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I can hardly believe it, but this week marks 10 years of writing about workwear. What started as a hobby has now become my job. I have a beautiful office, complete with an office dog, a column in the U.S., and the Royal Library of the Netherlands has included my website as part of Dutch Digital Heritage. These are all wonderful achievements, but it didn’t come without struggles, and still doesn’t. In this article, I’ll tell you about these 10 years and where I hope to be in the next decade.
Writing about workwear
I think the seed for Prettybusiness was planted in my youth. As a child, I knew I wanted to build a career. In what field or how, I had no idea. But I felt deep down that I loved hard work and wanted to achieve something through it. Because of my dyslexia, I never could have predicted that I would become a writer.
I attended a fashion school, studied Public Administration, and worked for the government. After my final studies, I continued working in the civil service for the province of North Holland and noticed that I missed the creativity in my life. But when I started writing at the age of 26, everything slowly fell into place.
Prettybusiness is really a combination of my two passions: clothing and governance. But it goes so much further than that. It also touches on law, society, gender, sustainability, entrepreneurship, marketing, standards, and much more. The combination of these disciplines is something I learned during my Public Administration studies, and I still apply it to my work daily.
The first two years: 2014-2016
Prettybusiness was born on August 31, 2014. My brother built the website, and I wrote articles in the evenings and on weekends. Some of those early articles are still online, but I must admit that I’ve removed a lot of them. I was such a terrible writer back then, my eyes can hardly bear to look at them now.
After a year, I gained more followers, and surprisingly, I also started getting more questions about business attire for curvier women. The curves I had struggled with during fashion school were appreciated by my readers. So, I decided to self-publish a book about business wear for curvy women. Since it no longer fits with the current concept of Prettybusiness, the book is no longer for sale.
Resignation: summer 2016
During a vacation with my husband in the summer of 2016, I was suddenly confronted with my own ambitions. While having dinner, he looked me in the eyes and said I needed to make a choice. I had a full-time job that was becoming increasingly demanding, a blog that I wanted to dedicate more time to, and I was still recovering from the launch of my first book. He warned me that this couldn’t go on, and deep down, I knew he was right.
I had been working so much that I hadn’t had time to spend money, so I had built up a nice savings buffer. Together, my husband and I went over my finances, and I decided to go all in on Prettybusiness. On the second day of our vacation, I called my boss and handed in my resignation. I gave myself two years to see if I could make money from the blog. At that time, it wasn’t making any money.
The big growth: 2016-2018
Soon after quitting my job, I crashed. I had pushed myself too far and was burnt out. With the help of a psychologist, I slowly began to rebuild my business. The number of readers kept growing, and I received more and more responses.
By the summer of 2017, I rented an office for the first time. It was in an old industrial building slated for demolition, so the rent was low, I met interesting people, and I could create a separation between work and home. Moreover, I began receiving exciting assignments, like serving as a judge for the Dutch Corporate Fashion Award in 2018.
It was a wonderful time, but at the end of 2018, I had my first Meniere’s attack. At that moment, I didn’t know what was happening, but after several months and attacks, the diagnosis was made. Meniere’s disease runs in my family, so I knew I had to adjust my lifestyle.
The deep valley: 2019-2020
The combination of my illness, the attacks, and my solitary work as a writer often made me feel lonely. So, in July 2019, I adopted Suit, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I grew up with this breed, but it was the first time I had my own dog. In hindsight, it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made. He helped me feel less alone, kept me from isolating myself at home, and he quickly developed into a service dog. He alerts me when a severe attack is coming or when I’m unwell, stays by my side, and knows exactly what I need. And the best part is that he could come to the office with me, so I always had my buddy with me.
Meanwhile, that same year, I decided, after many requests from abroad, to have my work translated into English. This is how Prettybusiness World, the English version of my Dutch blog Prettybusiness, came to be. It didn’t take much energy because I hired a translator and only had to publish the articles.
