Read the JUN ISSUE #114 of Athleisure Mag and see THE 9LIST in mag.
Read the MAY ISSUE #113 of Athleisure Mag and see THE 9LIST in mag.
We love a bling moment and when we were first introduced to Simone I Smith's line in 2011 and 2012, we loved her lollipop pendant, creating a line that is filled with statement jewelry that includes earrings, necklaces, and rings! She has collaborated with Celebrity Fashion Stylist Misa Hylton as well as 9X Grammy Award winner (32X Nominated), 8 multi-platinum albums, 2X Golden Globe nominee and SAG nominee Executive Producer and actress, Mary J. Blige (Power Book II: Ghost, Respect, How to Get Away with Murder)! Her line empowers those who wear it and she continues to expand her design aesthetic so that we can put our best foot forward. We sat down with Simone to find out more about her namesake line, her creative process, her recent launch of Majesty, her men's jewelry line where her sons and husband, Todd Smith aka LL Cool J (Oz, Deep Blue Sea, NCIS: Los Angeles) participated in her campaign, and more.
ATHLEISURE MAG: I love the earrings, of course. Well, thank you so much for taking the time I met you briefly at your launch event with you and Misa Hylton last Spring which was amazing and you debuted your Denim and Diamonds collection which was beautiful. I've been a fan of yours for a number of years, so I'm just so excited to chat with you.
SIS: Thank you, I'm excited to chat with you too!
AM: Well, when did you first fall in love with fashion and accessories?
SIS: When I was a teenager, you know, like 17, 18 years, when I met my husband and that was in ‘87 and it was right when they called it back then, it was called Truck Jewelry (Editor’s Note: Truck Jewelry is a Hip-Hop style of jewelry representing the intersection of religion, faith, and the culture. It showcases wealth, power, and social statsus. It’s often associated with large hoop earrings, rings, chains, watches, and medallions. It has influenced fashion globally.). But it was, when the Doorknockers were out there and you know, I had the Triangle Earrings. Todd gave me my first pair of Doorknocker Earrings and I was 17 years old and that's when I like fell in love with big hoops.
But fashion was always something that I've just always loved! I was always in my mother's closet always trying to wear her stuff. You know, I would love to, you know, just like put really cool fashionable things together. But I would say my love, definitely started around 17.
AM: What led you to decide to design jewelry?
SIS: An opportunity was presented to me and I ran with it. I just grabbed it and I was like the opportunity was presented to design the jewelry line and I was like, absolutely. But the first things, first things, first is Hoops! It's gonna be hard to find.
AM: Yeah.
SIS: They were hard to find, it was a big void in the marketplace. You couldn't really find good quality hoop earrings that were affordable. At that time, I was actually able to find like sterling silver hoops right?
AM: Yeah.
SIS: Just the color sterling jewelry ones. Because all of my jewelry is sterling silver. But the gold ones have a sterling silver base with 18K, plating on top of it. Just to find good quality gold hoops without having to spend $5,000 because they're 14K gold which is good quality hoops and I just wanted to be that designer that just blessed women with really fabulous, good quality, affordable hoops which I have been able to do.
AM: Which have a good wearable weight to them too.
SIS: Right, they’re not too heavy. We have a few pairs that may have a little weight to them, but that's because of the design and thickness, but even my thickest earrings, aren't that heavy because the base is sterling silver and not Stainless Steel.
AM: I remember the very first jewelry piece that I had seen from you was your Lollipop Pendant, which I remember when those came out. What was the first piece that you remember just designing?
SIS: The first piece I designed – okay, the first earring that I designed was my logo earring and It was because I fell in love with my logo. When I decided and I chose my logo, I said, “oh my God, these are going to be the hottest freaking hoops! This is going to be a hot hoop.”
AM: Yeah!
SIS: That was my first earring that I designed, and we named, well, my husband actually named it Infinite Love because if you look at my logo, it looks like an infinity sign, you see a heart, and you see a butterfly. So, Todd actually named those earrings for me and they're called Infinite Love. And then my second design was my lollipop and that's, because by the grace of God, thank you Jesus. I am a 20-year cancer survivor going on 21.
I had a lollipop tattoo on my left leg. Let me back up, they found a chondrosarcoma in my right, tibia bone. So I had to have Microvascular Reconstructive surgery, so they had to remove my whole tibia bone and replace it with my left, fibular bone. So when they had to go into my left leg to take my fibula bone out, the surgeon said, “Simone, you may wake up and your lollipop tattoo may not be there." And I was like, “well if there's any way you can avoid from messing up my lollipop tattoo, I would really appreciate it.” I woke up and a part of the lollipop tattoo was on the front of my right leg because they had to do a skin graft -
AM: Oh wow.
SIS: To cover the scarring on where they had to open up. So, when I had created my lollipop pendant, my lollipop tattoo actually looked like somebody took a bite out of it. So I designed my lollipop, exactly the way it looked after my surgery and I called it A Sweet Touch of Hope.
AM: Yeah.
SIS: Because the candy represents how sweet life is and the bite represents what cancer does.
AM: Yeah.
SIS: In the bite, my logo, emerges out of it because it's just a reminder of me being a cancer survivor, getting well, staying well, and it's all a part of my journey because life is really sweet. Life is a gift. Because everybody's cancer journey is different and I praise God that I'm here 20 years cancer free. I can walk. I can wear heels.
AM: You surely can walk in those heels as you looked great at the event!
SIS: I can’t chase dogs or anything, but I’m here. You know, praise God. And I can workout and I can wear heels and And, you know, and I'm just healthy.
AM: Where do you start in terms of your design process? Where do you get the inspiration from?
SIS: My inspiration comes from nature, you know what I'm saying? Like, I remember one day, I was eating some strawberries, and I was like, you know what, I want to make it, I'm gonna design an earring, that's the shape of a strawberry. So, anything inspires me, you know? So with the strawberry shape, like I came with the earring called Precious Fruit. So Precious Fruit is one of the classics. It was in the first collection of my earrings that I designed and it's still a very popular piece because the earring is actually shaped like a strawberry. My inspiration comes from fashion, my inspiration comes from my children.
AM: Mmm
SIS: If I look at flowers, it’s like, it's so many things that my inspiration is also women always just want to make sure that women have like great earrings. My inspiration just comes from the culture. My inspiration comes from just growing up in New York. You know the New York fashion to me, I don't think anybody has it. New York fashion is amazing.
What else inspires me? Like growing up being a teenager, you know, in the late ‘80s and meeting my husband. And when I think about sister love and me and Mary J. Blige coming together, and creating Sister Love the whole Sister Love brand is about creating big bold jewelry for women, because that's what we grew up on big bold jewelry!
AM: Right.
SIS: So, Hip-Hop is definitely an inspiration when it comes down to certain designs on Sister Love like all of the Fly Girls and the Bam Beauties (Editor’s Note: Bam Beauties are earrings and hoops inspired by bamboo), and bringing back the Doorknocker Earrings, but recreating them and modernizing them, and making them high polished with beautiful crystals and all of that. Even though I create that, I don't want to be pigeonholed as just an urban jewelry designer.
AM: Right.
SIS: Because when you look at all of my pieces, it's like, they're not all urban, but they like to pigeonhole me as an urban designer because I'm a Black female designer. If I wasn’t Black and I was designing all of this stuff, I wouldn't be called an urban designer. I'm a jewelry designer. I’m Simone I Smith that happens to be a Black woman.
So that’s my inspiration. It’s inspired by life!
AM: It’s clear in using, wearing, and styling your pieces that they hold their own in luxury, they illustrate a focus craftsmanship, and it is something that is very versatile that regardless of your personal style that can be worn. So when I'm looking at your pieces, I see a point of view for that person who wants to wear statement pieces unapologetically.
SIS: Thank you, thank you!
AM: I will say that what I love most about it is that I live in New York now, and have wow since 2001. I was born in ‘79 and I'm from the Midwest. So growing up watching Salt-N-Pepa and all these people, when I first saw the collection years ago I loved the themes woven in them that took Hip-Hop elements, but then elevating it to be something that could be mixed in with like your Gucci wear or whatever your style is. It was just so exciting to see the homage and where each person can take it to when they wear it. As someone who's a stylist, who really likes to infuse my looks with accessories, there's just such a visual texture to what you're creating in your line.
