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Ashley Freeborn runs Smash + Tess, a clothing business headquartered in Richmond which is known for its rompers.

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Entrepreneur creates inspiring ensembles

By Hannah Scott, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Published 12:16 PDT, Fri August 6, 2021

Headquartered in Richmond, Smash + Tess coined the ‘romper revolution’

Some people dread Mondays—but not Ashley Freeborn.

In fact, the chief executive officer of Richmond-based clothing company Smash + Tess says Monday is her favourite day of the week. Freeborn—the eponymous “Smash”—runs the company with her mom Teresa (“Tess”) and best friend Mercedes.

“It started out as a love for all things comfortable, and also I recognized that there was a real hole in the market for not only super comfortable transitional clothing but also for a lifestyle and a community built around that, where women truly uplifted women, where everyone felt included,” says Freeborn.

Born and raised in Tsawwassen, Freeborn moved to Los Angeles four years ago, although she still has a B.C. home that she plans to come to this summer once the border opens.

A high school teacher for 10 years, Freeborn had always dreamed of working in fashion. When she saw a summer intensive program offered in London, she took a chance, and through that program she developed her first business plan.

Smash + Tess entered the market in April 2016, when Freeborn was working in finance. But in 2018, she quit that job and became solely the head of her clothing brand. In the meantime, she’s also had two daughters, Frankie and Stella, the latter of whom was born during the pandemic.

“No one’s really met her yet, because she’s been in the bubble of my house,” says Freeborn. “My children are such a big part of my day-to-day and my work, but also what I do. Creating a legacy of strong powerful women that support each other is something I want my girls to step into one day.”

While she’s recently been named a finalist for the RevolutionHER Trailblazer Award, which recognizes entrepreneurs who have shown dedication to community impact and bettering people and the planet, Freeborn says it wasn’t all smooth sailing when she was getting started in the industry.

“I always say, I don’t know that I’m particularly smarter than anybody else, I think I’m just really tenacious, that’s what sets us entrepreneurs aside,” she says. “Bump after bump, challenge after challenge, you just have to keep going.”

Aiming to fit as many women’s body shapes as possible, and use as many sustainable fabrics as they could, was a challenge for Freeborn and her team. They also wanted to produce locally, which they are able to do thanks to two Richmond headquarters: one on Bridgeport Road and one on Horseshoe Way. She says she was honoured and excited to be considered for the RevolutionHER awards, which will announce its winners in late September.

As for future goals, Freeborn says she’d love to expand to the U.S. as well as elsewhere globally—what she calls “world domination, one romper at a time.”

Freeborn is also proud of the community Smash + Tess has built, celebrating women and bringing them together. And she’s glad to be part of a growing number of female entrepreneurs who are able to effect change.

“When I was growing up, I never saw women entrepreneurs in the way that we get to see them now,” she says. “The most exciting part of being an entrepreneur is having creative thoughts and getting to take that creative thought and make that happen. Sometimes it’s in the same day, (and) that is absolutely liberating.”

When she’s not at work, Freeborn loves to spend time with her family and to travel, when that’s possible. She’s keeping mum about possible future business endeavours, but does share that writing a second children’s book might be in her future: “I promised Stella, my one-year-old, that she gets a book too—my first one (Frankie and the Magical Romper) was about my older daughter. I’m going to need to make good on that promise.”

Being a business owner, and working with her mom and best friend, is “a dream” for Freeborn, and she hopes everyone can love Mondays as much as she does.

“You have one life, and you don’t need to be stuck doing something that doesn’t make you feel fulfilled. I pinch myself every day because I can’t imagine doing anything else.”