“That was my ‘oh, shit’ moment,” said Miner. “Suddenly the goal of $3 million in 2025 that would have avoided significant cash shortfalls felt very difficult to get to.” His partners were planning him flat when he needed a 20 per cent growth to reach his goal. After a couple of calls with his accountant and outsourced CFO, he decided that it was time to call it. He explained: “I could have rolled the dice and really gambled to continue, but I don’t have the resources to make that money up, and I could not just enter this place that feels even more insecure.”
Every time a brand like Interior shuts down, insiders and onlookers seem to blame the industry itself, an intangible entity often seen as inhospitable and unsupportive. Did Miner feel like he had not gotten enough support? “This is a very nuanced conversation, and everyone’s experience is their own, but we had a tonne of support that I was always very grateful for,” the designer said. “We got as much as a brand like ours could have hoped to have gotten,” he added. “No one owed us anything, if anything, we owed everyone everything.”
Miner said that he felt that Interior needed to prove that it deserved to be there, “and I think we did, in so many ways”, he added. “It’s also what made the decision really difficult, to have so many people show up to support the brand, not just our employees but wholesalers, editors, celebrities and more, and to have to make this call was really difficult.”
The bottom line is that Interior had a fair shot, save the fact that it launched at the tail-end of the pandemic, a challenging time for the fashion business. “Maybe if it had launched at a different time…” pondered Miner, “maybe 10 years ago when there was more financial bandwidth with retailers, but now, if you haven’t figured it out as soon as you’re out the gate, it’s already too late.”
Now that Miner has had time to mull it over, he offers some reflection: “Not everyone has the privilege to stop.” Since launching Interior, the designer got married and became a father to his partner Alexis Bittar’s two children, in addition to a new baby girl born just over a year ago. “I had the luxury of knowing that I could stop and have his support,” said Miner, “I don’t know that a lot of people have that luxury and the real privilege to be able to make this call. Some designers find themselves in a place of not having options and needing to continue in spite of how dire the outlook is. I did not feel as backed into a corner as I could have felt.”
Miner has occupied many roles in the industry; as he put it, this wasn’t his first rodeo. From director of operations at Bode to an entrepreneur, designer and business owner, he’s been around long enough to not call this exit his final goodbye. For now, he said, his primary focus is to dedicate himself to his budding family. “I’m ready for my foremost identity to be ‘dad’.”
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