SIS: Thank you. Thank you. Look, it goes with your Gucci wear, but it also goes if you're wearing a beautiful gown. If you're putting on a suit and going into the office. Which is why, you know, we have the medium-sized hoops and we have the large hoops and then we have the extra-large hoops and then we have extra extra-large hoops. So, it's really about your fashion.
AM: Yup.
SIS: And fashion as you know, as a stylist, fashion is personal.
AM: Very much so.
SIS: You know what I’m saying? Fashion is your own identity. I encourage women that come to my trunk shows like when they go, “oh, you know, I work in Corporate America, I can't wear this size hoop.” Well, who told you that?
AM: Exactly.
SIS: Who made up the rule that you can't wear a 60mm hoop? You may not want to wear 80mm hoop. But maybe you might, if you have the boldness, and the security to wear it. You could walk in that room with your suit on with a nice big hoop earring. As long as you're wearing it, nobody's gonna notice it unless you feel uncomfortable.
AM: Exactly.
SIS: You understand what I’m saying? If you’re working it and owning it, people are going to say okay.
AM: Who is the Simone I Smith customer and what do you feel that they're looking for when they're coming to your site and to your brand?
SIS: I think the Simone I Smith customer is a woman who knows who she is. Who loves hoops, who is looking for a good quality piece of jewelry and who wants to be inspired. Not only do I have hoops, I have beautiful necklaces, I am a God fearing woman. Women can come on to Simona I Smith site and they can get beautiful scrolls that reminds them of how good God is. It reminds them who they are to God, to give them inspiration. You know, one of my famous scrolls is Let Your Light So Shine and I think women shine and I think women come to the Simone I Smith site because they want to be inspired, they want to shine. They want to look good. They want to feel good and my focus is making jewelry to make women look good and feel good.
AM: As you go from season to season, are there core pieces of the collection that are essentials and carry over?
SIS: I would say that my jewelry is for every season, I'm gonna be honest. It’s for every season. I’m not going to say that this is for the Fall. It’s classic, it’s timeless, and it’s for every season.
AM: What do you look for in a collaboration? Talking about before with sister, love with Mary, J. Blige, obviously Misa Hylton. You have another Misa Hylton, collaboration that's come out. What do you look for when it comes to collaborating?
SIS: I look for people who are just as inspired with passion, and the love of big hoop earrings. That's what I look for. You know, if you inspire me like Misa inspires me, Mary inspires me like we have a couple of collaborations that we're working on now that I can't announce, you know, until you know, they actually come into fruition. But everybody that I work with that I'm going to be working with they inspire me, they love God, they love fashion, and they love jewelry. They love the love of big hoops. I think it's important to show other women that women can work together. That's so important because you know, we know women can be so catty and can be so competitive. We're all flowers so we should all bloom and we can bloom together. We make a beautiful bouquet, right?
AM: 100%.
SIS: We make a beautiful bouquet so it's about supporting one another and then showing these young women, showing these young girls, we're better together, let's work together. So that's so important to me. Just working with people that you know that are not necessarily like-minded but right-minded!
AM: That’s a word, I like that!
SIS: Yeah and then have a love for accessories and making women feel good and look good, you know?
AM: Well, I received your Cosmic Ice Hoops which are beautiful another great collab between you and Misa!
SIS: Aren’t they so cute?
AM: So cute! When I got them out of their duster bags it was so exciting to see them.
SIS: I'm so happy you love them!
AM: I can't wait to wear them as well as include them in our next shoot, that comes up!
SIS: You could have had them on today honey!
AM: I should have but honestly I just finished my hot pilates class and time got away from me!
I love that this is called Cosmic Ice hoops. So, what was the inspiration behind it?
SIS: The inspiration behind it was whoa. Are you talking about the actual name?
AM: Well, the name and then also, this particular collection in its design, yes.
SIS: Okay, so Cosmic Ice, you know, me and Misa, we were in a design meeting and we were just talking about, making a pair of earrings that just kind of like reminded us of like the solar system. We wanted to give the women a little bit of ice and a little bit of pearl. But then it winds up just being kind of like balls with ice and how could we create the earring that kind of reminds us of the solar system? It's kind of like just started, you know, Misa got to sketching - it's so interesting the way these meetings happen because they're kind of hard to explain. We would definitely talk about how can we make a solar system on a pair hoops that’s not a dangle. We decided to put it on the outside and then once the samples came, a lot of times the samples can come back one time, which it doesn't always happen when you come back one time, but the samples, you just take about two or three times, and then when you get that one sample and it's perfect - as soon as we looked at it, I said, Misa, we need to call these Cosmic Ice.
AM: Wow.
SIS: We got our solar system hoops, but now, we're going to call them Cosmic Ice because they have a touch of ice and the circles.
AM: I love that.
SIS: I hope that that is a good explanation.
AM: I think it is. A lot of times, you don't know until you see it. I mean I've designed lines and you know it's in your head but until like you said, you get that 1st, 2nd, 3rd pass, you're like, alright, that's what that is.
SIS: Until things are being sketched up, you have your visual, and it's like, okay, these are going to be dope and then once you get them and then it's like, oh, these are hot. Like you have the visual in your mind. There have been plenty of things that were sketched out, you see the finished product and you're like nah!
AM: Nope.
SIS: It didn’t come out the way I wanted it to – nope, we’re not doing this. This isn't what I envisioned.
AM: It's always about getting that tingle in your skin when you see it, and everybody's faces light up, but if it doesn't happen, it's like, let's just put that to the side. Rework it.
SIS: Some things can't even be reworked.
AM: Well, then there's that!
What are 3 pieces from your collection like across your collection that if someone says these are three essential pieces, I need to have. What would you suggest?
SIS: The 3 essential pieces you need to have, I would probably say let me think because it depends on the someone.
AM: Oh well, that's true.
SIS: It depends on the someone because if it's someone that likes a big hoop, if it's someone that likes a really big hoop, right? I would probably say the 3 essential hoop earrings that you should have from the Simone I Smith - are we talking about Simone I Smith or Sister Love?
AM: Well that is up to you. It can be from Simone I Smith, Sister Love, Denim and Diamonds, Cosmic Ice – it’s up to you!
SIS: Okay, so let me think. So you have 3 essential pieces that you should have from the Simone I Smith collection. If you're a big hoop girl, I would say are the Brilliance Hoops in XL because those are my go-to's. Those are like my go-to. I would say the Brilliance. I would say Precious Fruit size L because Precious Fruit size, L with the diamond embellishments, you could dress that hoop up, you could dress that hoop down. And I would probably say, The Bangles. Yeah, I would say more than 1 because I wear 10 of them.
AM: Nice, I love a good wrist stack.
SIS: You know, I would say an arm full of Bangles, Brilliance XL - Gold or silver. Ooo can I add a fourth one please?
AM: Yes ma’am you can.
SIS: I would definitely say my Blessed Necklace. I think that women should wake up and they should feel every day that they open up their eyes that they are blessed. Lord, thank you for waking me up this morning to see another day. Thank you for waking me up in my right mind. Thank you for starting me, guide my thoughts, guide my steps. I am blessed. I want women to wake up every morning and feel like they're blessed. And I think my Blessed Necklace is definitely in there. If you to narrow it down, I would say the Brilliance Hoops, the Blessed Necklace and an arm full of Bangles.
AM: Well we're giving you all four.
SIS: Thank you!
AM: You also launched Majesty. I'm loving right now that jewelry lines that I really love that maybe began with women are now adding a men's collection to it. So what was the inspiration behind that?
SIS: The inspiration behind Majesty was to create an affordable luxe line for men to wear because everybody can’t afford a $5,000 or a $10,000 chain and a lot of those Cuban links with the beautiful links with the ice with real diamonds cost of a lot of money.
AM: For sure.
SIS: For so many years, many of my girlfriends' husbands or if guys would come to my trunk shows and buy things for their wives, they were like, “when are you gonna make something for us guys?” Women would say the same thing asking about jewelry for their guys. The time was right to create Majesty and really men inspired me to do it. My husband inspired me to do it. My son inspired me to do it. And thank you Jesus, they were able to be my models.
