Latest / Low to Grow / Destiny Pinto: From Compression Gloves to Building an Inclusive Future in Luxury Fashion with Vogue

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Destiny Pinto: From Compression Gloves to Building an Inclusive Future in Luxury Fashion with Vogue · Low to Grow

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The Vogue has shortlisted me as one of the winners.
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Of destiny Pinto is a designer and the CEO of by destiny Pinto,
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an accessories brand that has already been recognized by
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Vogue, Forbes 30 under 30, BMW and Nata Porter told me medical
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devices into bold and stylish expressions.
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Of identity, my favorite part was the official British Vogue
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shoot in Munich. It was the whole Vogue set up
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with like these massive drapes. It was just so-called seeing the
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Vogue team officially and Joaquin, who's one of the
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winners, he was super interested in like the BMW cars.
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And I was just looking at like the vogue team and like the
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behind the scenes. I literally had moments.
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I was just stepping out and being like this is not real,
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this is not happening. Quick note before we start, if
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you have enjoyed this podcast and want to support our
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incredible guests, please follow LO to Grow podcast on Instagram
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and TikTok. Welcome to LO to Grow, the
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podcast transforming life's toughest moments into
0:57
opportunity for growth. I'm Annie, a folks on the 30
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technology founder who's entrepreneurship journey brand
1:04
parallel to a mental health awakening.
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In every episode, I sit down with inspiring individuals and
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delve into how they managed to turn their personal or
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professional challenges into opportunities for growth.
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If you're facing uncertainty in your life, feeling down, or
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simply need a kick of inspiration to keep moving
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forward, this is your space over honest and uplifting.
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Conversations that you will want to hear.
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Hit follow so you never miss an episode and let's dive in.
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Today I am joined by someone who is redefining what innovation
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and accessible entrepreneurship. Really means.
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Destiny Pinto is a designer and the CEO of By Destiny Pinto, an
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accessories brand that has already been recognized by both
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Forbes 30 under 30. BMW and Nata Forte have told me
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medical devices into bold and stylish expressions of identity.
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Her own journey began with experience of rheumatoid
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arthritis, and she began designing accessories both for
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herself and her best friend. Her brand quickly grew into a
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global community of people with a desire to be seen and to
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really personalize something that they have to wear every
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single day. At the heart of it all is
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Destiny's belief in identity, expression and inclusive
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innovation. Destiny, I am delighted to have
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you on the Load Pro Podcast. Thank you so much for having me,
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such a pleasure to be here. And likewise, I've been looking
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forward to our recording for a while now.
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Destiny, who do you want to be listening to our conversation
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today? Who do I want to be listening?
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Anyone, to be honest. But I think specifically, just
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take from this conversation that you can do anything you really
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put your mind to as long as you just keep at it and keep
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persevering. And you can do difficult things
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that are still really scary for even me starting business, being
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diagnosed with like a new health condition and dealing with that.
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Has there ever been a point where you wanted to give up?
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Oh, has there been a point? I think never give up.
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I don't think I've. I think the thing that's kept me
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so long is that that's just never been an option.
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But there's definitely been points where I'm so
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overwhelmingly stressed where I'm just like crying to like
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everyone around me. But I think those moments are
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important because without them, you're never really going to
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know how far you've come or how much stronger at dealing with
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certain things you've become. Destiny, where does your story
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start? My story starts probably in
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university. I was studying design for art
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direction at ual and that's when I first started getting flare
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ups of my rheumatoid arthritis. And I got diagnosed and I just
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saw that it messed with the project I was doing, like the
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work I was doing in university because I would usually create
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physical artwork. So I just remember getting
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really overwhelmed, anxious and not being able to physically
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create. So that's when I started this
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project. Firstly, turning the medical
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device that I wear, which is compression gloves to reduce
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inflammation because of my arthritis.
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Firstly, turning that into an accessory to wear with my
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outfits. And then secondly, figuring out
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a new way to create this project virtually and on my laptop as a
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more accessible way for me to design instead of physically
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creating stuff that's very strenuous to my body.
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And yeah, I just started this project, which then when I
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graduated, turned into my brand. It's now become a business where
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it's a fashion brand and accessories label for all types
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of medical device users. And now it's also just
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mainstream accessories with accessibility like seamlessly
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built into it. I love that, and I know that
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building for your friend was also quite central to your
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story. How did that come about?
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Yeah. So like I said, when I was doing
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my compression glove designs, I was in university and she's been
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my best friend ever since we were 14.
