As two women navigating through our twenties, we found ourselves time and again encountering the temptation to make ourselves more digestible to the world around us. To choose a single passion; a consistent aesthetic; a primary personality trait; all of which seemed to be requirements to build the ‘personal brand’ demanded by 21st century culture. Want to grow your Instagram following? Pick a lane. Be consistent. Want to be successful in the workplace? Pick a specialty, stick with it. Want to rise to the top? Make sure you’re always nice and agreeable. 

The problem? To do so would have been a lie. And the more we talked to our friends, to other women going through the same phase of life, the more we realized that everyone seemed to feel this way. Everyone seemed to have accepted that, in order to succeed in life, it was a necessary sacrifice to become simple. To become only a part of the whole. Yet, to become only a part of the whole felt wrong; it felt like handicapping ourselves, like giving away our power. This truth became clear when, in some of the toughest moments of our lives, we demanded that our whole selves be allowed at the table. We refused to choose only the pieces that suited the world around us. And in that refusal, we saw the power of authenticity for the first time. We found that kindness to all and anger at mistreatment could co-exist; that our femininity was not dependent on a single way of dressing or speaking or taking up space in a room not made for us; that we could be athletes and founders and sisters all in the same day. 

Why, then, do most companies and brands focus on only a tiny sliver of our expansive lives? Niche brands are all the rage; but we’ve never been the type to follow. That’s why we’re launching The And Brand. – a company that cares less about selling more, and more about helping people buy less; about having emptier shopping carts and fuller lives. 

That mission is why you can expect to find a small offering of intentional products when you visit our store- products that work across your day, are multi-functional, and designed with sleek style that will last the test of time.