AM: Which is amazing.
SIS: They did a cool video and a photo shoot and it was really just, you know, blessing the brothers with some really great good quality jewelry, so that they could feel fly, they feel good and they can have great bracelets and nice link chains that are affordable, but look good and make them feel good.
AM: What are 3 from the Majesty Collection that you want to highlight that are great, you know essentials to start with to add to your style?
SIS: I would definitely say that The Truth Necklace is a classic and it is probably our number 1 seller. The Lion of Judah, I believe it is 2 of 3 different pendants. Lions represent strength, royalty, courage, and all of that. It's something about that lion pendant, that men don't mind wearing. I would probably say, the 3rd piece would be like Divine Ice and it gives them that touch of ice and makes them feel like they’re blinging today and they have some luxe on.
AM: Are there things coming up that we should keep an eye out for?
SIS: Well, you know, I always drop something exciting for my birthday so you can keep your eyes out for that. I'm not sure what it's going to be. We’re still kind of like, working on designs and everything. For Valentine's Day, during the holidays, we dropped Couture and I don’t know if you checked that out yet, but it’s really beautiful. It’s nice, big, bold chains for women.
AM: I'm going to check it out.
SIS: Check out the Guetty Necklace and the Guetty Bracelet. So with this Couture we have a piece dropping for Valentine's Day that I'm excited about, and my fingers are crossed that they get here in time because I'm super excited about that. So we had some really cute stuff wrapping for Valentine's Day. Something for my birthday. There are some new collaborations coming so I'm excited about that. Just stay tuned, cuz you know, SIS always has the products that I will continue to bless you ladies with fabulous hoops and fabulous bangles and all of that good stuff just to make you feel good.
PHOTOS COURTESY | Simone I Smith
Read the JAN ISSUE #109 of Athleisure Mag and see BLESSED ICE | Simone I Smith in mag.
We always like sharing great brands with our readers and when we found out about Terracea, a performance elemental outerwear and accessory brand, we wanted to know more about how they started, the ethos of the brand, and what we can look out for as we continue through 2025. We found out about this and more while chatting with the brand's Founder and CEO, Eric Hui during our recent Athleisure Mag Summit Series that was held on New Years Eve, 2024
ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s so exciting to have everyone here for our Athleisure Mag Summit Series which is a great way for you to get to know about a great brand and in today’s fashion show we’re going to talk about a number of topics and delve into what this brand is, what they are doing, and what we can look forward to as we’re looking at it season to season. As the Co-Founder/Creative + Style Dir of Athleisure Mag, we love talking about fashion, entertainment, sports, wellness, fitness, food, beauty, and all of these things that sit inside of Athleisure Culture.
When you talk about sports we focus on a number of areas and Action Sports is one that we’re so thrilled about. We’ve had various athletes representing surfing, skateboarding, and motorsports that have been our covers as well as inbooks and features from those in the sports mentioned, as well as snowboarding, climbing, freediving, bouldering, etc. What we love about this brand before we talk more about them is that we like to take things that are technical that have specific fabrications that are meant for a sport and to style them in shoots where they are being worn for the everyday, Out + About, running around. So when we heard about Eric Hui and Terracea, it made sense to sit down and chat with him. The pieces look great, it’s wonderful that there is an assortment for women and men and it’s always tough when you see outerwear brands that only focus on mens or womens as it can be tough to use them if it doesn’t cover the area of interest. As someone who has snowboarded, I love the assortment and what you’re doing.
Eric, thank you for taking the time to hop on with us today!
ERIC HUI: Thank you Kimmie, it’s a pleasure to be here and I’m excited to be able to talk about my story and the founding of Terracea and I’m excited to hear that you’re a snowboarder as well. I am too and that’s actually a big reason why I started this company!
AM: Oh wow, I do want to preface it by saying it’s not like I’m on an athlete level or anything, but I do love doing it, falling, and having beverages after!
EH: That’s the best part obviously! It’s all about having fun and being out there right? That’s really the core of it.
AM: Exactly!
Before we delve into the brand, what was your background before coming into this and since you’re a snowboarder, we know you have a passion for this sport. What was the nexus of how this came together? Did you grow up in a snow community?
EH: Crazy enough, no, I’m actually from Hawaii!
AM: Haha that’s what my research told me!
EH: Yeah, I am born and raised there. It’s kind of an interesting story where I came to the East Coast in 2010 which wasn’t that long ago, but I was not exposed to any kind of cold weather until I was about 18 or 19 years old!
Funny enough, the observation for Terracea was that certain clothing worked for the cold and the elements around here, especially in the Northeast where you have not just cold and snow but wind and freezing rain as well as sleet in between where you have to deal with them. In a lot of ways, my Hawaiian upbringing got me to thinking about things from more of an athleisure lens. From my eyes, I’m not the most active, but I love being outside, I love snowboarding and I like to say that I'm kind of a permanent mid-tier beginner. Truthfully, I don’t get to go out all that much. I love it, but it’s not something that I grew up doing or something that truthfully I grew up having the money to be able to do it and to go every single weekend. I like doing it but it’s something where the idea of me starting a snowboard brand is not true. It’s something where I was just doing things and clothing that made sense for the weather around here. That’s kind of the foundation of where I came into this. I’m not from the cold, but I do live in the cold now. I have learned to thrive in it.
AM: When you say here, that’s in New Hampshire, right?
EH: Yes. I live in a small town called Kensington which is surrounded by a lot of farms and not too much, but it’s a great place and I have my wife and 2 kids here now. It’s been really nice.
AM: Have you previously been involved in fashion or design before?
EH: No, I worked in business and pharmaceuticals funny enough. Part of my foundation journey and I’m very grateful for all the learning that I have had now as it has been 7 years. It really has been something that I have started from scratch and not having any real connections in fashion at all. Not having grown up around the apparel industry. I take that back, I had one uncle that worked in T-Shirts back in the day and that really helped me kind of guide a little bit into sourcing and manufacturing. I didn't really have any kind of hands on knowledge into this industry at all. It’s something I learned from scratch and through perseverance and networking to get to where I have gotten to now.
AM: That’s amazing.
What was the first piece that you designed?
EH: Funny enough, it’s actually siting on my chair. It’s this fleece jacket that is actually made of Wind Pro. So it’s actually a water and wind resistance fleece. There’s regulations now where unfortunately, this type of resistance doesn’t quite work because of PFC regulation (Editor’s Note: Perfluorinated Compounds or PFCs chemicals that repel water and oil and are use often in outdoor clothing. They have been linked to negative health effects and environmental damages which is why they are not rules and regulations that limit the use of PFCs), but it’s one of my favorite pieces and I still wear it around the warehouse as an everyday kind of product. We did that and it also zipped into an outer layer. Back in 2017, I did a Kickstarter for the company which is where we got our initial bootstrapping for the company. We kind of started our first manufacturing run from that. It was a shell, a mid-layer, and also another outer layer that was also an insulator. So it was actually 2 layers of insulation that you could actually wear when it got really cold. I went to a place called Jay Peak up in the Northeast to test it in -28°F weather which is pretty cold around here and it was great. So it went from there to just kind of a brief rain for the shell and I just kind of wear this for everything in between. From the onset, Terracea is meant to be a system of products that work together to help you enjoy the outside.
AM: That is pretty impressive that that would be your first piece as it’s such an ambitious one to make and then not being in the industry and doing that is amazing. This is such a fashionable and technical forward product to create for the first piece of your assortment.
What do you feel sets yourself apart from other technical brands that are also in this space.
