Why Milk & Honey Became A’MI Collectif

(A transparent explanation from our founder)

Rebranding a business is never a small decision. It’s emotional, expensive, and disruptive — especially when customers have grown attached to a name.

So why did Milk & Honey become A’MI Collectif?

This is the honest story.

The short version

Milk & Honey wasn’t just a name change for aesthetic reasons.

It was the result of a long, difficult legal reality, a complete evolution of the business itself, and a moment where I had to choose between fighting the past or building the future.

I chose the future.

How it started

When I purchased the Milk & Honey store, I did so in good faith.

I bought the business, the brand, and what I believed to be the full rights to the name and trademark from the previous owner. Everything appeared legitimate. Contracts were signed. Money was paid. The business continued trading.

At the time, there was no reason to believe the trademark ownership was unclear.

What emerged later

Months into running the store, it became apparent that the trademark ownership was… complicated.

The trademark did not sit cleanly with the seller. It was tied to a separate legal structure that pre‑dated my involvement entirely.

In practical terms, this meant:

• I had paid for a brand I did not fully control
• I was trading under a name I did not legally own outright
• And resolving it required legal processes far beyond a simple transfer

I engaged attorneys. I paid legal fees. I waited.

And waited.

A year passed with no resolution.

All the while, I was growing the business, investing heavily in stock, staff, systems, branding, and customers — building real value on top of a foundation that wasn’t secure.

That’s a terrifying position to be in as a business owner.

The real risk

At any point, ownership of the trademark could have been disputed.

Not by me — but by parties I had never contracted with, never negotiated with, and never chosen to be involved with.

I had done everything right.

And yet I was the one exposed.

Financially. Legally. Emotionally.

At the same time, Milk & Honey as a brand had quietly become something else entirely.

The business had already changed

Over time, I reshaped everything:

• The style
• The customer
• The brands we stocked
• The price point
• The values
• The positioning

The original Milk & Honey customer was no longer the woman walking into our stores.

We had evolved into something more refined. More intentional. More premium.

The truth was uncomfortable but clear:

The name no longer matched the business.

And legally, it wasn’t truly mine anyway.

The decision

I faced two options:

1. Continue spending money and years trying to untangle legal ownership of a name tied to someone else’s past.

2. Or build something that was fully mine — clean, protected, and aligned with what the business had become.

So I stopped fighting for a name that belonged to a version of the business I had already outgrown.

And I created a new one.

Why A’MI Collectif

A’MI represents exactly what this brand stands for now:

• Independence
• Identity
• Ownership
• Confidence
• Intentional design
• A collective of women who dress with purpose

It’s not just a new name.

It’s a line in the sand between what I inherited… and what I built.

What didn’t change

Our commitment to you.

The quality.

The service.

The attention to detail.

The belief that how you dress shapes how you show up in the world.

Only now, the foundation matches the vision.

Final thoughts

Rebrands often come wrapped in polished marketing stories.

This one came from necessity, resilience, and choosing long‑term stability over short‑term comfort.

A’MI Collectif exists today because I refused to build my future on uncertainty — even when walking away was expensive, difficult, and emotional.

And I wouldn’t change that decision for anything.

Thank you for being part of this chapter.

Angelique
Founder, A’MI Collectif