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And she got ostomy bag surgery as well around the same time,
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seeing that we're both where these medical devices for
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different types of autoimmune diseases.
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And we both had an experience where it was an invisible
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disability, but the only thing that was visible was our medical
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devices. And because we both love fashion
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so much, I just started basically designing both of us
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like matching accessories. And that's kind of how it grew
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to like matching medical devices.
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And then I was like, if I'm doing it for both of our medical
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device, why not take it one step further and include everyone
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else's medical device as well? That's beautiful is such an
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organic and also meaningful growth journey.
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And I know that you launched your Addison bag recently as
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well. I've seen you worked a few Times
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Now at the gala and most recently.
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Can you describe how the design process and the production
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process of that felt for you? Like all my projects with my
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work, I feel like it's all very personal and like intertwined
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with my personal growth with the business and the brand, and then
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also my own health. This Addison bag, it was
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literally no different. I want to create a shoulder bag
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with accessibility built in. So I spoke to so many different
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women, so many different wheelchair users, so many
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different women with problems such as endometriosis, women
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that have like period charities, stuff like that, to just get
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their thoughts on what they'd want to see in a shoulder bag.
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And then while also designing this shoulder bag and
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manufacturing it for the first time ever, I had to deal with my
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own health and my own flare ups, realizing that physically I am
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not able to go as fast or as intensely as someone else who's
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doing a product launch would go. So I kind of just had to lean
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back and go slowly and figuring out new ways to create Again, I
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thought I was done with that in university, but I feel like I'm
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constantly being reminded that like, no, it's not done and you
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need to learn new ways. So that's when I started doing
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AI voice dictation, doing AI visuals to do fun little
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campaign visuals for the Addison bag.
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I like that how you're really leaning into using AI tools
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because I'm as someone who is basically a solopreneur with I'm
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not sure how many team members you have at the moment actually.
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I have no employees or anything. I am a solo founder, work with
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external manufacturers, and I have a few people on my team
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like managers and agents that help me with different aspects
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of the brand. But yeah, I am a solo printer.
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I love that word. Yes, you are a female solo
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printer and it's wonderful to see you really lean into AI
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tools when you were first diagnosed with rheumatoid
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arthritis. How do those early days feel for
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you? The early days of when I was
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diagnosed, I think my health was really just on a back burner
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because I was just in university.
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I was in my first year and I feel like that was a priority
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for me, making the most out of my experience, making as many
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friends as I can, going out, doing as many experiences
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because it was the first time I was living away from home as
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well. And then I felt like my health
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just kind of got in the way of that where it was just really
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inconvenient. I was like, OK, well, now's not
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the great time for me to be like getting a flare up and I just
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find myself using random items around my dorm.
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That's compression where and like users, assistive devices.
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And then I think it kind of just, I had to have a moment.
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I think it was in second year at the almost at the end of my uni.
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No, yeah, second year. I think it was in the middle
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where I kind of just had to sit down.
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And I remember having a conversation with my best friend
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where we both just sat down and we were both going through quite
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personal journeys alongside our degree.
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And I was just like, there's no way I can physically ignore my
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health now and also do my degree.
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I had to incorporate this experience in what I was doing
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for my degree and what I was doing for my education.
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That's when I decided to focus in on 3rd year to create this
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project and use it as a form of therapy for me to be able to be
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more comfortable talking about my illness as a way to find more
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people with similar types of illnesses to me and then also
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find new ways to create that's more sustainable for me and I
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would actually be able to work in my degree and not drop out
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because that was a thought. I wouldn't actually drop out.
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But I feel like when I was really emotional and when I was
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going through really bad times in my health, I just like I'd
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say I'm not doing this anymore, finding new ways to create and
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then also having fun with it like learning virtual design,
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learning how to use Glenda marvelous designer and then also
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AI ChatGPT just came out. I think it just gave me a new
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spark for creating and moving forward.
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That's very beautiful. I think when you were really
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struggling with your health and also your university and your
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workload, were there people that you leaned into to help you get
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through those times? I think you mentioned your
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friend a few times. Yeah, definitely my friend.
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All my friends are just such sweethearts.
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I feel like they were really there for me, brought
10:10
everything, but especially my family as well.
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They are and have always been like my rock.
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They would literally drive down to my university almost every
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weekend or every a couple weeks to give me food, just do
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everything they can to make my experience in uni a bit easier
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for me. Besides my friends and my
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family, I don't think I had that much of A support system.
