O’More College of Design alumna Cassie Hutchins McLure recently launched Pine + Sapling with her sister. Pine + Sapling strives to provide like-minded mothers with an easy, eco-friendly wardrobe for her and her little ones. Through the end of 2019, the company is giving a portion of all sales to AMBUCS, an organization that provides therapy bikes to special needs children and adults.
Since graduating from Belmont’s fashion design program in 2015, McLure has thought a lot about the fast fashion industry and decided that she did not want to contribute to the negative impact it is making on people and the planet.
She explained, “We know the struggle to find time to simply do the basics, like showering and brushing one’s teeth as a mom. And it can take a lot of time to research these companies! We want to provide an easy, go-to place for moms to shop, knowing they can make a positive impact rather than a negative one.”
Being extremely close with her sister, McLure said, “We know each other’s strengths and quirks, and we aren’t scared to be honest with one another. But more importantly, our values are the same, and a business without a strong foundation in values isn’t much of a business after all.”
The first six months after graduation McLure spent thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. “I felt the need to do something completely different. And to be honest, I was burnt out, creatively speaking. While I was hoping to find inspiration for my future career, it ended up being more of a spiritual journey than anything,” McLure said. “I look back on the past five years, and I see how the Lord has worked in my life by laying out what I need to prioritize, blessing me with opportunity after opportunity. I found my grounding spiritually first on the trail, which led me to marrying the man I hiked with, having a beautiful baby girl, Goldie, and working to establish myself in my career.”
McLure explains that she has always been an opportunist and tends to say yes to most of the opportunities that cross her path. She shared, “As soon as Goldie was born, I was flooded with inspiration again! It was finally time to dive into this dream I’ve had since I was a little girl. I knew if I was going to be a part of this industry, we would strive to make a positive impact, or there was really no point in it for us. This is why sustainability and impact are two of our core values as a company.”
When asked about her time studying at Belmont, McLure said, “My time at O’More taught me a lot about how to process my inspiration into results. Inspiration can be daunting at times but to understand the process and steps in creating a clothing line or starting a business allowed me to see how my dreams could be reachable.”
Pine and Sapling aims to be the go-to place that moms come to make conscious purchases. Currently, the company is researching brands that fit their values and aesthetic, but the goal is to create their own line in the next year or so to add to that collection.
Students, faculty and alumni can use the code “OMORE20” for a 20 percent discount at Pine and Sapling.
