We talk a lot about flow in business. How to find it. How to stay in it. How to trust it.
And I'm all about it. Flow is beautiful. When things click into place and the ideas are pouring and the work feels light, it's magic. But I want to talk about something that doesn’t get the same love, and maybe should: friction.
Friction isn't failure. Friction is feedback.
It’s the resistance. The wobble. The uncomfortable pause that makes you question everything. It’s the moment you want to scrap the idea, change direction, or convince yourself it's you.
But what if friction isn’t something to avoid, but something to explore?
What if the resistance is actually an invitation?
Because when we meet friction with curiosity instead of criticism, it becomes a kind of compass. A clue. A sign that there’s something worth paying attention to.
Here are the kinds of questions friction invites...
- Why is this so hard?
- Why am I feeling stuck?
- What story am I telling myself right now?
- What’s underneath this discomfort?
These aren’t the kind of questions Google can answer for you. They’re the kind that ask you to go inward. To sit in the murky middle for a moment and listen.
They're the kind of questions that require bare feet on the grass and a quiet moment with distraction, without the shoulds, without the expectations, without the pressure.
Because sometimes, what looks like a business roadblock is actually a personal one.
Sometimes what feels like procrastination is really perfectionism. And sometimes, the thing you think you should be doing isn’t the thing you want or need to be doing at all.
Friction reveals where we’re out of alignment. Where our strategy no longer fits our season. Where our self-belief has weakened a little. Where our systems aren’t supporting us, or our stories are still coming up from old patterns.
And that kind of insight is the gold that keeps you going. That’s the deep, human work that no cookie-cutter business plan will give you.
This came up recently in one of our Slow Fashion Lab office hours calls. And to honest, sometimes these calls feel more like group therapy than strategy calls, and I say that with love.
But someone in the group was feeling blocked. Like they were doing all the 'right' things, ticking all the boxes, following all the formulas, but it just wasn’t clicking, she felt unsure. And when we unpacked it together, what came up wasn’t a lack of skill or smarts or effort. It was self-trust. It was exhaustion. It was a deep longing to do things differently but not knowing if that was 'allowed' or 'correct' or the 'right' way to do it.
That conversation hit home for me.
Because the truth is building a slow fashion brand isn’t just about pretty packaging and polished marketing plans. It’s about identity. Boundaries. Confidence. Success. Failure. Joy. And sometimes, grief.
We don’t talk about that stuff enough in the business world.
But we need to.
Because if we want sustainable brands, we need sustainable humans building them.
And that's why inside the Lab, we do talk business, but also go deeper. We talk selling and systems and launches and growth. But we also talk about what’s underneath it all. The patterns. The pressure. The inner voices. The messy deeply human stuff that so often gets ignored.
And honestly, that’s where the real changes tend to happen. And I love those parts. Yes, I love it when members hit new sales goals, or drop sell out collections, or bank their 20th stockist, but also, I love the personal growth stuff because it's so damn powerful.
So if you’re feeling friction right now, if something feels hard or sticky or confusing or off-kilter, maybe it’s not a sign you’re failing. Maybe it’s a sign you’re growing. Shifting. Awakening to something new.
And maybe, instead of pushing through it or ignoring it, you can sit with it. Get curious about it. Ask it what it’s trying to show you.
You don’t need to have all the answers. You just need to be willing to listen.
Because sometimes, the roadblock is the breakthrough. The pause is the pivot. The friction is the way forward.
And if you're going through it, you can bring it all into the Lab so you don't have to do it alone. If you’re craving a space where you can show up as your whole self, messy bits and all, come join us inside Slow Fashion Lab.
Because we're here to build brands and change the world, but we also make space for the flow and the friction.
Claire x
