Andrea McPherson, our founder and creative mind behind the brand 💖 

Where did the name Saore come from?

I wanted to create a word for the brand to stand on it's own, to be it's own entity not relating to anything else, so that when you hear the word you know it only means one thing.  Not really needing a story behind it I ended up finding one along the way. The word for 'free' in Scottish Gaelic is 'saor'.  Adding an E to the end turned it into it's own word (the word for 'freedom is 'saorsha' so I like to think it's the americanized version of both of those Gaelic words).  It's pronounced 'Say or' the way I have it spelled.  Coming from a very mixed European background, with Scottish being a big part of my family's origin, it was the perfect word for the brand to be rooted in.

 

How did you get into fashion?

I honestly think the idea came from the soap operas my mom watched when I was growing up, and home EC class in middle school 😂.  Joking aside, I went to college for fashion design almost 20 years ago, and worked in the industry for a decade+, from large corporations to smaller family owned businesses. I always wanted to do my own thing, but never really had a clear vision of how or what that would look like until now.  Once this clicked, it was like a freight train taking off, and the vision has been crystal clear since that very day.  

Why American made?

I think when you grow up in a family that owns a manufacturing company here (tooling business) the 'American made' mentality is always there.  When I started working in the fashion industry, global manufacturing was growing like crazy, so American made was never even an option, in my head.  I had to give myself a mental reset to see it differently. I want Saore to have a bigger purpose than being just another clothing brand coming out to sell you the same things you see all the time now.  This purpose matters to me.  It matters to a lot of people, and it's something I can truly get behind to change how fashion works.  I want this to have a positive impact on making our country and our communities a better place to be.  

Just know though, I'm not reinventing the wheel. I couldn't do this if we didn't have a foundation in place with some manufacturing being done domestically. But, I want to play a part in creating more demand for it, so it continues to grow to become a bigger piece of the industry again. 

 

What does the aesthetic of the brand feel like?

I've been gravitating towards these brands that are made in places like Bali or Australia for a long time. Tulum is my favorite place to be because of the quaint small beach vibe it has.  Keeping the aesthetic a minimalistic, luxury kind of feel with some fancy attention to detail will always be the foundation of the brand. Gorgeous things to wear that make you look like you stepped off of any international beach, anywhere.  That's the vibe.  

 

Where do you see the brand going long term?

Right now I want to give people the knowledge and the option to spend their money in a place that's hard to find nowadays.  Long term, I want to see this brand become a front runner for the fashion industry's shift.  With more transparency in the process so everyone knows exactly where their money is going, and for apparel manufacturing in the United States to become a major player again.

And I joke about the end game for me, that when the brand is successful, we'll be buying land to grow the cotton ourselves, make the fabric in house, and manufacture everything ourselves. Once that happens I'll have a little piece of the land and some chickens and retire, but Saore will continue to grow and teach everyone that we can have our cake and eat it too 🇺🇸 🥰