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I didn't really go to my university talking about how
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intense it was and so they didn't really give me that much
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support. Maybe if I had gone to them and
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talk to them a bit more about it, then maybe I would have got
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more resources. I was DSA, which is a thing
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called disability student something ergonomic furniture
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and stuff that if you apply for it, you can get through
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university. And then there's also this thing
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where if you needed it, you can like get taxis to and from
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university. But I never really used it
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because I felt like it was just so much more hassle doing all
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that process and that admin anything to just get it.
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So I just ended up like booking a lot of things.
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Myself. OK, I see.
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I'm quite curious because I'm going to university in about
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stage of life like eighteens early 20s, but secured by a lot
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of people go through a lot of change and you know, sometimes
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moving out of their family home to university about so so quite
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a big life transition. And for you there was also the
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added owners of your health as well.
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Were there any moments where you felt that you were losing parts
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of yourself because of your diagnosis?
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I don't think I ever felt like I was losing a part of myself.
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It was already a period where it was COVID and the pandemic, so I
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felt like everything was kind of up in the air anyway.
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And I knew that I was going to work extra hard to have the best
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experience I could. And that meant being more
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outgoing, more social, more putting myself up for like new
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experiences and stuff. And I knew that I was going to
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do that. I felt like it was a mindset
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thing from day one that I was going to push myself.
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In university, I really, really did push myself more so I feel
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like I wasn't losing parts of myself, but I was definitely
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exerting parts of myself. You definitely convened the
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energy and your experiences into making something into creation,
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and that's what led to your brand and all the really helpful
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products that you have been able to make for your community
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around the world. So tell me a bit about how you
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became to be featured in Vogue and have a partnership with BMW.
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My Vogue project was called the Future Creators Competition, and
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it was when I graduated university, I was still working
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on my brand. I was still designing a lot of
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things. And I remember seeing this thing
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off like British Vogue is calling all fashion designers
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with BMW. And I made a deck and I
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basically reimagined all these medical devices and I put in a
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lot of my brand work. And I basically told them what I
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do, what inspired it, And I applied for it.
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And then I completely forgot about it.
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And then a couple months later, it was like, you've been
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shortlisted as one of the winners.
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And I was like, no way. The Vogue has shortlisted me as
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one of the winners. And I, I don't know.
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It was very surreal. And then when I found out I was
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one of the winners, it was crazy.
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It was because, I don't know, it went from like nothing really
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happening with my work and with my brand to then British Vogue
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reaching out and being like, we want you to be one of our future
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creators. And it was me and two other
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winners, Joaquin and Selena, and they're both such talented
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designers. It was a ongoing project for a
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couple months where they started where they flew us out to Munich
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and took us to the BMW headquarters and then we met the
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Vogue team, the BMW team. The aim was to create a design
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for them and they really loved my reimagined hearing aid
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design. I made a little conceptual
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design based on the BMW car and they loved that.
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So I ended up creating a collection of assistive devices,
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including a hearing aid and then a compression glove.
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Because one of the creator directors said that it's very
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significant to include the compression gloves in the line
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of accessories. Because it directly tells the
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story of why I'm doing this in the 1st place and by my own
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chronic illness. And that's why I'm taking my
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medical device and then taking other people's medical device
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and creating. That's a fantastic story arc and
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it must have been so exciting to be found out by Vogue to the BMW
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headquarters in Munich. Yeah, I was so sorry.
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It was really great. Well, what's your favorite part?
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Of that trip, Oh I got every literally we were there for like
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4 days I think and every day was the most insane things ever.
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I think my favorite part was the official British Vogue shoot in
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Munich. We've done 2 official shoots
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with them, one in Munich and then won a couple months later
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in London. But the one in Munich was
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completely insane because it was the BMW cars.
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It was the whole Vogue set up with like these massive drapes.
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It was just so cool. See the Vogue team officially
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work and Joaquin, who's one of the winners, he was super
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interested in like the BMW cars because he's really into like
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automobile design and stuff. And I was just looking at like
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the Vogue team and like the behind the scenes.
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I'm like how Vogue puts together a project.
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I just found that so, so cool. And I literally had moments.
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I was just stepping out and being like, this is not real.
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This is not happening. I still don't believe it really
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did happen to be honest, but it was really cool.
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That was very humble of you to say.
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How has your ambitions for yourself and also for your brand
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developed since then? When I first started, I think it
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was a lot of imposter syndrome because firstly, like I said,
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going from like nothing crazy happening to them, Vogue being
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like, we want you to be one of the winners.
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I think there was a lot of feelings of like, well, this is
16:11
too much too quickly. And then there was also the fact
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that having rheumatoid arthritis, I, I just felt like I
16:19
was not an expert in the field of accessible fashion and being
16:23
the face of creating all these medical devices.
