rosie

Here is Rosie!!
and a note from her owner…
I was actually on the hunt for an English Bulldog, but came upon Rosie and loved her immediately! I wanted a female dog I could name Rosie Ruby, and when I saw her, she looked like a Rosie Ruby to me. She is my first dog and she is a handful! But she’s very sweet and good protection since I live alone.
Name: Rosie Ruby
Nick names: Rosie Monster, Rosie Posie, The Beast, Poop face!
Breed: American Bulldog
Likes: Everyone, squeaky toys, digging up the flowers in my yard, taking over the whole bed, and a good belly rub.
Dislikes: People with there hoods up. Boxes, mannequins, and ceiling fans are scary!!
Favorite friends: Indi, Brownie, Baxter and Keegan
Rosie is a great dog! I love that monster!!

how-to tutu

A few people asked how they can buy the FP tutus from the photo I posted. We do not have them for sale, but Luren from the display team has some tips.
To make these tutus, Luren used camisoles from past FP collections and petticoats she found on the internet. But you can make your own!
It’s easy to make a tutu: just find a color range of tulle and netting at your local fabric store and a thick band of elastic. If you have a sewing machine you can sew tiers of tulle onto the elastic band in a pleat-y way, folding an inch of the tulle under itself and sewing that inch, then folding more tulle under and sewing that inch so you’re making pleat after pleat after pleat right on the elastic band.
You can make several tiers of pleated tulle on a thick elastic band. Then you can add little bands of pleated tulle onto the bottom of the layers of tulle for extra bulk. We layered bright colors under pastel colors so that when you saw the tutus from below you got a special surprise pop of color.
Then we sewed them to Free People camisoles. The effect of this can be achieved with your homemade tutu or any tutu you can find at a thrift store or a dance shop. Most dance shops carry the donut style tutu (really big and thick around the waist) and the more relaxed skirt-y tutu. You can just pin the tutu to the bottom of the camisole all around and then use a needle and thread to whip stitch them together.
Good luck!
Luren (see this entry to learn more about Luren)

we the free

So, no one in the home office dresses alike or wears the same outfit-ever. However, one thing we all can agree on is how much we love the We The Free line.
We noticed how popular the sweatshirts and tees were in the home office so we started to document everyone rocking their WTF.
Some thoughts from the home office:
“It feels good. It looks good….I never want to take it off!”
“If you are rushing in the morning and you don’t know what to wear..you can throw on your We The Free and you are good to go!”
“The pockets on the pullover sweatshirt rule…. I’ve never felt this way about a sweatshirt before. For reals.”
“It’s great to wear everyday. Its super comfy and I get lots of compliments when I wear it…”
Check out the full collection of We the Free

april catalog

Our April catalog drops today! Here’s a little about the shoot from our creative director…
Our April book was based on a trend called “Mayan”, taking typical print/color palettes of that culture and translating them into modern silhouettes.
We’ve had great success working in Mexico in the past (January 08 book), so we decided to head back. This time, our production scout, Dominique took the team to Tulum…about an hour’s drive or so from Merida, where we’ve done most of our shooting up until this point. Tulum was gorgeous…white sand, green-blue ocean, teeming with lots of nomadic, free-spirited folks (including the guy on pg 6 and 13).
Most of our beach shots were taken there; the rest were taken on the road, driving to and from that location.
Very spontaneous shoot…and one of our favorites so far.
P.S. The headdress on the front cover was actually purchased in the Houston, TX airport. Winds forced our plane down, and the team wasn’t able to make its connecting flight to Merida…so we hung out for a long time, waiting for our luggage, and found this. Not Mayan, necessarily, but made for an awesome prop. :)

indiana jones

Meet Indiana Jones. Indie is a sweet boy who plays nicely with all of the other Free People dogs and comes to work almost every day.
Indie belongs to Erin, who is the Associate Designer for Prints and Colors. This means that Erin and Indie work on the print artwork for all Free People apparel. They also help to choose and name the colors for each item for every season. So if you love the print on your favorite Free People dress or shirt, chances are Indie and Erin had something to do with it.
Name: Indiana Jones
Nickname: Indie, Monster, Dr. Jones
Breed: Catahoula Leopard mix (seriously, it’s a real dog. If you don’t believe me, look up the state dog of Louisiana)
Likes: Running, running, and running.
Dislikes: People who step on his tail, people who take his trashcan, and mailmen (of course)
Favorite friends: He has an awful lot of friends, but I think his favorites are probably Rosie (an American Bull Dog), Keegan (a Black Lab), Dave (Manager of Free People Direct) and Mary Ellen (Senior Designer for Color and Prints.)
How did you meet Indie: We rescued him from a shelter in Philadelphia. I just wanted to pet him, because he looked so cute and I ended up taking him home :)
Anything else you want to share: Indie loves working at FP! Sometimes when we leave at night he won’t get in the car! He just keeps running back to the front doors!

employee profile

*First name: Luren
*How long have you worked at Free People? Close to 2 years
*Tell me about your job: I draw on the walls at the new Free People stores during the openings, mostly in the fitting rooms. I design the seasonal visual display that goes to all the stores with my team, which means looking everywhere for inspiration, shopping in thrift stores, trying things out here in our studio, and seeing through production of anything that we make overseas. And I work on the designs for the packaging (the fabric shopping bags you get when you buy clothes at a Free People store).
*What do you like best about working at FP? I get a lot of creative freedom and responsibility, which is exciting because we get to be the face of the retail side of the brand–the part that people see when they’re wandering down the street or shopping in the mall. We get to make really inspirational, special setups in the store that get people using their imaginations and staying in the stores to look at everything we did to make it special, and that gets them to look at the amazing clothes!
Favorite FP items. Why? We The Free! The Relaxed Pullover Hoodie and the We the Free Short Sleeve Rugby Stripe. Anything from WE THE FREE. Looking forward to all the new products that are about to drop.
Tell me about your dog. I LOVE ALL DOGS. But I can’t have my own because I travel all the time for work and to explore the world. So I get to love all the dogs around the Navy Yard, without getting to spoil just one with all my attention. But IDA lives in my house, so she’s my most favorite!
What do you do when not at work? I design textiles, run a gallery and a gallery store which sells artist-made products with some friends, tie-dye old clothes in my yard, cook, grow vegetables in my garden, draw, travel, and I just wrote a book about screenprinting at home called Print Liberation .
What do you like best about Philly? I love Philadelphia. It’s a really easy place to do your own thing. You’re not in the world spotlight like you are in cities like NYC and LA so the pressure is off and people get to dig their heels in the ground and do what they feel passionate about. Which means people are more real and more straightforward. It’s cheap, so your life isn’t on the line if you screw up. People are hardworking and inspired.
Anything else? Picture credit: Mike Wilkes
Note: in pictures I’m in India working on display production, and wearing a free people burnout shirt