EH: I like to say that my approach has never really been rooted in the mountain in a lot of ways. Despite Hawaii having mountains, it’s not a big part of what you think of when you think about the big brands like The North Face or other brands that are rooted in the mountains and out in Jackson Hole. I never grew up in the mountains, in the cold, or even being in temperate spaces that needed mountain clothing. In a lot of ways, the brand itself is really based around water which is interesting. I grew up around the ocean and understanding that precipitation – snow, rain all comes from the ocean in the hydrological cycle and then comes back down. So it’s all based around the elements moreso than mountainous conditions. It’s just a little bit of a differentiated look at how we navigate this space. Also, not coming from this industry, not having the background of working in fashion and making super technical garments, I made things around basic everyday wearability. So it's all about comfort, stretch, and quietness things like that which people don’t really quite grasp when you are looking for performance. I’m not going to summit Mt Everest. A lot of people want to and I’m probably not going to do it myself. I want to make things that you can wear and transition from. If you go in the mountains, you will have a product that works, but you can also wear the same product outside of the environment as well to be comfortable and to wear it in your everyday.
A lot of our products are built with really comfortable materials. There’s stretch and they all have water resistance. They all have really good wind stopping properties which is really awesome. I can say that 1 big differentiating element is that we have really high collars which is great because you can actually tuck yourself in.
AM: Exactly.
EH: If you wear it correctly, you can actually cover all parts that would let wind in your body. So that’s very important. When I was living for Boston for a little bit, I was walking to work and I found myself wearing a ski jacket actually – it was a Burton jacket. I wore it to work because previously, I was wearing a men’s Peacoat at the time and I felt that it didn’t do anything for me when it came to protection. I was walking to work and I was having to go outside and it did look better, but it just didn’t work. I found that more and more, the trend was that people were wearing products around functionality, utility, and usefulness. So they were wearing mountain wear which is interesting because there are these big brands designing for the mountain, I’m not near a mountain, but I am wearing those items and it makes sense. I would say that Terracea is the evolution of that to say that it is blending a little bit of that athleisure aspect of it for that everyday lifestyle and activity to also include the technical side of garments that have hard shell capabilities whether it is lamenated, water proof jackets that actually block water to products that actually resist and have a bit more comfort around it. I have to say that it is the best of both worlds and it kind of transitions seamlessly from reactive based mountain stuff to your everyday.
AM: You have a commitment to sustainability. How does that flow through the brand?
EH: I’ve always been conscious of the impact of our carbon footprint on the world. First of all, we’re a very small company truthfully. So we do not make anywhere near the volume of some of what these bigger players do. Even then, we do our best to offset as much as we can for the environmental impact. A big thing is that we have been PFC free since early 2022 before all the regulations happened just because I felt that it was the right thing to do knowing that there were harmful chemicals going into the ground and I want to avoid that as much as possible. The truth is that some of that stuff does work better and you look at brands like Goretex that have changed their technology because of this. Switching to something that is not harmful has always been part of our DNA. Anything that we use for insulation and people don’t know this, but it’s all either recycled or repurposed products for insulation materials.
For example this is our Catnap Full Zip Women’s Puffer it's a hybrid so the top part is completely waterproof believe it or not. The bottom half is actually puffer fabric. I like to say like Canada Goose, but honestly nicer and at a much more accessible price point. The truth is that this jacket has a technology called Downlight which is actually taking used down and taking them from places like a duvet cover and they repurpose or they pack the down to fill it on a certain power level. So for example, we have one that is 650 fill which is the equivalent so what they do is take the down and repack into the insulation type and they are not taking from new products or new animals to make this.
We also use Primaloft which is another great technology. So, this is our Women’s Camara Jacket which is essentially what I like to call, the representation of Terracea in a lot of ways. It's a full technical ski jacket, but it really looks like an every day coat. It’s great, it’s super comfy, and it’s super quiet which is really cool.
AM: I love that I’m not hearing a lot of jangling when you’re holding it.
EH: That’s because I chose a lot of the fabrics and I base a lot of it on noise. Does your armpit go against your side and make that crinkling noise so it sounds like paper? If so, then we probably shouldn’t do it. We also use insulation that is fully recycled. So Primaloft, the package that we purchase from they source it from recycled water bottles, discarded plastics, and things like that which creates their Primaloft Eco which is what we use. We have always been conscious about the environment and we do our best to not overproduce. Being a small company we have the luxury to be able to not over make stuff that we would have to discard. We’re very careful with what we make and trying to sure that what we do so that we’re not making an impact negatively on the environment.
AM: You’ve been speaking and I love the everyday factor of it all and I think that that’s amazing. Are there pieces that if someone is interested in doing a specific sport, that lend themselves to a designated sport?
EH: You know, that’s a good question. I think the best way for me to say it is to say that we try to stay activity agnostic and just kind of let the product do its own marketing in a lot of ways. Because, a lot of people say, “well clearly, you’re just making ski products.” It’s a ski wear shell, it’s a ski wear bib, and things like that. In a lot of ways, it’s kind of true, but also it’s like – I never had the ability to say that because I’m a skier, I want to make things for ski. I don’t and truthfully, I only skied once in my life which is funny enough! In a lot of ways, a shell is a shell. The way that I see it, a 3 layer shell is a thicker shell meant for the Winter that blocks snow and sleet. Sometimes you wear a shell over an existing garment to protect you. In a lot of ways, that kind of philosophy translates beyond kind of any activity.
We do look at ski and that’s kind of a big part of our inspiration because the stuff built into ski and snow apparel really does work. There’s things like hoods that protect you, cinch cords and even things like powder skirts – there’s not that much powder in the East Coast and I’m sure in the Midwest it’s the same but it’s great for wind. In a final way to protect as a gusset, your hip and waist area actually prevents wind from coming up which is actually a very big part around here.
We’re kind of reframing things and taking inspiration from mountain apparel technology and try to apply it more into an every day lens. I think that we’re getting better and better as we go. Truthfully, when I started out, I couldn’t break the mold too much just because of who we worked with and sort of the ways that we had to sell our products, but the more that we start to get into our identity and what makes Terracea different like you said – we’re going to lean into this lifestyle athleisure lens I think for our products which is exciting for me.
AM: That’s really cool.
Tell us specifically about the women’s assortment and what are 3 key pieces that we should know about?
EH: Of course! We do take a lot of feedback from our women consumers and testers who do wear our garments. Knowing that we just can’t force a fit for anyone and it’s a specific fit for women in terms of body shapes. We have a lot of products that I would say kind of cater to women. I would say that this one right here is our Vinda, a lightweight puffer that truthfully is a really good product. It’s got eco-friendly DWR which is great and it actually repels water. But it also has a lot of cool tech. We actually have laser cut arm holes. We don’t think about this, but this is also a waterproof patch on the front of this as well. So anything that you put in here you don’t have to worry about getting water in this zipped area because actually, you’re protected which is great. It’s a hybrid between mountain wear and that every day wear kind of build. This one actually uses another kind of recycled fill called Thermal Cluster. It’s super super warm, but it’s also quite light. I like to say that it is our best all around jacket that we offer. We have a men’s version of this jacket which is the same and it just has slightly different colors and is a boxier shape.
Beyond that, the Camara has all of the bells and whistles. This is kind of our every day, I’d like to say that it’s an every parka in a lot of ways.
AM: This is my favorite piece on the women’s side of your collection. I love this.
EH: Oh thank you! I appreciate that and I like it too truthfully. I wear it a lot especially when it starts to get colder and you don’t want to layer too much. I just want to wear one jacket that will keep you warm and if that is your thought process, this is your go-to.
It has a 2 way zipper and it also zips up from the bottom as well. If you’re taking your jacket off and your in the car starting it, I think about a lot of things when it goes into the design. If you’re sitting in the car waiting, you can take your jacket off, but you also don’t want to sit with it on and feel all bunched up. So I think about things from a usability perspective. I also have this cool element. All of our products have this raised embossed of our logo.
AM: I love that!
EH: I like to say that it is a little boring for ski shops that are looking for flashy outerwear. But that has never been my purpose. I wanted to make a better jacket which meant I wanted to wear it so it didn’t look obnoxious and different when it was off of the slopes. So we got into embossments because it’s a little more subtle. Lastly, we have the Women’s Catnap which we talked about a bit before. If you look at a system, it’s actually warm, warmer, warmest, so it’s ac tually our warmest product. I can attest that this will keep you warm, dry, and comfortable outside no matter what. When it’s actually getting cold and you can’t wear just a sweatshirt or something that is knit and you want to repel water – this is very warm. We do try to do a bit of a tonal block. The top half is made of a 20K waterproof fabric which no one else does by the way. This will actually block water like nothing else and we take a top down approach. So a lot of times when you’re standing up, most of the water will accumulate on the top half of your body. So you block that with a waterproof fabric that actually makes a lot more sense then having it across the whole thing and the bottom of this jacket has the puffy polyester fabric. All of our zippers are also YKK Aquaguard which means that they are completely waterproof too. Our jackets have that bit of utility wear where you technically could wear it and I have worn the men’s version when snowboarding. We have tested it out in more cold environments. Everything kind of works seamlessly together. Those are the 3 women’s pieces that I wanted to be able to show that are kind of a system product that we offer.
