Hello, my name is Asti. Asti Alicia. (Ass-tee Alee-see-a).
Ever since I can remember, I have been creating clothing. I have memories at age 5 of tearing up our dress-up box to hand sew little dresses for my Bratz and Barbie dolls.

At age 8 I learnt how to use our sewing machine. By the time I was a teen, my wardrobe was filled with up-cycled thrifts plus bits and pieces I’d made myself.

I took textiles at school and eventually dropped out at 17 to pursue my dream of becoming a Fashion Designer. After graduating with my Diploma in Fashion Design in 2014, I entered the big bad world.

The brand “Asti Alicia” started in 2016 when I first began making custom clothing for people. I did this on the side of a thrift business I started with my best friend in Auckland, NZ.

Eventually we decided to close our business and I moved into Bridal Couture.
This is where my skills were refined to the level I share with you today, but I didn’t stop there. During this time I also began creating and selling handbags and wallets from recycled leather - an entirely different skill to learn.

At the end of 2017 I decided to make the move to Melbourne, Aus.
It was a huge move and took awhile for me to get settled. Midway through 2018 I finally had my feet firmly planted in Melbourne and I opened my first studio.

Today I am in my 4th Melbourne studio and for the most part, survived a pandemic.
I’ll go ahead and give myself a pat on the back. It ain’t easy out here.

If it wasn’t clear by this point, one very strong theme throughout my life has been to reduce waste. I learnt as a child that our environment is fragile and as I grew I realised, not many people care to make a difference.

When I studied, I leant how unethical and destructive the fashion industry is to our planet. One of the number 1 polluters. This was then reaffirmed when I began interning with brands. At one stage, I felt like it was so destructive I couldn’t be a part of it. I felt like I needed to change careers.

But, I always come back to making clothes. It is what brings me joy.

So, because of that, it is my top priority to think of the environment and my impact on it whenever I bring new garments into the world. I try to support as many sustainable businesses throughout my design process as possible.

I hyper focus on natural fibres and dead stock fabrics. I chose to use the most sustainable packaging and haberdashery I can find. Every piece of recyclable material is recycled and 95% of scraps that would otherwise be destined for landfill, are instead used to make something functional. Usually furnishings.

As the brand grows, we are always striving to improve. As more opportunities to increase sustainability present themselves within the fashion industry, we will continue to incorporate them into our process.

Two things that had me very confused at the beginning of this journey was 1). The biggest complaint I hear is that sustainable clothing is too expensive and 2). Sustainably made clothes are almost always free size, flowy, unstructured and casual.

At the beginning, I tried to be the solution to both of those problems. I quickly realised that trying to do both was pretty close to impossible. Instead, my focus is bringing a Sustainable practice to a Luxury market (insert experience in Bridal Couture here).

Asti Alicia is your stop when you’re ready to treat yourself. When the event is worth it. When you know it fits into YOUR STYLE and not some fleeting trend.

Items from Asti Alicia are meant to last you a LIFETIME. They are limited and exciting. Most important of all, they will hold their value.

As we grow, we endeavour to bring more options at more price points and more sizes, so everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the brand.

Each purchase through Asti Alicia helps us push forward to shifting the narrative.
We can do better, and we should.

Thanks for reading this essay,
xoxo Asti