decided to make them myself and for the other budget stylistas out there. Today, we design our products to be beautiful conversation-starters. We sell our unique one-of-a-kind pieces within the low to moderate price point range from under $20 to $100. We like to say that we make luxe affordable.
I am a self-taught constantly evolving graphic design artist/accessories designer/fashion designer because I couldn’t decide on just one. I apply my artistic skills to the products we create such as handbags, the Cool Tees and Tops for Women Collection, Necklace Cuties Collection (handcrafted jewelry), The Pretty Pillows Collection of decorative throw pillows, note/art cards and Coffee Mug Cuties (ceramic mugs).
Even as a child growing up, I was always a creative type. In high school, after completing about one semester of a sewing class, which obviously was not nearly enough training; my sister and I started our first fashion design company. We made Dashikis for our friends and neighbors. We took measurements of people when we took their orders, but somehow the Dashikis did not fit most of them. We had one customer who bought one of the Dashikis to go to a party that night, but when he tried it on, it was too tight. After struggling to pull it over his torso, he started screaming and yelling about not being able to get it on, but he wanted to wear it because he had planned his wardrobe for the evening. So, he actually tore the seams apart on each side and wore it like that. True story. That business soon ended, for obvious reasons, of course, but we weren’t done. We then bought felt fabric and started making vests cut into fringe strips at the bottom and made matching skirts cut into fringe strips at the bottom.
We then moved on to dolman sleeve dresses (made without using patterns) that had a sash belt. We added white fringe along the bottom of the dress and sleeves. We were truly ahead of our time with that one. The world wasn’t quite ready for us. As the universe turns, in 2015, I saw a similar dress for sale in a magazine that had dolman sleeves, a sash, but no fringe. We should have saved our original dress because it would have been worth a lot of money today. Then reality set in, and like most dreams, had to be deferred or at least done after work and on the weekends, because I had to work a paying job, so I started working as a legal assistant. While growing up, I wanted to be a lawyer like Perry Mason and a designer fashion designer. Well, I didn’t become a lawyer, but I did work as a legal assistant, which was the next best thing.
I have been in many craft and art shows, but these are the ones that stand out the most. In 2002, I went through another design evolution. I entered an Accessory Design contest at the Black Fashion Museum in Washington, D.C. (which is now part of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.). My submission was a women’s belt design I called Waist Accents. It was a decorated suede belt that actually draped on the waist and hung there. I won in that category.
I was also one of fifty featured artists who exhibited at The Art of Democracy show at LUMA Museum at Loyola University in 2008. It was a show put on by Stephen Fredericks to showcase artist dissent and it coincided with the upcoming election. I did a piece titled “Subprime Mortgage, Read the Fine Print.” The words Read the Fine Print were written in reverse. I created the piece in response to what was happening in the mortgage lending industry.
In 2014, I was one of the vendors at the first ever Made in Chicago exhibition, which featured fashion designers as vendors at what is traditionally a food festival called Taste of Chicago.
Some of our products are manufactured on demand when they are ordered, so we are able to change or update our products within a very short period of time. We would not have that luxury if we mass-produced our products. Consumer demands often shift quite quickly and you’ve got to be able to change quickly to meet that change.
Our mantra is to never give up. Never give up on your life’s passion because if you have a skill or gift and you want to use that gift or skill to make it your life’s work, do it, no matter how long it takes. They say, do what you love. So, if you love it, then do it. You’ll find a way to turn it into a something that benefits others.
Has it been a smooth road?
It wasn’t always easy because as an entrepreneur, you run into challenges which often have to do with money. You need money for supplies, equipment, advertising and other incidentals that pop up along the way. But, as an entrepreneur, you are so passionate and committed to and believe in what you’re trying to accomplish, you find a way to finance the projects you want to succeed.
So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Andrea and Me and Me Too story. Tell us more about the business.
I am a self-taught constantly evolving graphic design artist/accessories designer/fashion designer because I couldn’t decide on just one. I apply my artistic skills to the products we create such as handbags, the Cool Tees and Tops for Women Collection, Necklace Cuties Collection (handcrafted jewelry), The Pretty Pillows Collection of decorative throw pillows, note/art cards and Coffee Mug Cuties (ceramic mugs).
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
We will continue to evolve and create beautiful things and expand our product offerings.
In the future, we hope to help train others in what we do, so they will have an easier time than we did starting out. We especially would like to work with young mothers who are balancing a job and raising children alone. It is very hard to do when you work for someone else. You are expected and required to be there even if your babysitter didn’t show up, or your child has a cold.
When mothers are able to run their own lives around their work schedules, such as being entrepreneurs, they are able to keep an eye on their children, and be able to feed and provide for them without all the stresses involved when you work for others.
Pricing:
- We sell in the moderate price point range from $20 to $100
Contact Info:
- Website: www.andreaandme.com
- Phone: 312-685-1799
- Email: andreaandme AT hotmail.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/prettypillowscollection
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/artfashionhome
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/artfashionhome/
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