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I don't really know what I'm doing.
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I've just graduated university. And then I just had to realize,
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which I've now realized, your lived experience is so important
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and rheumatoid arthritis is a hidden disability.
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I feel like I knew so much about the disability space and about
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people's experience with it and chronic illnesses.
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There is still so much to learn, but I feel like I'm more
16:50
equipped with being willing to learn, being able, being more
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confident to speak to people and like ask about their own
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experiences, and then have a bit more confidence to be able to
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tell a story the way I would want my story to be told, and
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then the way the people I work with would want their story to
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be told as well. What is something that you wish
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more people understood about living with a disability or
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living with a chronic illness? Part of my brand is kind of
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showing that there's no particular or set way
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disabilities can look like you can either love makeup, love
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fashion, or you are sick and or you're disabled.
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The two can coexist into one. Me and a lot of other girls with
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hidden disabilities or chronic illnesses realizes that just
17:39
because we look healthy and we look completely fine and like
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put together doesn't mean that we're not sick and doesn't mean
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that we're not having flare ups. We're not going through a hard
17:47
time. Not all disabilities are
17:49
visible. Be more empathetic.
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Ask them how they're feeling. If you know that they have a
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chronic illness, ask them if they're having a good day, if
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they're having a bad day, There's anything you can do.
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Because I feel like with hidden disabilities and chronic
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illnesses, we just we kind of suck it up a lot of the time and
18:05
kind of push through flare ups. But I'm realizing now that I
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need to be more assertive and voice when I'm not feeling well
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or when I'm not having a good day.
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What I really loved about the Addison bag was the color.
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Actually, I've read that's a really bold color, and I really
18:20
love the contrast of having a really bright visible color
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represent or be used or be directed towards hidden
18:29
disabilities. And I think that's just such a
18:31
powerful neon statement. And I'm quite curious, what are
18:35
your favorite set of colors? What's the colour palette that
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you lean towards yourself? I think I'm such like a neutral
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girl, like I love my as you can tell, I love my like blacks,
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whites, Grays, but then also the thing that I love is like I love
18:50
like a pop of colour with my access feel like accessories are
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where I love to play and I love to like add like the texture and
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the colour. So that's what I wanted to do
18:59
with the Addison. But then there was also from the
19:01
marketing point of view, I knew that the red silver ostomy bag
19:06
design that I created was the most viral of the designs.
19:10
By making the Addison bag kind of have that similar aesthetic.
19:13
I've kind of knew what the algorithm would pick up, which
19:17
thankfully it did. I'm talking about algorithms.
19:20
You have built quite a significant following online and
19:22
a growing community of people who are living with hidden
19:25
disabilities or chronic illnesses.
19:27
What did you learn about building community and trust
19:29
online, especially around something that's as vulnerable
19:32
and as personal as medical identity?
19:36
My audience is filled with a lot of people with hidden
19:38
disabilities, but also visible disabilities and chronic
19:41
illnesses, but also people that just have nothing of that.
19:44
They don't have any disabilities, no health
19:46
conditions. They just really love the cause,
19:49
which I love. What I've learned about my page
19:52
and my socials is that just be like authentic and post what I
19:57
would want to see. Best way to go ahead with
20:00
fashion brands, which a lot of founders would agree is like be
20:04
your audience. Like you are your number one
20:07
audience. Like when you start a brand
20:09
because of your lived experience.
20:11
You need to see yourself as a first audience member.
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Can I create? Even if it's those hot girls
20:18
wearing medical devices, doing their thing and just being
20:21
confident and visible and just loving fashion and all of that.
20:25
Like, it's the kind of content I would have loved to see when I
20:27
was first diagnosed and I still love to see now.
20:31
And how do you think that the perception around a disability
20:34
has changed since you started your brand?
20:39
I don't know if it's changed that much, but I do know that in
20:44
education and stuff, maybe people are, they have more of
20:49
like a better, stronger case study.
20:51
Because I know a lot of people use my brand when they're
20:53
talking about accessible fashion, which is really great
20:55
to see. And because I knew when I was in
20:58
uni and I was looking for specific brands and stuff, I
21:01
found it quite difficult. Well, congratulations.
21:03
I think it's great to become the reference point for a whole
21:07
class of accessories. So that's really, really
21:09
special. I think it's, you know, for any
21:11
of their listeners, and these are people in their 20s or 30s
21:14
for those who might be navigating something similar.
