My name is Julia Lê, the founder and creative director of Finalê. I’m a mother of two boys ages 10 and 6. Our journey began at the start of 2020 as we entered our first lockdown in Melbourne. During that time I had to quit my job (which at the time didn't offer employees to work from home) so that I could look after and homeschool my kids. At that time, that was the best decision for my family circumstances. Unfortunately, that meant that I was left jobless and I was so lost. Not knowing how long the pandemic or the lockdowns would last I started to lay out all my options.
I decided why not take a leap of fate, as owning my own label has always been a dream of mine. I started researching about the fashion industry, what was missing and if I were to start how could I contribute positively. I started by searching for local manufacturers and decided to call everyone I came across to find out the process of establishing a label in Melbourne. From there I learnt that unlike production offshore, there's no "one-stop-shop" here. Here in Melbourne we have what you call a cut and sew method. This is when you source all your fabrics and trims, get your designs made into patterns before bringing everything to the manufacturer to then get samples made.
