1 Granary Summer School: How to start a brand without burning out

In the first edition of our conversations with Palmer//Harding's co-founders, we discuss what they wish they'd known when starting out in the industry.

Welcome to our four-part Summer School series. Released every Tuesday in August, each piece will take the form of a conversation between 1 Granary and the co-founders of the brand Palmer//Harding. Our aim is to provide a mini mentorship: unvarnished, hard-won lessons drawn from years of the designers’ trial and error. It’s what you aren’t taught but must learn about building and sustaining a brand.

Everyone wants to launch fast. But Palmer//Harding argue that slowing down is the smartest way to survive. In part one, they walk us through how they structured their earliest collections, avoided the post-grad panic, and set up a timeline that worked for them – not the industry. From choosing a single product category to building in time buffers and resisting burnout culture, this is the foundational guide to starting with clarity, not chaos.

“Unless you get all the BFC support, you’re constantly a few steps behind,” Matthew says early on in our conversation, “We’ve always wanted to tell our story in a way that speaks to people who don’t come from money. Like, yes, it’s a struggle, but there are ways of doing it – you just have to be careful. So here are the pitfalls, here’s what to look out for.”

Only have a few minutes? Scroll to the bottom for the TL;DR.