AM: I have to say that the Vinda with the embossed logo on it, that is such a high end style aesthetic to put in. We most recently did a photoshoot with a track set that had this kind of embellishment and there is something that is a bit of a hat tip to quiet luxury about that which reads differently than having a visually massive logo that is a Colorblock or something of that nature. It’s not to say that there is anything wrong doing that, but there is something understated and very IYKYK when you're looking at the brand so what brand so what a great style choice that you included in there!
EH: I appreciate that and I thank you for that. Kudos to our designer Mike who had a lot of decisions that were made in the aesthetics in the products that we wanted to portray. I knew that when I started this company, I didn’t want to make the same non-apparel. Everything looks kind of the same and things don’t fit this more modern and stellar angle that I really wanted to go for. I think that with our designer’s help, he really helped us shape the look and the feel on these products that they look great and that they look elevated and they look quality no matter where you go.
AM: Let’s do the same thing as it pertains to the men’s assortment and what are 3 key pieces that you want to highlight?
EH: Before we do that, I do have a few unisex pieces that I want to be able to show you. We have our sweatshirts as well as the logo on this hat. It’s actually a puff print which that’s really cool. It’s a little extra which is pretty neat too.
AM: I love that!
EH: We also have a heavier hoodie which has a little bit more weight. We also have a tech hoodie which is also water resistant too, but that’s more of a technical product too.
For men, we have the equivalent of the Magnus Thermal Insulated Jacket. I love that you’re in my showroom seeing all of this! So our Magnus for men has the same thing with the embossment on the soft shell. It’s the same thing as well, really high quality zippers. We have this things for the zipper which is called a Semi Lock. When you have the zipper tag flat against your chest, the zipper will not go down which is great when you have to partially unzip and you want to keep it thermal regulated it won’t go anywhere. When you flip it upwards, the zip will move with your body which is kind of cool.
AM: Once again with all of that zipper action, it’s still so quiet.
EH: Yeah it’s great technology! It’s a great looking product to as I put this one on. I truthfully wear this every single day! It’s a great piece to wear when you’re just walking around town. It looks good and you can size up if you want to layer underneath. For me, if I wear it true to size, I can wear just a sweatshirt underneath it. But if you’re doing an activity and really want to layer up, then you should size it up. I’m sorry I like to geek out on stuff like this.
AM: Oh no, I find this really interesting as I love to get into the nitty gritty and to hear these kinds of details. I find that it is very important to understand the why. Why does someone have the desire to purchase a specific item from your brand, what are the things that you’re doing in your space, how is it differentiated so I find this highly interesting.
EH: Awesome! I’m glad! I can go on for hours about this and I have bored people to death with me talking about details. But that is what I really care about. I just wanted to make products that made sense for my lifestyle and also for what I felt was kind of a gap in the marketplace. A lot of times, you want something that just looks better and feels better on you and sometimes people have a hard time finding them and I wanted to be the place where they could.
Even things like this, there is a bit of elastic around the hood. It goes around your head or your beanie. So you could sit it on there and kind of cinch it. Again, there’s that high neck which we talked about earlier.
I also wanted to show you something that is different than the insulator, this is a shell known as the Sorrel. We actually just won an award too from Outside Inc’s Ski Mag and noted us as Best Overall Shell of the Year!
AM: Oh wow, congratulations!
EH: Thank you! It was amazing. We have a really cool kind of storm flap that is magnetic powered. It’s pretty cool and people like that a lot. It’s a really good shell for everyday and I layer this over an existing sweatshirt sometimes when I want to go outside, but I don't actually want to be exposed to when it is windy and cold. It’s actually a really good product to wear. But again, it’s a 3L 20K waterproof shell that is great for skiing and snowboarding. But you can also wear it out everywhere for other purposes! To streamline it, we keep our cinch cords on the inside because I want it to look like a shell and not something that is intended to wear only when you ski. On the sleeve we have this zippered compartment which is for your ski pass and you can put in your RFID cards. I put my credit cards in there sometimes too.
AM: The Metro Card here in NY!
EH: Yeah! I call my Ski Pass my T-Pass because in Boston it’s your MBTA and they call it the T. It kind of really makes sense.
AM: Yup!
EH: The last one is called the Men’s Bear Hug which is a pullover anorak which has some really cool tech built in. I like the Women’s Catnap, but this is more of a style/fashion piece. I want to show you something that both the Men’s Bear Hug and the Women’s Catnap both have. It’s a magnetic pocket and it’s actually a magnetic rod that we actually substitute for the zipper pocket. It gives you easier one handed access into it when you’re getting your keys or things like that. It’s really cool stuff and I would normally put it on, but it would take awhile to get in and get out of it. It has full side zips and it’s also really a cool product. The same thing, the top half has waterproof and the bottom half is puffer fabric. But it really really looks nice. It might be our warmest product ever pretty much.
AM: That magnetic pocket it cool because when you don’t have your gloves on and you’re sliding your hand in there sometime the zipper catches it and snags your hand which is annoying. But having the magnet, you have that easy slide.
EH: We have a little bit of a pull too just in case you need the help and it just looks cool! It’s very functional and since that pocket is at an angle when it has a zipper and it catches, it can be awkward. So to prevent any kind of issues, we decided to do something a little different and we just thought outside of the box too.
That pullover style is a little tricky to get into sometimes but once you’re in and I can say for the Bear Hug especially, if you’re going to be outside in the cold all day doing something, you want to wear this as you will be so comfy and so toasty all day long. The response that we have gotten by Henry Swinson who is a local meteorologist in New England and he is outside storm chasing and reporting on the weather all day and he has been wearing our Bear Hug when he does that which is pretty cool!
AM: That’s pretty cool! You know if someone is wearing it storm chasing, there is something to be said for the quality of your pieces!
What are 3 accessories that you have that you would like for us to know about?
EH: I consider our sweatshirts as part of our accessories for this line. We have our hats and some neck tubes and things like that. We’re actually developing more accessories as we go. We have a collaboration of socks which is pretty cool. They are made in the USA right here in New Hampshire which is pretty interesting. We work with a local company called Minus33 and it is a strategic collaboration just because of the way that we are going with both of our complaints being here in New Hampshire in this state. It’s probably the best Merino wool socks that I have ever worn. You can wear them all day and for a whole week! They’re odor resistant and they’re also thermal regulating so they actually remove heat from outside. It’s really cool and I recommend you checking them out on our website.
AM: Are there new products coming out that may not be available on the website right now, but they will be that you can share with us?
EH: We are moving forward to the true era of Terracea which is all solutions for weather which means all seasons. Funny enough, being from Hawaii, we startd working in the cold for this company and making the best what I like to say is the best technical cold weather apparel that is out there. We’re actually moving full circle and going back to where it is warm as well. So when it comes to warm, it’s about changes in weather patterns where the cold is not as prevalent as much as here in the Notheast. The cold is getting shorter and the volatility is getting higher. That means we’re kind of missing a lot of pieces where it’s about rain and UV. We deal with that a lot more out of the year. So we’re actually, making a small capsule of Summer apparel which includes a rain shell which will kind of be our next level product I would say. It’s going to be designed with a different ethos in mind, and I can say that it will have some interesting elements to it. It’s really all about storytelling which is really cool and we will have a tech shirt and a tech short which is going to also be an interesting product for us. To round that out, we said that we would have a year around capsule collection that really speaks to our ability to enhance our experience outside no matter where you are.
