In Guangzhou, the fashion industry is everywhere.
It’s on the back of motorbikes stacked high with rolls of fabric. It’s in the narrow aisles of the fabric market, where shop owners pull out swatch books with hundreds of textures that compete for your attention. It’s in the sound of scissors cutting through cloth and buttons dropping on countertops.
I flew to Guangzhou to visit one of our new production houses and spent a week focused on the most important part of Mixed: the product. These trips always pull me out of the everyday rhythm of running the business—emails, meetings, launch calendars, inventory decisions, all the little fires—and bring me back to the physical work of making clothes.
Being on the ground is different. The product is right in front of you. You can touch it, pin it, watch how it moves, and decide in real time whether it’s right. My focus was to improve our fabrics and silhouettes: sourcing softer materials like cupro and silk, refining the pieces Mixed has become known for, and exploring new shapes while keeping function first.
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The days at the production house had their own rhythm. I edited fit, sourced fabrics, and color-corrected prints while sipping bubble tea and taking bites of dumplings between fittings. Someone would bring out a sample, we would look at it on the body, discuss the neckline, adjust the leg, compare the print color to the original artwork, and decide what needed to change. The team moved constantly between their desks, the showroom, and the fabric market, often working until 9pm with the kind of energy that only exists when people are making something in real life.
A few different days, I hopped onto the back of a bike and rode to the fabric market. I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the scale of it: buildings upon buildings, floors upon floors of every fabric, trim, and finish you could imagine. Walls covered in tiny squares of color. Stalls filled with swatch books. Rolls of fabric stacked and wrapped on the streets.
I must have rubbed a thousand fabrics between my fingers during this trip. Crisp cotton, soft cupro, fluid satin, structured twill. From the outside, sourcing can look like shopping, but it is really decision-making under pressure. I am not just asking whether something is beautiful. I’m asking whether it will drape the way I need it to, whether it can be printed, whether it will feel good after six hours of wear, whether it will work on different bodies, and whether it will support the shape or fight against it. The whole experience was definitely overwhelming.
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This trip reminded me how much the small details matter. The wrong fabric can flatten a beautiful print. The right one can make even a simple silhouette feel special. The shape of a neckline can change the entire mood of a dress. The curve of a pant leg can make a jumpsuit feel effortless or overwhelming. The small details are never really small.
I left Guangzhou feeling clearer about how we continue to evolve at Mixed: improved fabrics, stronger shapes, distinct prints, and more intention. These trips always remind me that product is the heart of the brand. Before the photoshoot, the launch, the email, or the product page, there is the work itself: the fabric, the fit, the people, and the thousand small decisions that make a piece feel right.
Hugs,
Nasrin
P.S - Shortly after returning from my trip, we hosted our first in person shopping event of the year! It was the most perfect afternoon—100+ people RSVPd and the studio was filled with the most fun women to shop with. Loved meeting you all and can’t wait for next month’s in studio event!
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