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Jason Li on Building Charcoal Clothing: a Customer-First Fashion Brand Made for More Than One Moment
9 hours ago
8 min read
Written by Ezzah Rafique | Photos by Kai Staton-Green October 16, 2026
For the founder of Charcoal Clothing, growth is about more than entering new markets. It is about giving his team room to create, learning from each collection and making the customer experience better at every step.
Jason Li did not start Charcoal Clothing with a design degree or a traditional retail background. What drew him to fashion was the challenge of building something that had to look and feel right while also working as a business.
“I didn't come from fashion. No design school or retail pedigree. I've always been obsessed with how things look and feel, and a refusal to do things at half standard whatever it is. I think what drew me to the industry was how pieces make people feel. I never took notice until I was around it more. I wanted to understand it properly, so eventually started a wholesale business supplying to other fashion retailers. For a couple of years I had a front row seat to how they grew, what worked and what didn't. The longer I watched my clients doing what they were doing, the more I knew I didn't want to just supply the moment, I wanted to create pieces that made it and be directly part of it. That was the catalyst to move into retail and DTC (direct to consumer). Again, I took a considerable amount of time learning and understanding how retail works and what customers wanted before building the vertical pipeline in 2022 and launching our own exclusive ranges and products,” he said.
A Deeper Look into Charcoal Clothing
Li started Charcoal Clothing in 2016 while stocking other labels in their first store. Over the course of six years, Charcoal clothing developed into its own brand by 2022. Although Li did not come to fashion with a design degree or a traditional retail background, he was drawn to an industry where creative ideas and business realities have to work together. Li describes those early years as a time for learning about retail and understanding what it would take to build a brand of its own. In 2022, the company began developing a vertical production pipeline and producing exclusive pieces, a shift that gave the team more control over quality, fit and feel.
“We spent 6 years watching what women actually chose, what she picked up, what she tried on, what almost worked but didn't. A lot of labels start with a vision and look for a customer. My focus has always been the customer first… We grew [slowly but intently] to 8 eights stores, then consolidated back to 6, because better mattered more. As we keep evolving, that still holds true - better matters more. We brought production in-house in 2022, which gave us control over quality, fit and speed that most brands our size back then didn't have,” he said, reflecting on the growth of Charcoal Clothing.
Charcoal Clothing focuses on creating pieces for women to feel good in, to wear repeatedly across the different occasions and moments in their lives. A dress worn to a dinner could be the one a woman reaches for again before a date. A top styled for an event could feel just as right somewhere entirely different. For Li, that second or third wear matters as much as the first. That goal shapes how the brand thinks about its designs, campaigns and the experience of shopping for clothes.
“The idea was never to make clothes that announce themselves. It was to make the piece where once [a customer] puts it on, she doesn't have to think about it again. The fit is handled, the quality, and how she looks is unquestionably amazing. Whatever she's walking into, that part is hers. We take the part that should be our problem so she gets the part that matters,” said Li.
Scaling Charcoal Clothing also meant learning a different pace of business. Buying stock that could be sold quickly gave way to a design process that could take about six months from concept to release. Each drop became a chance to see what worked and what needed to improve.
“The biggest thing you learn from a journey like this and building a brand in this space is persistence beats expertise,” Li said.
Collaboration is Key
Li does not present himself as the sole creative force behind Charcoal Clothing. He describes a collaborative process involving the designer, campaign manager, social team and others who help bring a collection to life. While sharing the backstory and growth of Charcoal Clothing, Li dedicated the progression of the brand to the collaborative nature of his team. He emphasizes how crucial his team, and the other members of the brand, were to the development of Charcoal Clothing that enables the whole team to align on clear values and goals.
“The other decision I made early was to build this so it didn't depend entirely on me. I think a lot of fashion labels hinge on one person's taste. I wanted a team that owned the creative, not a founder that dictated it… Growing a team forces you to get clear. Things that feel obvious after years in your own head aren't obvious to anyone else. You must define what great looks like, what growth looks like, then actually hand it over,” he said.
