Mark Forstater's Blog

Lost Forest – Clee Clothing

August 20, 2013 at 9:21 pm Leave a comment

My daughter Cleo started her fashion business- Clee Clothing – in 2009 when she was 16. She knew nothing about business and wasn’t interested in fashion, but she just had some clothing ideas that she wanted to make. Two of her earliest successes were the ‘Made in’ series

and the ‘I Love Ur Mum’ series, both of which were heavily copied by others.

After a couple of years she wasn’t satisfied with her brand. She knew it was missing something. She gave it a lot of thought and realised that what was missing was an identity. And the only identity that it could have would be hers. It was her creation and it was her designs and skills that was the essence of the brand and that is what she needed to focus on – her own thoughts ideas and images.

In February 2012 she held an event to create a Rebirth of the Brand, and brought out new themed designs that reflected her feelings about life.

This is what she wrote about the Rebirth: “Cleo started Clee Clothing aged 16 with no solid plan but lots of ambition. Fast-forward 2 years; Cleo paused, and realised how unhappy she was with what her project had become. Her lack of business understanding had led to a lack of brand value, meaning and direction. What was Clee Clothing, and what did it want to be?

Months of self-reflection later, Cleo decided that despite her discontent, she wasn’t ready to let go of all she had worked on. She decided to use all the negative feelings she had to begin rebranding, to work on new designs and to build the foundation that had been missing.”

Cleo relaunched Clee Clothing under “The Rebirth” because, as a Phoenix is reborn out of the ashes of itself, so was Clee Clothing.

The first collection under ‘The Rebirth’ is broken into 3 stages: Lost, Trust and Unrestricted.

Stage 1, Lost , is where Cleo felt she was before The Rebirth took place. As George The Poet eloquently puts it:

None of us have a clue why we’re here. And

Some of us are too fly to care. Life is a

String of mistakes that find purpose, the confusing

Thing is what makes that time worthless. You’re

Selling a vision, wanting us to buy the dreams, but

What if the end doesn’t justify the means?

None of us have a clue why we’re here, unless you’ve got

Something you could prove which you’d like to share?

Otherwise we struggle with two types of fear: the

Fear of what could be and the fear of what will be

Dealing with thousands of sharks feeling around in the dark.

Missing that childhood freedom you found in the park, which

You would fight for at all costs: but the

Bottom line is that you’re lost.

I recently saw one of her designs that came from the theme of Lost. It is Lost Forest, a beautiful black white and grey T shirt that is really a work of art.

As Cleo says, “Clee Clothing now reflects the honest and personal journey of its founder and designer – Cleo Forstater. The way a musician uses their music, the way an artist uses their art; this is her expression. All the designs, either explicitly or inexplicitly, echo a feeling or thought that Cleo has held.”
Check out Cleoi thing.com and you’ll see what I mean.   –

Entry filed under: Thoughts, Uncategorized. Tags: Clee Clothing, Cleo Forstater, Fashion, George The Poet, Lost, Lost Forest, Made In T Shirts, Phoenix, Rebirth.