AM: That’s great to hear. The first thing that I thought of when I was looking at your site and its assortment and it’s great to have categories in snow, but what about rain as that is also a significant part of the year. It doesn’t always snow year around and you can go to places where there is snow, but it’s a missed opportunity not to think and include the other elements as well.
What are you looking at in terms of 2025 whether it be innovation, technical fabrication, tradeshows that you will be at that we should keep an eye out for?
EH: We will have innovative technology that is coming out on our garments and unfortunately it’s a little early for us to tease that out. I will just say that it is really cool and something that really speaks to our brand genuinely and more so than other brands out there.
The fabrics that we choose will kind of continue in the same mold. It’s always a balance of performance for repelling water and wind versus comfort and sustainability. So that is always this intersection that we always have to meet as a business because truthfully, we did look at options that were 100% biodegradable and using bamboo and things like that which were good, but there is always a bit of a tradeoff when you consider whether it’s good when you’re outside and it’s raining all day or if it is really cold, is it going to protect you? There is always this bit of intersection where we have to have balance and that’s part of our thought process being Terracea. We consider all of these things and not just 1 thing whether it’s the best performing or the most sustainable. We really like to be there right in the middle.
For tradeshows, we actually decided to take a bit of a step back this year. We did do a few tradeshows before. We went to Outdoor Retailer, we did a couple of local tradeshows around here in the Northeast, but we are actually focusing a lot more on building our online presence so we are actually shifting to be more of a DTC business this year which has actually been working quite well. We’ve been able to organically tell our story and to reach a lot more people through the Internet through our marketing efforts. I would say that maybe late 2025/early 2026, you may see us again at these sort of tradeshows with our new 360 brand and collection which would make a lot more sense for us.
AM: I was going to ask as my fashion background started first in visual merchandising and then in wholesale, are there places that people can purchase your pieces outside of your website.
EH: We did sell last year to a couple of retailers and at our peak, we were actually in 35 retailers across the Northeast. We also had one in Lake Tahoe funny enough! We do sell some in REI in North Conway and kind of in more local places here. We’re kind of revisiting that approach. Right now, the main point of truth is our website terracea.com which is where we are trying to really engage our customers and trying to have that conversation with them. What makes our products different, how can you find out more about us, and we have a great customer service team as well as a great supporting cast behind the website. Anything that people have questions for, we can always answer and make it a seamless shopping experience for them.
AM: You also brought on Vic Satir, the former Global Merchandising Leader at Nike which is amazing. How does this fit into your brand and where you see it going forward?
EH: Vic is awesome and we have been working together for almost 3 years now together. Kind of as a consultant at first and now he is really a fulltime team member leading the team as GM as well as leading them as Strategic Thought Leader for us. He has really been helping a lot with me in terms of elevating the brand and sort of bringing everything together. We really have a full team now in this business from all aspects and we have really been kicking in on all cylinders. Vic has been helping a full team now in this business from all aspects and we have really been kicking in on all cylinders. Vic has been helping me reshape on how to move the brand forward in a higher level perspective. I can say that I love doing that too, but my strength has been guiding the business, how we run, the operations and that has been my strength in a lot of ways. He compliments that by saying how do we think and not just in next year, but in the next 3-5 years down the road? We’re looking at where we can pivot towards and we’ve been kind of working together as a tandem on that side which has been pretty good.
AM: That’s amazing and has there been anything else that we haven’t talked about that you do want to share with us?
EH: I’ve been talking to people a lot about my journey and it’s really been a story about hard work and perseverance because nothing comes easy. It’s like everything is stacked up against you, especially when you don't have the network or the capitol to push it early on. Truthfully, I talked to someone that had a luxury fashion brand and a big part that fueled my fire is that he laughed at me. He said I was never going to do this right. He told me a number that I kind of needed to start with and he said that I would never get there. I realized that a) I would never get there because I didn’t have that much money to fundraise, and b) I knew that I was going to prove him wrong. This was 8 years ago when I talked to this dude. I knew that I was going to do my best to keep pushing. But you know what? Truthfully, he was right! You do need a lot of money in this industry to break in as a brand because it’s not just product, it’s marketing, it’s getting the word out, it’s who you know, it’s can you get deals and financing terms at your factory, can you balance your cashflow correctly? I didn’t know any of that! I fell head over many many times and I’ve actually suffered twice already where we should have gone under as a business. Just due to the passion of what I’m building and the direction that I want to go in for Terracea, I just kept doing it. Maybe I’m just stubborn, but I have a very supportive wife and I thank her a lot for that as well as a family that cares about me, but it’s something where it’s not easy. In this business nothing comes easy and until you make it, no one cares. We’ve reached 7 years and that’s incredible and to have 7 years of equity in the marketplace is honestly a big testament to how hard we have worked and to the growth that we’ve hit. But it is also the team that we have built from Jordanna and Kate on the PR side to everyone on our marketing team and really talented digital marketers that we have worked with to our social ambassadors. We finally have a company and a brand that's just very very cool to me! So, I’m never going to give up and I am going to keep going and I have reached the bottom in a lot of ways in this business, so it can only go up from here. I’m pretty excited for the next chapter.
IG @terraceaco
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | Terracea
Read the JAN ISSUE #109 of Athleisure Mag and see OUTDOORS EVERYDAY | Terracea in mag.
Whether you have enjoyed seeing her on New Girl, Elf, or even the Trolls franchise, Zooey Deschanel is one of our faves who always has such a light hearted nature about her and a great sense of style. Earlier this year, she partnered with Vera Bradley to become the fave of their campaigns. We took a moment to talk with her about her love of vintage style, pieces she's drawn to, what she loves about the Holiday Season, and what she has coming up that we can't wait to see!
ATHLEISURE MAG: Earlier this year, it was announced that you had partnered with Vera Bradley which is amazing. I grew up with the brand. I’m originally from Indiana which is where this is based and of course, I’m in NY now, so it’s cool to see how much the brand has evolved since I first connecting it with so many years ago.
What do you love about this brand, why did you want to partner with them and what are 3 bags from the Holiday collection that you are excited about?
ZOOEY DESCHANEL: I love this brand going back to the quilted bags which they still have! There’s so many beautiful patterns and I have always liked that kind of vibe. But now they have so much variety! They have bags for basically every aspect of your day, your week, and your month!
So I really wanted to partner with them because they were doing a big rebrand and kind of bringing an aspect into their catalog that was a little bit more high end and kind of fancier and a little more fashion forward so I kind of liked the idea that they were expanding their repertoire. Their design team is fantastic and I’m excited to show everybody what’s on offer.
I actually have a bunch of bags here that I can show you!
This is one of my favorite bags!
AM: That’s pretty cute!
ZD: This is the Heritage Bear Crossbody in Goji Berry Red Leather! I just really connect with this for obvious reasons!
Another bag that I really like is this velvet bag which is for holiday, the Astoria Shoulder Bag in Sea Moss Velvet. These are all holiday and it has a very beautiful chain and it’s big so you can fit a lot of stuff. It’s also great for evening and I think it can go great for daytime as well.
This is very me, it’s a mini tote bag – Mini Hathaway Tote in Bossanova Bold Sequin Leather. It’s a great size, it’s not too big and you can fit a lot of things in there. These straps are called friendship straps I think.
AM: Oh that’s cute!
ZD: You can make it a crossbody if you want. It’s a tote and you can take off the straps and can make it to your liking. One of the things that I like most about Vera Bradley is that almost all of the bags have a lot of compartments that are very practical.
One thing that was funny was that I was in kind of like a few years ago, I was in a fancy bag store. I noticed that none of the bags had compartments! None of them had zippers and I was so shocked about it! They were like, “oh, it’s really expensive to put those things in.” This shocked me because these bags were really expensive! They retail for more than a Vera Bradley bag and their bags have all kinds of zippers.
I mean, not every single one has it but, let’s say a more practical bag like a travel one that they have – it has tons of places where you can put all kinds of things so that you can stay organized. I mean, I’m a mom, we have to be organized!
AM: 100%
You did a photoshoot with your stylist, Ib Nasser where you combined Miu Miu and vintage pieces in it along with the brand. Tell us more about this.
