[lifestyle ] How Stay Home Club Built A Lifestyle Brand Out Of Staying Home

[_Happy boy]

Even before staying home was a moral obligation, JOMO (the joy of missing out) was becoming the new FOMO (fear of missing out); hitting the bar was replaced with sober self-care rituals and the cozy hygge aesthetic took over wardrobes and homes. Social distancing—by saying no to social plans or taking a night off social media, for example—countered the pressure to be compulsively socializing and chronically busyness. Now, amidst the heightened loss, anxiety and depression caused by the pandemic, embracing JOMO is no longer just a mindset used occasionally to reduce stress, it’s a self-care strategy to surviving in quarantine. A club devoted to staying home, could not be more timely.   But the Stay Home Club—a lifestyle brand of apparel, home décor and prints—knew staying in was the new going out long before social distancing became mandatory. Olivia Mew created the brand in 2012, at a time when the JOMO trend hadn’t taken off yet. “Lately, not just this year, the trend I’ve noticed in fashion and homewares has been this stay home aesthetic,” the Club’s president and creative director tells Forbes. “But back in 2012 it wasn’t, everything I was seeing was ‘live, laugh, love’ and very positive.” Mew thought it would be novel to start a brand that embraced staying home, to relieve some of the pressure she felt to be out living her best life.

Mew was onto something then, but now that staying home is a government-backed moral obligation, she’s so on trend that major retailers, such as Ardene and Old Navy, are stealing her idea, profiting off her trademarked illustrations and slogans. “We’ve sent cease and desist letters to so many big brands,” the founder says. “Seeing companies put the words ‘Stay Home Club’ on a t-shirt is infuriating, they know we’re a small enough company that we don’t have the financial resources to pursue it legally.”

MORE FOR YOU
The Secret To Glowing Skin? Self-Pleasure
Kate Hudson On Staying Grounded During Quarantine
Holiday Gift Guide 2020: The Best Immunity-Boosting Gifts
Mew acknowledges she doesn’t own a trend, “I can’t claim ownership over a general feeling or be offended by people using the phrase ‘Stay Home,’ but it has watered down the brand.” As a result, the movement to stay home is pushing Stay Home Club to evolve, an inevitable progression for any company whose designs stem from one mind. “All the creative comes from me, and if I’m not doing the art myself, I’m doing the creative direction,” says Mew. “When it’s a one person brand, of course it has to change; there has to be some growth.”Now in her thirties with two kids, Mew is no longer drawn to the same slogans and designs she was in her early twenties. “It’s been almost 10 years, I’m not that same person anymore,” she says. “The brand has evolved with different messages that are more true to who I’ve become.” Instead of loud, grumpy slogans, she’s designing more subtle pieces, like a ‘Language of Flowers’ sweatshirt with labelled floral illustrations. “Just because you think it’s okay to not be okay doesn’t mean you want to wear that on a shirt all the time,” Mew says. “The sophistication of the message has grown.” Mew assures me she’s not going to start making shirts that promote going out anytime soon. “I still make clothing with cats on it, I can’t stop!” She laughs. “But we’re more focused on what’s wearable and isn’t just an in-your-face, negative message.”

Describing her personality and the brand as “inextricable,” it’s no surprise that the creative director’s designs reflect what staying home looks like for her. “If I’m at home with a full day to myself, I will find a way to clean everything,” Mew says, explaining the inspiration behind her ‘stress cleaning’ heart sticker. “Especially because we’ve been stuck at home, it’s been a huge source of relief to make our houses more appealing to us.” With redecorating and renovating on the rise, Mew says the brand has been leaning more into prints with quieter illustrations of delicate botanicals and cats resting on fruit.