A creative powerhouse within the Buffalo community, Ashton Warner is a triple threat—she has her fashion brand, ARW, co-owns AVA Collective and hosts her Long Story Long podcast—on a mission to create and curate some beautiful things in the city she loves.
How did you get started in the fashion industry?
Fashion has always been second nature to me. I never thought that I would be a designer until after my senior collection. It was very eye-opening for me.
After college, I moved to New York for a couple of years just to see what the fashion industry was like, and it was very tough. It made me realize I wanted to be a big fish in a small pond.
Moving home, I didn’t want to just stop working in fashion, because that would be silly, so I was like, ‘Why don’t I just do my own thing here.’ It took some time to figure out how that would all work and then two businesses were born, AVA Collective and my collection ARW (Ashton Rose Warner).
People are also reading…
Her look: ARW dress and jacket, Dr. Martens and Peg's Hardware jewelry.
What shaped you during college?
I studied abroad during my sophomore year in Manchester, England. There’s a really big apparel industry and the fashion program was incredible. They really whip you into shape. If you wanted to travel on the weekends but you didn't get your project done, they would fail you!
That tough love is where I feel like I got my work ethic from and the experience taught me how to be independent. I have my mother to thank for that opportunity, she made so many sacrifices to get me there.
Tell me about your experience living and working in New York
I lived in New York for about two years and I started working at a costume shop because I thought I wanted to get into wardrobe styling for TV and film. That job was short-lived until I met Paul Carroll. He’s a women's wear designer in Brooklyn Heights and fabulous. He works out of his apartment, which was an interesting experience. It was such a New York moment, coming to work and his ironing board was in the kitchen which was filled with fabric samples.
This is really where I learned all the unwritten rules of design and he shared all of his secrets of where some of the best fabric shops are in the city. His mentorship helped make me the designer I am today.
How did you launch ARW?
I launched my first ARW collection in 2018 at our first-ever AVA Collective pop-up shop. At that time there weren’t any markets that spoke to us and our aesthetic. My best friends Anna Dusza and Veronica Michalek decided to come together and create the AVA Collective to showcase our collections, and it quickly shifted to not only support our creativity but uplift other makers in the community.
Her look: ARW dress and jacket, Dr. Martens and Peg's Hardware jewelry.
How has the journey been as a local fashion designer?
It’s been five years, I feel like I'm just figuring things out! It’s been chaos and I’ve been doing every single market, trying to see what works and what doesn’t work.
It’s been tough but 2023 has been the year of growing my business. I’ve had to pivot during a pandemic and make hundreds of masks to creating collections each season, I haven’t skipped a beat. I'm now starting to think about selling wholesale to boutiques in other cities. I currently have pieces at a cute shop Ladder in Cleveland.
Where do you see the future of ARW and AVA?
I don’t want to get too big where I would outsource manufacturing, but I could see myself building a small team and having my own space. I would love to create a showroom workspace with a coffee shop. I just see myself going to work and bringing my cat with me. Everything would be very LAX. I would like a space to put roots down somewhere that's not a room in my house. I could say the same for AVA, we could be the next Artist & Fleas but in Buffalo.
What’s the inspiration behind your holiday collection?
When I'm looking for inspiration for a collection, I’ll think of silhouettes. I usually wait to draw things out until I see my textiles come together. I’ll spend hours in a fabric store putting things together and building a textile story. I love it when my friends jump in and add their opinions.
I just went to the New York fabric show and got a sparkly jacquard fabric and hemp denim. Holiday is giving lux but relaxed vibes with some shear and topstitching accents.
How would you describe your style and design?
I always like to wear relaxed pieces but with harder elements like my leather jacket or a gold chain. As for my designs, I like to be very approachable. I don’t personally wear fitted pieces, so I don’t design fitted garments. I want all bodies to wear my pieces and dress them up, dress them down, whatever.
I'm also a very big perfectionist. I think about construction over design because everything has to look perfect.
Tell me about your podcast
I started “Long Story Long” Podcast just about a year ago. I'm very long-winded so that's where the name comes from! This new venture came from my long conversations with small business owners at the AVA Collective pop-ups. I just felt that all these makers had stories standing behind their tables vending at shows all across Western New York and there wasn’t a place for people to share them. So I created a space for all of these stories to be shared!
Instagram @_arw_ny @avacollectivebflo