A campaign might begin with a piece of clothing and a set of questions: Where could a customer wear it? What would she be doing? How should it make her feel? The team builds from there, developing concepts inspired by moments in women’s lives.
“I think the biggest [consideration as a CEO] is structural, and it's about me, or rather, how much isn't about me. Traditionally a fashion label hinges on the founder's singular vision, everything flows from one person's interpretation. We've deliberately built Charcoal the other way. A lot of what would normally sit under the founder's control is handed to the team. The learning curves may be steep, but the brand becomes bigger than one person's taste,” said Li.
Many members of the team, he added, had little or no experience in their current roles before joining the brand. Seeing them learn and improve their craft has been one of the most rewarding parts of being a founder. His dedication to provide his team the tools and support to do their work, while making sure the team stays aligned as the company grows, is commendable.
Clothes Worth Reaching for Again
For Charcoal Clothing, making a piece that looks good once is not enough. Li wants customers to find clothes they can return to, style in different ways and wear through more than one chapter of their lives.
Kace Jacket (Navy Blue Denim) & Landon Pants (Off White) 
Vortex Jacket (Oat) 
Wren Jeans (Dark Denim) & Kace Jacket (Textured Denim)
He pointed to an expectation he dislikes in fashion: the idea that after someone has worn a dress once, she may not wear it again. Charcoal Clothing’s aim is the opposite. Li wants a customer to reach for that dress a third or fourth time because they feel confident in it.
That is why he sees loyalty as something larger than a program or a repeat purchase. It is built into how a garment fits, how it feels and whether it remains a choice someone is excited to make. A piece might be worn to an event, a date or an interview. The occasion changes, but the goal stays the same: The person wearing it should feel confident in any moment.
Li applies that thinking to the entire customer journey, from the way someone discovers the brand and navigates its website to unboxing an order and wearing the clothes. Charcoal Clothing beautifully mastered the art of envisioning their designs in modern-day scenarios. Through the release of the campaign “issues,” the brand creates seasonal collections showcasing how their new releases can be styled for any and every occasion including travel, parties, corporate events, or on a daily basis.
“The customer experiences everything as one thing: the fit, the ux on the site and app, the delivery process, unboxing, the person serving her at the store, how she feels when she's trying on our piece etc. You can't be excellent at [four] of these and then average in the fifth,” he said, “The question has always been about what [the customer will] feel when [they] wear it. And that is something we try to convey. If the imagery is beautiful and she can't picture herself in the piece, we've made art, not a campaign.”
Growing with the Customer in Mind
That approach has also influenced how Charcoal Clothing expanded into the United States. Li said he wanted the right infrastructure in place before entering the market, rather than asking American customers to wait for every order to ship from Australia.
The brand now uses a third-party logistics provider in the Houston-Dallas area. When I received pieces from Charcoal Clothing, they arrived in about three days, much sooner than I had expected. I was, in the best way possible, shocked to see the package at my door a week before my trip to New York Fashion Week, especially considering that most brands take up to 5-7 business days to ship. Li sees that speed as part of serving customers well, not simply a shipping advantage.
“I don't want to take Charcoal in a market until I'm confident the infrastructure and product can carry it in that market. We've put inventory on the ground in Houston so the delivery experience feels local. Scal[ing] is only worth it if the promise survives it,” Li said.
He is equally interested in hearing what could be better. As a founder, I noticed how invested he was when our conversation veered towards the quality and satisfaction of the fit, material, and shipping of the products.
Li wants women to wear Charcoal Clothing again and again, and that requires paying attention when something does not work as expected. As the brand grows, he says the team is still learning how to improve its products and better serve its customers.
“Ultimately, customer loyalty is not something you can buy, manufacture, or ask for. It's earned. Our focus is doing everything we can to make our customers feel great at every touchpoint, understanding and adapting to what they want, ensuring we provide an experience that surpasses expectations,” he said.
Charcoal Clothing: What’s Next?
Landon Pants (Off White) 
Storm Jacket (Chocolate) 
Flavia Blazer Top (Cream) & Wren Jeans (Dark Denim)
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