Not every design works the first time.
Some of ours didn’t.
The first versions of Collection No. 001 looked good on paper. But once we started seeing samples, there were things that simply weren’t right.
Proportions felt off. Coverage needed to change. Details that made sense in a drawing didn’t translate the way we expected them to in fabric. A few ideas we were excited about became the first things we wanted to remove once we saw them in front of us.
So we went back.
And then, in some cases, went back again.
Mae was reworked. Riva changed. Leigh evolved from an earlier design into something that felt much more like SORVEL. There were adjustments to cup shapes, straps, leg openings, coverage, seams, hardware, and the way each piece sat on the body.
Some changes were small.
Others meant admitting that the original idea just wasn’t working.
That part of building a collection doesn’t photograph particularly well. There’s no polished campaign image for deciding a sample is wrong. It’s mostly notes, measurements, emails, another revision, another sample — and waiting to see if the change actually fixed the problem.
It can be frustrating.
It’s also been one of the most important parts of building SORVEL.
We’re learning what works by being willing to recognize what doesn’t.
Collection No. 001 looks different today than it did when we started. It should.
The goal was never to protect the first idea.
The goal is to make the best version of it.
SORVEL
Wherever the water takes you.