BRAND SPOTLIGHT
Rise through Love is not just a clothing brand, it’s a movement to allow more love to flow through our lives.
Introducing: Rise Through Love
Founded in 2026 by Julia Hildebrand and Katie Branter, Rise Through Love is a British Columbia-based brand with a mission that goes far beyond clothing. Rooted in compassion and intentional design, the brand creates elevated loungewear for women navigating life's biggest transitions. Based between Victoria and Squamish, Rise Through Love is building a community around the belief that clothing can offer comfort, confidence, and care when it's needed most.
FS #5: Take us back to the moment this brand started.
KB: It’s the grief sweater story. I lost my teenage son in 2016 and months after went to an event in San Jose California where I bought a large grey sweater. That sweater ended up becoming what I call my grief sweater and I wore it day in day out for years after my son died, with leggings (which made the outfit worse). It made me look frumpy but I was comfortable and that’s what mattered. What I’ve been pondering ever since was the creation of a beautiful, luxury loungewear collection that women moving through loss or transition could.
Starting The Brand
FS #5: What pushed you from thinking about it to actually doing it?
KB: It was calling me and I couldn’t stop thinking about the Rise Through Love ecosystem, which included the beautiful loungewear collection. I needed to find someone who could design it with me that would have the creative eye and skills to help execute it, that’s when I reconnected with an old friend, Julia.
Mind Behind The Brand
FS #5: What kind of person are you designing for and what do they feel when they wear your pieces?
KB: The woman who just lost her child, the woman who was just diagnosed with cancer and wants to still feel beautiful and comfortable, the woman rebuilding her life after divorce, the woman supporting a loved one and doesn’t have time to think about fashion but wants to be stylish and comfortable but is going through caregivers burnout and needs a beautiful “uniform” as she has no energy to think about clothing.
Indetifying the Gap
FS #5: Was there a specific frustration, gap, or feeling you were trying to respond to?
KB: Yes! When women are in transition, or going through loss, divorce, illness and need to feel comfortable but still want to be stylish and beautiful wearing healthy fabrics.
Learning through Sampling
FS #5: What part of the development or production process surprised you the most?
KB: The time it’s taking to get everything made.
FS #5: How did your idea evolve from the initial concept to the final piece?
KB: We’ve made many little changes along the way but feel like we’re finally coming to a good launch start.
Reflection
FS #5: Looking back, is there anything you would approach differently next time?
KB: Have more of our systems sorted before we began production. We are just getting our foundational systems sorted now.
Final Thoughts
Not every fashion brand begins with a trend forecast or a gap in the market. Sometimes, it begins with a deeply personal experience.
Rise Through Love reminds us that clothing can do more than make us look good, it can offer comfort, confidence, and a sense of normalcy during life's most difficult moments. Their story shows that the strongest brands are often built around empathy and a genuine desire to improve someone's everyday life.
This is exactly why we started Brand Spotlight: to share the stories behind the brands we work with and inspire future designers to build with purpose.
If you're ready to turn your own idea into a collection, we'd love to help. Send us an email, and let's start building your brand together.
