BC Business
Brunette the Label founder, CEO and creative director Miriam Alden’s not-so-secret pastime might be the key to her brand’s authenticity
Miriam Alden isn’t shy about her unyielding passion for her favourite hobby. “When you’re a horse girl, it’s an obsession that doesn’t leave,” says the founder of Vancouver-based fashion brand Brunette the Label. Of course, some obsessions come with a price.
“At nine or 10 years old, I used to take the bus to Port Coquitlam [from North Vancouver]… so that I could go riding while my parents were at work,” she recalls. “I worked there on the weekends from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., mucking out 30 stalls just to be able to afford to ride.”
Alden’s determination led her to showjumping competitions throughout North America where she excelled, competing at some of the highest levels—like moving onto the grass (“which is a big deal because it means you’ve been bumped into a bigger division”) and training beside long-time best friend and future Olympian Tiffany Foster.
But even with that passion and determination behind her, Alden eventually took some time off riding from the age of 20 to 30. “I wasn’t loving it anymore,” she says. “I always loved the horses, but it just became this thing: I work there, I ride.”
Around the time she launched Brunette the Label, she realized something was missing in her life. “I was driving past the exit of where I used to ride, and this light bulb went on in my brain,” she remembers.
Alden called her former riding trainers repeatedly to gain access to her previous barn, Thunderbird Show Park (“they took six months to get back to me”), but soon enough she was leasing a horse a couple of days a week. A few years later, she bought her own. Now, she owns three.
“It’s been a lifelong obsession that’s had a lot of barriers, but I just keep going,” she explains. “Like lots of things in life, I think when you sort of manifest an idea that you want and then work really hard toward something, opportunities open up.”
That same determination is evident in Alden’s business endeavours. Her first self-funded and self-founded enterprise was a fashion showroom called Brunette Showroom that she started in 2011. “I did it out of the back of my car,” she recalls. “Hustling, selling things for five years. And then I started wanting to host media events to promote our value system of babes supporting babes. I always felt like brands come and go, but how you make them feel, and the communities you base around them—people will find you because of that.”
And they did. Those media events eventually turned into merch, and that merch became what is now Brunette the Label, a clothing and lifestyle company that runs the gamut from loungewear to office-chic apparel. “I always knew I wanted to have my own brand, but I never knew exactly what it would be,” she explains.
“People can give horse girls a bad rap, but actually we’re pretty tough. You have to have a lot of grit. You get hurt. It’s really hard. I don’t think I would have been able to survive owning a business if I hadn’t spent all the years I did with horses. Riding is still the hardest thing I’ve ever done and it comes with little reward, lots of failure and blind faith. So I think that led me toward being able to be an entrepreneur. To show up every day, no matter what.”
Brunette the Label is a size-inclusive (XS/S to 4XL/5XL) clothing brand based out of Vancouver. Alden founded the brand in 2014 with a loungewear aesthetic, but new launches include an ode to her horse passions with pieces inspired by vintage country and equestrian style. Josephine, Alden’s long-time heart horse (a popular term for a horse that the rider feels a deeper connection with) is featured in the brand’s most recent campaign.
“We’re a fashion brand for everyone. We offer everything from a basic tee to knitwear to outerwear,” she says.