Abbie Chatfield has addressed concerns her clothing line Verbose has gone out of business.
Some customers and observers have been asking questions in recent weeks as the brand’s Instagram has gone quiet, the website returns 404 errors and some customers claimed to have missing orders with little to no communication from the brand.
“I’m having a big break because I’m so busy. Releases drop. The drop is bought. There’s nothing dramatic, it’s just that I haven’t even had time to call my Mum, let alone run a label,” she told Rolling Stone Australia ahead of the launch of her new show FBOY Island.
“I’ve just been too busy to do a clothing brand properly right now, so I’m pausing it until my brain is not so [pre-occupied]…. I need a break because I didn’t even have time to do a photoshoot for the bay tees,” she added.
The podcast, radio and TV host said she has thus far avoided issuing an official statement as “there’s nothing to say”.
“It’s just majorly paused because I can’t add another thing to my plate right now.”
She also noted she can be stuck between a bit of a rock and a hard place in attempting to avoid burnout while also keeping everyone happy.
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“People tell me ‘Take time off’, and then I pause something and it’s like I’ve killed someone’s first born. I haven’t even said ‘no’ [to the label continuing], I’ve just gone ‘I can’t do it right now’.”
Chatfield also opened up about her hopes for “FBOY Island” and said she thinks once people actually see it, they will understand it is self-aware and doesn’t take itself too seriously. She also maintained the show is actually empowering for the female leads.
“I just hope people understand the jokes . I hope they understand that it’s silly. But [after] episode one, yeah, I think you’ll get it,” she said.
“Even in eliminations in “The Bachelor”, girls were fainting, vomiting, and it was so stressful the amount of stress in that room. Whereas on [“FBOY Island”] we literally had to be like ‘Stop laughing’, because so many funny things happened.”
She said in addition to the comedy, she wants people to recognise the show’s empowerment of women and how differently it’s approaching gender dynamics compared to competing shows.
“I want women to feel like they’re seen and they’re understood and that they get their kind of like redemption or like, they get some sort of solution to their pain – it isn’t direct but they get to see these women call out these men and there’s accountability and I hope they feel like, I hope they are cheering on the love stories, but I mainly hope that there is some sort of joy and silliness and laughing. It’s a silly show,” she said.
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