Ashley Grewal, founder of Fifth and Frankie, launched her Vancouver-based streetwear and lifestyle brand in 2022. Inspired by her son and a long-held dream, Grewal created a line of comfortable, meaningful clothing with messages promoting self-care and emotional well-being. Fifth and Frankie offers unisex apparel like crewnecks and accessories, all available online.
What is your business called and what does it do?
Fifth and Frankie is a streetwear meets lifestyle brand founded in Vancouver, BC in 2022. Fifth and Frankie aims to curate comfortable clothes with meaningful designs reminding you to live a life doing what’s best for your soul.
What made you want to do this work?
The short answer would be for my son. He is my inspiration, purpose and drive. The long answer would be that this idea that would later become Fifth and Frankie was planted in my heart when I graduated from university and began my first ever industry job (public relations at the time). All those years ago, my heart lacked something when I would go to work and even as I continued on different jobs I always felt like something was missing. It wasn’t until I began working on Fifth and Frankie during the pandemic that I noticed how truly happy, freeing and fulfilled working on my business made me feel. All those years ago, I didn’t have the courage to take action and launch a business and that dream was put on the back burner for an incredibly long time. When my son was born, I told him I would help him achieve his dreams no matter what they may be. It was then I realized I wouldn’t be setting the best example if I didn’t follow my dreams. With that motivation in November of 2022 I launched Fifth and Frankie while on my maternity leave.
What problem did you want to solve with the business?
Fifth and Frankie was born with the intent of providing comfort and ease through its clothes and brand messaging to recovering people pleasers, and anyone struggling with their emotional and mental health. Our values are based on self-care, self-love and self-happiness and we launched with our signature crewneck that features the slogan ‘Self-care is health-care,’ which has created a positive conversation with our community.
More specifically, the brand aims to be a safe space online reminding you to set boundaries for your mental and emotional health while providing encouragement to find comfort in those choices that help put your heart and mind at ease.
Who are your clientele/demographics?
Our products are unisex and can be enjoyed by anyone who feels drawn to Fifth and Frankie! We currently have our self-care is health-care crewneck available in two colours (tan and black) our self-care journal, candle and dad hat available to shop. We are releasing our first-ever t-shirt very soon!
How does your business make money? How does it work?
All of our orders are processed through our ecommerce website and previously at our pop-up, which we held in October. Check out the site and add your favourite items to your cart and we will work to have your order shipped out asap. We’re also providing FREE worldwide shipping right now! We’ve been fortunate enough to have some sweaters purchased from Florida, Las Vegas and Virginia (what a pinch me moment!).
Where in the city can we find your profession?
We are founded in Vancouver, BC and are solely available online with the goal of doing more pop-ups. Until then, you can always shop our items through our website or our Instagram.
What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services? Give the answer as well.
Personally, I enjoy the why and learning how a brand started and what sparked the concept, idea and design process. The classic question is probably ‘What makes you different from any other clothing company?’ The way I would answer this is by sharing that I feel like we’re all doing the same thing essentially just in different ways, but more importantly, we’re sharing our art and hearts and showing our communities how that spills out into the world creatively. We’re cultivating these spaces with the desire to connect with people who share the same mindset or experience or who feel seen with what we’re creating through clothes and brands.
What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?
The best part is having the opportunity to follow my heart freely. As the founder of a very teeny tiny business (right now) I am wearing many hats, which is the best way to learn all parts of the business. This has pushed me to rely tremendously on myself to make final decisions and to be comfortable with the decisions and boundaries I set for the brand. Dedicating my time and energy to Fifth and Frankie has been an act of my own self-care. It is a safe space for me to share and express my creativity and connect with others. The other best part is connecting and building with our amazing community. The support and love we have received have been absolutely wonderful and hearing how our messaging and products make people feel is the reason why Fifth and Frankie exists.
The worst part? I try to look at this more as a learning opportunity, but sometimes I feel that starting your own business can feel really lonely. I often find myself wanting to have a creative session to bounce ideas off of another person or team because this can be where an idea could go from 0 to 100 fast. Starting Fifth and Frankie with no prior fashion or business experience can feel really scary and daunting and imposter syndrome is challenging to navigate. When those feelings creep in this is when I have to remind myself that everyone has to start somewhere and that this idea/brand/dream/goal wouldn’t have been planted in my heart if I wasn’t meant to take the leap and go for it!
What is your favourite joke about your own profession?
Not necessarily a knock knock kind of joke, but in this profession there is a bit of a running joke about how you work more when you own your own business. Often you hear that people want to become their own boss and start their own thing to help provide some flexibility and balance in their life. The thing is when you start a business and if you’re still working full time (like me) you really have to work on things when time allows for it. This means late nights, early mornings and making sacrifices to stay focused on the goal and big picture.
Where can we follow you?
PAY IT FORWARD: What is another local business that you love?
I’m going to mention two that we have had the opportunity to collaborate and work with. The first is The Palm Cafe located at Highstreet in Abbotsford. They are known for their coffees and waffles and aesthetically pleasing cafe! We had the amazing opportunity to collaborate with them for our first-ever pop-up. It was a special day for Fifth and Frankie and The Palm was absolutely wonderful in hosting us and even providing custom-designed Fifth and Frankie lattes that featured our logo. It felt like a dream! The other is Jeumont Skincare in Vancouver! They are known for their reusable eye masks that feel great on, in addition to having mastered making these eye masks Instagram picture perfect. The founders were kind enough to provide their masks for a self-care giveaway contest we hosted. Jeumont’s branding is stunning as well! These are two wonderful small businesses to check out for sure.