ZD: Actually my stylist, who is right here – we both have a passion for vintage clothes that are very – fashion history is a passion of mine. I have always collected vintage. So that was definitely going to be part of it because it’s like the things that we buy has to fit into our aesthetic and all of the things that we have collected. It’s really a nice way to express your style and also, we kind of – a lot of the things that we buy, we also tailor a lot and reimagine as well.
AM: Which is really smart as fit is everything!
What do you love about the holiday season? I loved you in Elf, I loved that movie which is such a great one to watch during the holidays. So what do you love about it?
ZD: You know, Christmas, Thanksgiving, the holidays in general – the season! It’s always been one of my favorite times of year since I was a little kid. I kind of like when it gets colder and I love decorating a house for Christmas. I love spending time with my family most of all of course, Nothing beats a Christmas morning for me. I love it so much.
I like watching old movies. Last year we watched Meet Me in St. Louis on Christmas and I just love Christmas carols! I love the whole holiday vibe.
AM: Around now is when I start thinking about shopping for the holidays so that I’m not pushed to the last minute to do it. How do you tackle that as it is a whole project in and of itself!
ZD: It is really hard! I love to give gifts and it kind of makes it more stressful for me. I think that I care too much sometimes about it! I want to make sure that people really like what I get them. So sometimes, I will be late in giving gifts because it will take me forever to find the perfect gift. It is really helpful if I know of a place that has really cool stuff. You know, one stop shopping! That’s actually and not to bring it back to Vera Bradley, but it’s one of the things that I like as they have travel things, they have stocking stuffers, suitcases, they have all of the beautiful evening bags, they have everyday bags, and it’s a lot in one place! That’s a key thing for me! Some years, I will be in a mode where I will do work gifts. It’s one thing that I know that everyone will like. But if you can order a lot of stuff from one site, or go to one store – that is always great!
AM: You have to save time!
ZD: Exactly, you have to save time!
AM: I’m sure that you’re always hosting friends and family during the holiday season. Do you have go-to items that you like to have such as certain types of snacks or drinks just so that it makes things easy especially for impromptu celebrations that take place?
ZD: Yeah, I always have a lot of snacks on hand at my house. I always have a ton of crackers and nuts in my pantry. But if I am having people over, I usually do a nice cheese plate because that is always great. Cookies are always popular and then sometimes I like to have a bit of food delivery. So there are places that will have cheese plates delivered and that’s pretty nice!
AM: It’s nice homey ta-da touch delivered!
ZD: Of course! You can always think about having these in your freezer – there are bakeries that make the unbaked cookies or even in the grocery store. You can keep them in the freezer and then when you want them, you can just bake them and then you have fresh cookies when people come. I had some croissants like that that were from a bakery – they were raw and then you just put them right in the oven! And then people are like, “oh my God, did you bake this?”
AM: It’s like – um yeah!
ZD: I mean, I did bake it! But I did none of the other work though!
AM: Exactly!
Are there any upcoming projects coming up that you have that we can share with our readers?
ZD: I have a movie coming out next year! I’m not sure what it’s called, it had a working title Merv – I’m not sure if that will be the final title. It’s for Amazon, it’s a rom-com. It’s such a cute movie, I’m really excited about it and I think that that will be really good. That’s with Charlie Cox and it will come out end of next year.
PHOTOS COURTESY | Vera Bradley
Read the OCT ISSUE #106 of Athleisure Mag and read VINTAGE STYLE HOLIDAY | Zoey Deschanel in mag.
Read the OCT ISSUE #106 of Athleisure Mag and see 9LIST STORI3S | Kamie Crawford in mag.
Accessories are always that key component of your outfit that enhances elements of your look or your features. They are the pieces that become statements of conversation while also being fun ways to change up your style or reflect your personality in a cetain way! Whether you reach for them first to create your look or you finish it off with those touches, it's always something that we are on the hunt for! We have attended a number of editor previews, have enjoyed seeing items on the runway and beyond and of course, it's always fun scrolling our social feeds for great looks to add to our collections.
Parker Thatch is a luxury accessory brand that has been around since 2009 and we became aware of the brand a few years back. We love that its known for great handbag styles that are chic, has a number of fabrications that it offers, and has a great aesthetic that will never go out of style. When we had the chance to talk with Celebrity Costume Designer Allyson Fanger, she reminded us that not only is it a great handbag line, but they also have fun jewelry as well. After deep diving with the brand, we reached out to Irene Chen, Co-Founder of this line. We knew that she had a phenomenal background as a product developer at Donna Karan and we wanted to know more about how she got into the industry, how she came to designing this line with her husband Matt, and what we need to know about this brand as well as upcoming seasons!
ATHLEISURE MAG: I know your brand has been around for quite awhile, but I love how recently in the last few years how I have seen the videos that you do, the fun assortment, and how you engage with your customers as well as showing off how stylish you are as well. It’s so great to be connected to talk about the brand!
IRENE CHEN: Oh thank you! I’m really excited to chat with you as well as I really appreciate and love what you guys are doing with Athleisure Mag in terms of showing the importance of movement and fashion together. For me, it’s an important element of my life! I’m just so happy to speak with you.
IC: That is part of everything that I honestly so connect with and what we do you know. I feel that there are so many products out there these days and I think that the key is that there are so many people that they don’t feel great about themselves and they are stuck in their homes and they are not doing any kind of movement and I think about the connection of how do you get someone to get up and move so that they can feel good about it and make it really easy for you. I think that’s why I think that what you guys are doing is so cool.
AM: Well thank you!
Before we delve into talking about Parker Thatch and this great accessory brand, can you tell us about your background? You were at Donna Karan, that assortment had those elements and bones for that person who lived a full cycle from studio to office and everything in between. It would be great to know about your background and how you came to the fashion industry.
IC: It was totally one of those weirdo things! When I graduated from college, I went to UCLA, and then I cam back to San Francisco and then I just took a job like most people would out of college in consulting and I did that for about 2 years. Sometimes you look back at things that you did and wonder why you did certain things, but consulting really taught me and gave me the foundation for everything that we do like time management and all of that stuff. You wouldn’t be able to learn and that’s what I did. But then, 2 years after consulting, you decide on whether you will stay or go onto Business School in that transition and for me, I had this gnawing feeling as I didn’t want to do either of those things. I have always loved fashion personally and so I sent my resumes out and I think when you're young, you just have more courage sometimes. When I was consulting, you travel a lot and I read a magazine and they showed a picture of the President of Donna Karan and she was in a meeting and she was Asian and it was really interesting because at that time, there wasn’t a lot of representation and for people to see them in magazines and I was looking at this thinking that this was amazing and she was leading these people. For some reason, it dawned on me that I wanted to send her my resume and I had to figure out how I was going to do this.
You know, you do weird things so I pretended that I was sending a package and I called the mailroom as I knew I had to get the specific information in terms of the floor that she was on. So I sent my resume and they did call me and ask if I wanted to come in. It was this crazy thing and it happened in 2 seconds and I honestly leveraged my Excel Spreadsheet skills in terms of getting in the front door!
AM: Ha! We’ve all been there and same!
IC: Slowly but surely, I worked my way through and I really loved working with product. At the end of the day, I worked there a very long time. I got to learn how to develop product and all aspects of the business. It was an exciting time for me actually.
AM: I have such a respect for product developers as my aunt was one for a number of major brands. It’s such an amazing way to extend a brand especially when you get into licensing and other things like that so I think that it is so cool.
What led you to decide to go off on your own and to create Parker Thatch?
IC: Well it’s so funny because I was living in New York and I met my husband Matt who is my husband now. I think it was just close to the dot com time when we met and I was very burnt out with what I did and I was traveling almost every day of my life for a number of years and I was just really exhausted. We met and his mother got sick and I said, “why don’t we just go to Australia,” because that’s where his parents were. So we spent almost a year there and we thought that maybe we could do something on our own. So that’s what started us tinkering with businesses in the year 2000. It has been crazy! I think that when we started that we were a little too early so no one understood it and now it’s like we could have done x, y, and z under this company given now how the business works. We had to survive and we said let’s just do stationary because people kept saying that they loved our paper and they didn’t understand the tech version of it.
So they just wanted to buy the paper. So that’s how we started! We started our company at my parent’s basement in the room that I grew up in.