When the pandemic hit in early 2020, I suddenly lost almost all my work. Advertisers I had partnered with were no longer willing to spend money, and all other plans fell through. The restrictions, financial setback, and my illness caused me to fall into a deep mental rut.
Climbing out: 2021
To pull myself out, I decided to write two books: one about workwear in healthcare and another about workwear in aviation. I worked with designer Monique Collignon and flight attendant uniform collector Cliff Muskiet. Everything was done remotely, but given my illness, that was somewhat of a relief. The two books were launched in March 2021.
That summer, I moved to a new office in Halfweg. It was a bit further from home and slightly more expensive, but I finally had a comfortable, permanent workspace. It was another industrial building, but this time it was a creative hub, and I was surrounded by other creative people. Plus, there were more office dogs in the building, so Suit could make friends too.
At the end of 2021, I contributed to a BNNVARA documentary (Reference Man), where I discussed women’s workwear in technical fields, especially the issues and lack of knowledge surrounding it. Despite the many dizzy spells caused by my illness, I’m glad I participated. The documentary aired on TV in early 2022.
Post-Corona: 2022-2023
When the pandemic ended in 2022, I realized I needed to change my work. Companies were still hesitant to spend money, and I was ready for a new step. I decided to (temporarily) stop Prettybusiness World. It was becoming increasingly difficult to afford the translator, and I needed to secure more assignments first.
So, I began working toward a long-held dream: a newspaper column. I also felt supported by the Royal Library of the Netherlands, which had included Prettybusiness in Dutch Digital Heritage since early 2022. This means that a copy of the website is made every year and digitally archived for future generations.
After a year of sending emails to my local newspaper, in which I had been interviewed several times, I finally got the green light in early 2023. I was offered a temporary column in the Work and Money section. By that time, I had already been writing a column for two years for the trade magazine Management Support, so it wasn’t entirely new territory for me. That year, I also wrote two articles for Fashion United, an online trade magazine for the fashion industry.
In addition to writing for external platforms, I also started making videos about workwear on social media. As fun as it all was, I had the feeling that there was more. Or at least, that there could be more.
Going global: 2024
So, in the summer of 2023, I decided to relaunch Prettybusiness World in 2024. Not only to attract more international readers but also to focus more on international work in general. I wanted to make English videos and collaborate with international companies.
I decided to use ChatGPT for translations and push through my fears of making English-language videos. Although my English isn’t bad, I found it nerve-wracking to put myself out there on the internet in this way. I made several videos about different types of workwear and quickly realized that aviation uniforms were performing well. Since I had written a book and many articles on this topic, it suited me perfectly. Over the past four months, I’ve published about three to four videos a week on this subject. I love the fact that I’m now in daily contact with people from all over the world who share stories with me about uniforms. Every week, more followers join. Nearly 10,000 people follow me on TikTok, and over 5,000 on Instagram. Super exciting!
Finally, in May of this year, another cherished wish came true. Since then, I’ve been writing a weekly column for NAUMD (Aileen’s Uniform Atlas), a network organization for workwear suppliers and manufacturers in North America. Not only is it awesome to be doing this, but the work itself also aligns perfectly with who I am. Never before have I written for an external party about something so closely tied to my passion. I love highlighting small details and exploring workwear from every possible angle.
10th anniversary: a decade of writing about workwear
When I face setbacks, people sometimes ask me why I don’t quit my work. Working for a company would be much easier and less stressful. I understand this reasoning. Especially when you’re sick, having an employer is ideal. You get paid and are protected by Dutch law. But I love my work so much, and I’ve learned that I’d rather have fun than financial stability.
After 10 years, I’ve built a name and a loyal group of readers, some of whom have supported me all these years. If it’s up to me, I’ll continue doing this work until the day I die.
My plans for the coming years are simple: continue what I’m doing. Telling the stories behind workwear. Whether it’s through articles, books, columns, videos, or presentations, that’s what I love to do most.
Kind regards,
Aileen