Meet Rachel Hough | Sustainable Fashion Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rachel Hough and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rachel, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Interestingly enough, I never began my company with the thought of turning it into a business. I had always been a concert & festival attender for over 13 years & making my own outfits was always a part of the experience for me. People had been coming up to me so much that my friends at the time in 2019 expressed to me that I should start a company selling my creations. I had been making patches for book bags & such, but decided to start making skirts & hats to see where it could lead me. It just slowly grew over the years especially since moving to Denver from Alabama, there was a lot more opportunity here in the festival & fashion industry.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have been working with upcycled materials through gifts from friends, goodwill, facebook marketplace, side of the road finds to the point where I now have 14 27-gallon bins of fabric organized by color in my storage ready to pluck for any project. I take such pride in trying to reduce waste down to the last scrap of fabric. I am a sustainable artist through & through & can not seem to create any project without some form of recycled material. I am most proud of the past Valerian Projects x Denver Fashion Week Spring 2024 collection I managed to create in just under 2 months. Truly one of the hardest accomplishments I have been able to succeed in to date. I was living with my boyfriend’s parents at the time while we decided on a home, they spoke very little English & it was hard to communicate what exactly I did for a living. I learned to lead by example through that experience, my boyfriend Ivan has taught me so much about patience & understanding our differences. I would not be who I am today without going through that all at the same time. Sometimes life puts multiple hard scenarios at once to help you mold into a better version of yourself. I would like people to know that all hard times do come to an end if you just keep moving through them. Life is a cycle of ups & downs; accepting that & allowing it to shape you rather than blaming it as the cause of your suffering will help you to become a stronger person.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If we are talking about the Denver area specifically, I would love to take my best friend to Texas de Brazil or Uchi restaurants because they have the best staff & food overall in my opinion. We would very much enjoy a Red Rocks concert of some sort to view the city, laugh, & dance together all night. An enjoyable hike of some sort perhaps to a waterfall or hot spring to relax & unplug from social media. I personally have always wanted to see an orchestra & see & hear some of the most beautiful sounds. I am always down to eat, dance, & hit a random concert event. As funny as it is I am not much of an outdoorsy girl being raised in Alabama & living in Denver for 3 years now. It is quite comical to most people I tell.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
What a wonderful way to shoutout my own mother! Mrs. Wendy, an angel of a woman to all who has met her, has been the gust of motivation & encouragement I have needed over the years. She has been there for me through every creation even prior to starting Valerian Projects. Her relentless confirmation to keep moving forward & keep expanding in my craft whether through painting, sewing, or crafting has helped Valerian Projects become what it is today

Website: https://Www.valerianprojects.com

Instagram: Valerianprojects

Image Credits
@Colleens.portraits (Colleen hunter) (two hats and brown shawl photos) & @morphosoma (Tarin White) (full finale lineup photo) & @scottnorbyphotography (Scott Norby) (umbrella & orange curtain photo)