What It Cost Me offers a glimpse into the real lives of fashion-forward creatives building something on their own terms and the choices it takes to keep going. From managing personal finances to navigating time, discipline, and delayed wins, the series reveals the investments behind creative independence. Rooted in that same pursuit, Ally Bank brings personal financial tools and resources to help a new generation build for what’s next without losing sight of life today. Keep scrolling to meet the cultural forces turning their vision into something real.
For Jane Wade, everything goes back to trusting her instincts. Yes, she can wax poetic about production cycle post-mortems and wholesale versus DTC revenue—the designer has run her namesake label for almost five years, after all—but Wade’s creative process is led by the heart as much as by the mind.
“When I’m feeling stuck, I have to remember to just begin,” she says. “Because whatever it is that’s missing, or feels like it hasn’t resolved yet in my mind, it will resolve along the way.”
When she’s draping a dress form, stressors and practical limitations dissolve. Suddenly, she’s back in her native Portland, Oregon, a 14-year-old upcycling vintage thrift finds with her first sewing machine and falling in love with making clothes.
The sewing machine was a gift from her mother, a salon owner who showed Wade the business side of a creative career. By the time she enrolled at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, the future imagemaker knew she wanted to enter a field with a clear pathway to employment (because searching LinkedIn for ‘sculptor’ doesn’t yield too many results). The university’s fashion program checked all the boxes, combining fine art techniques with commercial applications. “Textile design felt like painting, but through fabric—creating textures and techniques that we live inside of,” Wade, now 31, recalls.
After studying abroad at London’s Central St. Martins, she landed a coveted internship with Alexander Wang and worked with Danielle Frankel’s bridal atelier. Getting a glimpse of what was possible at a big house—and learning the nitty-gritty of the business at a smaller label—empowered her to launch her own brand in 2022. Her talent attracted attention from the start: after seeing her buzzy debut capsule collection, Bergdorf Goodman offered her an exclusive two-season contract.
Wade doesn’t just get the business of fashion—her specialty is business fashion. She reinvents workwear for the aspiring office siren and the best-dressed employees in every other environment. A scroll through her website reveals a sea of deconstructed button-downs and utilitarian miniskirts; trousers resemble athletic shorts, while strappy toolbelt accessories double as smartphone holders. Her take on the ‘uniform’ is expansive and seductive, the perfect antidote to the Sunday scaries—which explains why she’s developed such a cult following.
Since the Bergdorf contract, Wade’s resume has grown significantly.
In 2024, she designed a viral ice-block purse for Camila Cabello to wear at the Met Gala. A year later, she was awarded a CFDA Google Fashion Fellowship. 2026 kicked off with a bang as she collaborated with Sorel on a gorpcore-infused footwear capsule. While what’s around the corner is never predictable, she’s always prepared to say “yes” to an opportunity by using Ally Bank to keep an eye on her long-term savings goals and let her know what she can spend on a project in the short-term.
It’s taken time and careful planning for her to get to this place. In the early years of hustling to get her label off the ground, Jane Wade the person had to take a backseat to Jane Wade the label’s needs. Every penny earned went back into the business. Now that her label is thriving, she’s able to focus on the little things, like having a consistent morning routine, that make a big difference in how she shows up creatively.
“For me, investment energetically starts with filling myself at the core so that I can fill and feed the business that fills me,” she notes. In other words, building the tomorrow of her dreams starts with making each today count—and remembering to enjoy the wins along the way. Wade treats herself to a piece she’s been dreaming about at the end of each season. “I’m very much a goalpost mover,” she admits, “and it’s hard for me to sit in the present and say, ‘Oh, look at all of these itemized things on my list of [goals], check, check, check’…So I really try to make space for that.”
But, as any artist knows, the life of a working creative is full of ups and downs. How do you stay focused when you’re worried about meeting Q2 sales quotas? For Wade, the secret is to treat the number-crunching like a character study. She puts herself in her customers’ shoes and asks not only why they’re buying a certain piece, but what it says about them. Like Ally Bank—a financial partner for the everyday moments—the designer is interested in the story behind each money move, big and small.
“I think having that curious mind really does help to alleviate some of that pressure that's felt at the beginning of every season, about what's going to perform the best from a sales space,” she shares. “Sometimes we hit a moment where we're like, ‘Wow, this is the bestselling piece we've ever had.’ And it's really fun to decode, from an analytics perspective, why that is. Is it the fit? Is it the color? Is it the type of customer that's buying it? Is it the fact that it's jeans, and so men and women can wear it? And all of the information that comes along with that is so fascinating.”
Where curiosity leads, Wade follows, armed with the business savvy that lets her turn her passion into her living. She isn’t calling upon an ancient sartorial spellbook to make the magic happen. The truth is, she’s been training her whole life for this—to have the instincts, the network, and the personal financial freedom to be able to meet the moment. She’s acutely aware of the work it takes to go from point A to point B, and she’s making sure we all look our best on the way there.
Giving Wade the confidence to switch from founder mode into a creative headspace? Ally Bank. The disruptive digital-only bank is uniquely equipped to help creatives find financial wellness, even if their goals and career paths are unconventional. Ally Bank's supportive resources—like offering education in money psychology—give Wade the tools she needs to sew her way to success.
Discover more from Ally Bank here.
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