Fashion / News
Personal tragedy inspires businesswoman to launch new streetwear
Megan del Carmen has launched Great Bear, a streetwear brand celebrating “home,” after leaving her childhood home following personal tragedy.
Although not a professed stargazer, Megan del Carmen loved gazing at the Great Bear constellation from her home near Belfast. Along with the memory of her parents, the constellation is seared on her mind, a reminder of home.
Oscar Wilde famously said, “To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.” And that was precisely what happened to Megan five years ago when both her parents passed away just six months apart, leaving a deep void in her life as the only child of the family.
is needed now More than ever
In the process of grieving, Megan sold the family home near Belfast and relocated to Bristol. While she never forgot her roots, she began searching for a hoodie that would remind her of home. Tired of the leprechauns and shamrocks, she decided to create her own hoodie to celebrate home and heritage. And Great Bear was born.
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Bristol24/7 recently caught up with her just before her first Kickstarter campaign in early March. For Megan, there is no ambiguity about her identity or her roots as she intends to proudly fly the Irish flag during the Six Nations.
She praised the creative energy of Bristol, which initially drew her to the city. Megan admits that her clothing brand would never have taken off anywhere else.
“I set up the business in November 2021,” she said. “If I hadn’t been in Bristol, I’m not sure I would have been able to do it. Bristol is such a creative hub, and everyone here is so inventive and interesting. I absolutely loved it.”
“When I moved to Bristol, which I think was around February 2021, I managed to find a designer who could bring my idea to life. So, Great Bear is sort of a consolidation of everything.”
While working full-time for a tech company to stay afloat financially, Megan was drafting the blueprint for her future business.
“The business was incorporated in November 2021, and it took quite a while because I was working full-time. It took a long time to pull everything together and get the products ready. The truth is, I just didn’t have the time. But as we approach the five-year anniversary, I thought, ‘It’s now or never.’”
Before developing her streetwear brand, Megan del Carmen spoke to many people on what home means to them – photo: Great Bear
Last year, Megan joined an accelerator programme to hone her entrepreneurial skills and business acumen, but the blueprint for her business remained largely the same.
“I decided in June of last year that I’d had enough of full-time work. If I wasn’t going to do this now, I was never going to do it. I found some suppliers, got the products right, and next week (1st March) marks our first big push to market. It’s like Kickstarter that’s going to kickstart the business.”
The range is extensive and carefully thought through. Before launching Great Bear, Megan spoke to many people, from Zimbabwe to Pakistan, about the concept of home to provide the philosophical grounding for her brand.
It is estimated that some 20 per cent of people living in Bristol call “home” a different country. And Megan wants to celebrate it with her clothing range.
Megan del Carmen was slightly tired of the stereotypical representation of her native Ireland with leprechauns and shamrocks – photo: Great Bear
To bring her vision to a wider audience, she sought the help of several creatives.
“Shortly after conceptualising the idea, I reached out to designer Tom Walker and poured my heart out. He carefully took my vision and turned it into a brand that represented everything I had hoped for.”
“When I needed photography that balanced fashion with the realness of diaspora life, Faith Wright brought the vision to life. And when I needed video content that could capture both the seriousness and humour within our story, Lorne Kramer delivered something truly special.”
“Having studied diaspora groups for three years before officially launching the brand, I could see that the cost of flights home was one of the biggest barriers to spending time with loved ones,” Megan added.
Megan del Carmen founded the streetwear brand Great Bear celebrating home – photo: Milan Perera
As a result, Great Bear operates its NOSTOS Foundation. The foundation receives 5 per cent of the brand’s profits, which are used to fund life-changing round-trip flights home for members of her community.
To learn more about Great Bear, visit their Instagram page: @greatbearapparel
Main photo: Great Bear
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