N O T E T O M Y YO U N G E R S E L F With fashion in her DNA, Leslie Pitts’ journey took her from cashmere blankets to entire clothing collections.
THE TRUST FALL Leslie Pitts, creative director and founder of Lucky Jade Kids provides a poignant reminder in believing in herself and describes the non-linear path to her comfy chic children’s collections.
, It’s fall of 2002. We need to talk design, and by that I mean your designs. Your own brand. It’s time to leave behind the corporate design job that finds you frustrated and bored to tears and start something new. Besides being “over” the current job you have had to keep because your husband started a tech company (and you need health insurance), you are pregnant with your first child. When you are not putting together design presentations for large retailers, you are working on, or shall we say “obsessing” over your baby girl’s nursery. Sophisticated and elegant baby room decor is a struggle to find in 2002. After numerous visits to both big box stores and boutiques, you decide to design the bedding yourself, because after all, your mother is an interior designer and you love to design stuff with her. Something about this process sticks with you: was it the design process itself or the service you received in the small local boutique? The answer is both. The service you receive in a small boutique near your Los Angeles home changes everything. The service, the atmosphere, and the creative freedom feels magical. You want to be a part of that world. While learning the fashion business from bottom to top and eventually designing women’s after spending a few years in production, logistics, and administration, you find the niche you are looking for. You spot a window of opportunity in children’s and decided it is an avenue you want to pursue. You have never designed anything