21:17
So having a hidden illness or having a chronic illness, what
21:21
kind of encouragement would you give them?
21:25
Go easy on yourself and just let yourself do things quite slowly.
21:30
And definitely listen to your body when you're doing things,
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because I know in this world there's a lot of hustle culture,
21:38
you need to do things as quickly and as fast as possible.
21:41
But the reality is when you have a chronic illness or disability,
21:44
you can't do that. And it's unrealistic standard
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that's going to burn you out and lead to even more flare ups and
21:50
even more time that you need to spend recovering.
21:53
Yeah, just listen to your body. Go slow, figure things out,
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prioritize your health alongside your work because your work is
22:01
not going to get any easier if your health is bad, and try to
22:05
reach out to other people that have similar things so you can
22:08
have a bit of a support system and you know you're not alone.
22:11
The community that you're building around first was to
22:14
help people as they find you. Wanna see your page?
22:16
You mentioned you were at university when you first
22:19
started building for your brand and then now it's become a full
22:22
blame brand. And if you're delivering to
22:24
multiple countries across the world, did you ever raise
22:26
investment? I've never raised investment,
22:29
no. I've bootstrapped the entire
22:30
thing. The process of setting up my
22:33
company was quite a slow process.
22:35
I just started operating as a sole trader first.
22:39
I recently set up my Ltd and it was an easy process.
22:44
The application was an easy process, but I think I just
22:47
prolonged it for so long because there was more of a mental block
22:50
and an emotional block. What was that block that you
22:53
were facing? Just like the severity of like
22:58
actually having an official company and what that would
23:01
entail. And I think a lot of things with
23:03
running your own business and stuff, it's more of a mental
23:06
game of like not willing to have the responsibilities you're kind
23:10
of pushing off. But I think you just kind of
23:13
need to work on your mindset and just like, it's OK, take baby
23:16
steps and you'll figure things out as they come.
23:20
Does anyone in your family have their own company?
23:22
Like, are you from a family of entrepreneurs or are you the
23:24
first one to do so? In my direct family, I'm the
23:27
first one who's going solo and have been starting their own
23:31
business and the rest of my family work a normal 9:00 to
23:34
5:00. But I think extended family, my
23:38
uncle has his own business, he has his own hotel.
23:41
So it's a bit different because it's also in a different
23:43
country. So it's not could really reach
23:46
out and get help with stuff in the UK and stuff like that.
23:50
So I kind of just had to figure information out myself through
23:55
YouTube, podcasts, ChatGPT, learning just as much as I can.
24:00
But then my family, just my direct family and my extended
24:04
family, they support me in a lot of different other ways, which
24:07
is helpful, I think. For sure, I think family support
24:11
is always so lovely and I so, so crucial and so core to how
24:15
entrepreneurs and especially as a solo fan would be able to
24:18
start out Destiny. Looking ahead, what are your
24:22
ambitions for 2026? My ambitions would just be to
24:29
just bring my brand and my company more to life.
24:35
What does that mean to you? I think I've been laying the
24:38
foundation of it throughout 2025 with a lot of AD mini stuff that
24:44
I had to do and getting the building blocks and things in
24:47
place. But I'm excited for 2026 to have
24:50
more in person events, have more community, have more physical
24:55
products, which is already on the way with the Addison bag.
24:58
Yeah, bring it to life. Peaceful and how could anyone
25:02
who's listening help you towards that?
25:05
Oh, if you want to buy my products, it's on my store.
25:09
That's always helpful for small business, even if you don't want
25:13
to buy anything. Even just supporting me through
25:16
social media, that's also super helpful.
25:20
Very true indeed, and what is one thing that you believe will
25:24
allow more people to have better mental health I.
25:28
Think better mental health is taking care of your physical
25:33
body is so important for feeling better mentally.
25:38
I know especially for me with chronic illness, taking care of
25:42
my arthritis, dealing with flare ups as they come, not pushing
25:46
myself too hard, all leads to me feeling more relaxed and more
25:50
calm. And then that helps my mental
25:54
health. So even whether you don't have a
25:56
chronic illness or whether it's just like going to the gym and
26:00
being more active and keeping in shape and healthy, that also
26:03
helps your mind so much. Thank you.
26:06
It's been a pleasure to have you on the later podcast.
26:09
Yeah, it's been so nice. Thank you for having me.
26:11
Thank you for listening you excited for the next episode.
26:14
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26:18
touch with the new announcements.
26:20
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26:23
podcast. If it resonated with you, leave
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26:32
Growing and see you next time.