Age– 49
Company Name: Willa Phoenix
Position in the Company: Founder
Bio: Founded by Abby Barroll Brown who was struggling to find shoes to her taste within the ethical fashion market, Willa Phoenix began with an idea to create a glamorous vegan, cruelty-free shoe brand. As a long-time vegetarian, she embarked on a mission to invest time and effort into revamping and procuring more ethical and sustainable options across every facet of her daily life. And so, Willa Phoenix was born and with it a curated first collection inspired by her lifestyle, love of animals and world travel.
At Willa Phoenix there is a firm belief if everyone made small, responsible but manageable lasting changes every day, the world has a chance. Willa Phoenix strives to reverse the stereotype vegan and cruelty-free fashion cannot be as luxurious or desirable as top fashion houses using real animal leathers and skins.
With no formal background or previous experience in fashion, Abby started developing Willa Phoenix during the pandemic, researching manufacturers, and quickly tracking down a factory in Italy that had extensive expertise with vegan leathers. Deciding the best way forward was to keep the range simple, she designed one style of shoe to her liking with 4 various finishes: Black, nude, animal print and a party shoe. Matching clutch bags soon completed what is now the debut collection “Wanderlust.”
Last October, Abby was invited to show the collection in Los Angeles at Vegan Fashion Week, an annual event founded by Emmanuelle Rienda. Shortly thereafter Willa Phoenix became part of the Vegan Fashion Library, a one-of-a-kind showroom and styling house connecting designers and stylists to ethical luxury.
Whilst still very much in its infancy, Willa Phoenix has had its gorgeous shoes and clutches embraced by celebrities, stylists and influencers. They have graced the red carpets of the Cannes Film Festival the last two years, Netflix, Prime and FX Premiers, Charitable events, Music Awards shows, Afterparties and various publications globally.
Most recently through a collaboration with Vegan Fashion Library and Pinatex, Willa Phoenix made history by becoming the first plant-based stiletto to walk the now champagne-coloured red carpet at this year’s 95th Academy Awards. The golden pinatex yet to be released “Hollywood” stiletto made from pineapple skins were worn by Samata Pattison, CEO of Red-Carpet Green Dress.
Most recently, Samata wore Willa Phoenix at the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen
Website URL: www.willaphoenix.com
Social Media URL:
Instagram– https://www.instagram.com/willa.phoenix/
LinkedIn– https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbybarrollbrown/
