Q+A WITH CO-FOUNDERS, Deirdra & IESTYN JONES
If you’re like us and spend a lot of your time in the kitchen, you know the importance of a good apron.
Iestyn and Deirdra Jones set out to create sleek and functional aprons from their company, Jones of Boerum Hill. We love their aprons so much, we worked with them to design special by CHLOE. aprons.
Check out our interview with Iestyn and Deirdra below to learn more about their company and inspiration.
by CHLOE: Tell us a little about yourselves.
JONES OF BOERUM HILL: We are an apron and workwear company, Jones of Boerum Hill, established in 2012 in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. Jones is our last name, and we are a husband & wife team.
bC: What’s the story behind Jones of Boerum Hill?
JoBH: A friend who works at an established restaurant in TriBeCa knew that one of us worked in fashion (Deirdra) and asked us if we would like to produce custom aprons for the restaurant. Once we finished the project, and saw the aprons in action and heard the great feedback, we realized that there was a big scope for aprons/workwear coming from our fashion perspective.
bC: What was your experience like starting your own business?
JoBH: Daunting, yet exciting! There is no better feeling than seeing your aprons in restaurants and getting wonderful feedback from all our clients. Owning your own business is also very stressful with extremely long hours.
bC: What were some challenges you faced?
JoBH: Restaurant openings! It is a very stressful process for restaurateurs, making sure that everything is ready for opening. In a lot of cases we have managed to turn around orders in very limited timeframes, which have been our most challenging work. Thankfully, we haven’t let anyone down yet, and have managed to make all of the deadlines so far!
bC: What sets your aprons apart from others in the marketplace?
JoBH: Definitely the fit! Deirdra is a guru with fit and currently works as a technical designer (fit) manager at Steven Alan, and has been in that role for seven years. We come into the hospitality industry from a fashion side, and we have a dedicated factory in the garment district that produce beautiful products.
bC: What are some of your fav collaborations?
P: Apart from By CHLOE.? We recently had great pleasure working with Marcus Samuelsson for his new venture in Harlem, Streetbird. We also did a wonderful collaboration last year with a company called Knickerbocker MFG from Bushwick, Brooklyn that was featured in the Wall St. Journal and Selectism. We are currently working on a collaboration with Eataly that we are really excited about.
bC: What should we expect from JoBH in the future? Any new and exciting projects on the horizon?
JoBH: We have lots of new projects in the works with various restaurants, and we are also launching our apron line to the retail market in Japan this September. We are working on opening our first workspace/retail store in Brooklyn, and aim to have that ready by the fall, so we are pretty excited about that!
bC: What’s your favorite part about working with by CHLOE.?
JoBH: We love the concept of by CHLOE., it’s an exciting project and one that we really wanted to collaborate on.
bC: What do you look forward to with our partnership?
P: Seeing the aprons in action! by CHLOE. is one of the first clients to order our new Kyoto style apron, in which we are using some beautiful Black Japanese denim which is my favorite we have used so far. The aprons look beautiful in person.
bC: Has by CHLOE. changed the way that you view vegan food? How do you incorporate vegan/plant based living into your lifestyle?
JoBH: Because of the project, we were able to do some research on vegan diets, and it has been really eye opening in terms of health benefits, and also in terms of being educated about the process of where our food comes from, in ethical terms. We are really looking forward to trying all the dishes at by CHLOE.!
bC: Lastly, what does “Eat Well. Eat with Purpose.” mean to you?
JoBH: Eat things that are good for you, and things that your body needs to fuel and heal itself. Try to avoid things that have little or no nutritional value. Be aware of what you’re putting into your body.
*Photos: courtesy of JONES OF BOERUM HILL + MIKEY POZARIK