AM: Well I love a good piece of stationary.
IC: So stationary turned into home and then I think in about 2009, Matt had an idea because we were doing a lot of customizing. He said, “I think that we could customize on cotton.” Can you think of something we can do on cotton. I told him it would be great to have a tote bag and that’s how it happened. I started with the bag at my dry cleaners. It’s the craziest story.
AM: Ok, I love that story and I love when people get scrappy to figure out how to take their vision and bring it to life and to figure it out! What a good synergy it was for you to find her because when you were saying this I thought, “well just because you can hem a pant, doesn’t mean you can make a bag!”
IC: We wondered what kind of materials we could use because we had no money to do any of this stuff so then I was like, “I love canvas and we can cut 2 strips of leather.” So the bags were made from canvas that we bought at Joann Fabrics and 2 strips of leather that Matt cut and grommeted on and that’s how it came about. Then we did these stripes with your monogram on it and stripes with your monogram on it and at that time, it was all about magazine and gift guides. So we sent them out and people loved them and it was insane!
AM: That is incredible!
What has drawn me to your brand as I have always been aware of it from a handbag assortment as opposed to your jewelry, is when I was talking with Celebrity Costume Designer Allyson Fanger for our MAY ISSUE #101 -
IC: She’s the best, I love her!
AM: It was amazing to be able to chat with her as I have loved the work that she has done in her career and the way that she is able to tell story the looks of the character whether alone or when they are interacting with others.
IC: How cool is she?
AM: She is so cool -
IC: She is so damn cool!
AM: The whole time I’m looking at her and all of her jewelry and in addition to my role as the Co-Founder/Creative + Style Dir. of Athleisure Mag, I’m also a Fashion Stylist and accessories are really my thing and it’s what I love utilizing as statement pieces when I am putting looks together.
So when she was talking about pieces she loves, she was pointing to her ring and said it was from Parker Thatch. I was surprised because I knew of your brand, but didn’t know that you made jewelry and she’s wearing it and we have a gab session for like 5 mins and I knew then that I would reach out to connect with you!
IC: Oh my God, I love that and she’s just so great! She’s such a great connector and she’s such a generous person when it comes to expanding to smaller designers and she’s just a great human being.
AM: In looking at the line again closely, I enjoy the clean aesthetic of what the brand is and I also love as you have mentioned that you work with your husband on this line and Athleisure Mag is also co-founded by a couple, my boyfriend and I.
IC: No way! I love it!
AM: We have a great flow. So what is your advice to people who are looking to start a venture whether it’s your significant other, a best friend, or a sister because when you have these relationships especially when you’re first starting out to make a business, it’s always good to keep some things in mind. So what is your advice?
IC: My biggest advice honestly, and I don’t know if you feel the same way, but really having respect for each other and the key I think fortuitously is to be on the same channel in terms of look and feel. The tone of voice – that is already naturally there and I don’t know if you feel that way.
AM: Yup!
IC: So that made it easy. But I think that it is truly respect and we each have skill sets that the other doesn’t have and we really lean on each other for those and I think that it’s also about growing up. It’s about getting away from always being right and becoming more vulnerable with yourself and saying, you know, that’s not my strength.
Exactly! I think that that is about building a team. We can’t be good at everything and I think a lot of time when you start a business, you think I can do everything – but you really can’t and it’s humbling yourself and respecting the other person. It’s like what you said, this is your lane and not mine and it’s worked for a very long time – we’re still married, we have 2 kids, and we’re still working!
AM: Ok, that’s amazing! Because times get hard sometimes!
IC: Haha don’t get it wrong! We still fight over stuff haha!
You know, when you make your own business, there are a lot reasons why you got to where you did and there is a lot of making the donuts and at the same time, it’s a lot of fun! Making your own business is super hard! The key is just moving forward every single day. There will be days where you feel like you can’t do it anymore and that you just have to put one foot in front of the other.
AM: 100% haha there are times you have to be your own hype person and just keep going!
IC: You just have to get it together and just move! That’s the key!
AM: If you’re able to still do things when the mountains continue to grow ahead of you and you don’t know how you would even think to climb it because there is no way to hold on and you find yourself in an
American Gladiator situation you know that you’re going to keep giving it your all!
IC: It really is! It’s a mindset and I think that that is the key. You have to do hard things and sometimes those challenges let you see that you can do way more than what you believe you can do. We sometimes hold ourselves back from what we can do.
I think that it’s fascinating that you said all that because for the last 6 years I have been focused on getting fit and learning about a lot of that. There is this whole concept of Zone 2 training which is about running slow actually makes you go faster. I think that that concept, I really take to heart. That's exactly what you are saying. Sometimes you need to just chill out. When you do that, I think that it makes things go much faster and smoother.
I love the fact that you do that because you’re able to keep moving! Just like you said, it's all about moving forward! That is truly what it is to be focused, to move, and to not be distracted. You want to do everything, but you can’t!
AM: 100% and that’s a huge lesson that you learn and it humbles you ha!
For someone who is not familiar with Parker Thatch, how would you describe this brand to someone who is just coming into it?
IC: Definitely this brand is all about what we say daily, it’s about ease and elegance and I really believe that. It’s about how do I make a product for you that is easy to put on and that you feel great! It’s not about being fussy and it’s always about one beautiful piece that you put on and that’s why I love jewelry. I love a great white shirt and a pair of jeans and then stack up that necklace and you look 100% and that takes 5 seconds. I think that for me, that was very important for that woman that sometimes feel stuck – how do I get you to just get out of the house? Like, you need to feel good to get that motivation so that you can have a good day! It’s not going to be everyday that you may feel that way, but I want to make products that will help you get there!
AM: In looking at the assortment, I love the Charlie bag which is amazing, the Cross Your Heart Sling is another one and personally, I’m not someone who tends to gravitate towards that style, but when I’m styling on set, I actually do use that style as it’s a great way for me to have what I need to set my outfits without running back to our set up since we sometimes take over an entire building or space. So being able to have my jewelry and everything on me as we transition from one look to the next and knowing its secure is how came to embracing slings initially.
What would you say are 3 must haves whether it be in handbags or your jewelry that people should be adding to their closets or to begin establishing their Parker Thatch collections?
IC: I love that! For sure, if you’re not a sling bag person, it’s this weird bag that when you want to be hands free and it’s not just a nylon sling bag. You can also make it into a clutch which is really great for travel. The Charlie bag for sure! It’s our newest bag. It hits all the points. It zips, it’s slouchy, it’s cool, and I just wanted to create a bag that when you feel you’re in those cool jeans that you love you feel it all together. You know, when you look at a surfer or a skateboarder, I’m always inspired by them. Even when they’re just carrying their skateboard, I’m always like, “damn, you look so cool!”
AM: It comes off so easy and effortless.
IC: Yeah and the way that they walk, there’s such a slouch to what they do and that’s how I conceptualized it. It took awhile to get that bag with its material to have that slouch and we had to keep testing it to get it there. I think that when you carry it, it kind of makes you feel like that. So I think that that bag is a fantastic bag! Then for me personally, the Jane bag again, it’s all about slouchiness for me! That bag again is great for travel and if you want to dump all of your commuter stuff in it, it’s a great bag!
So those three bags, I personally use them every day. It’s kind of a bag within a bag that’s within a bag. I do love that!
Now jewelry wise, for sure the Long Links Necklace. The huge Manifestation Crystal is a really popular thing and again, I love it when you can hang it. That Long Links Necklace looks amazing when you do that and again, for me it is about the slouchiness. You can make it long and you can make it short and it has this sexiness when you wear it with an open shirt and I love that. So for me, that’s what I am doing every day.
AM: What is your process in terms of adding styles to the brand or when you are thinking about colorways? Sometimes when you are looking at various brand the assortment is so vast and although there are a lot of options, it can also generate a lot of noise when it is not curated, edited, or rotated so that pieces can stand out.
IC: Definitely, it’s interesting because most of our stuff is pretty evergreen so we will always bring in the colors and I always feel like that. I’m a practical human. If I am going to buy an expensive big item, I’m thinking about if I am going to be using this every day. That’s important to me. When we bring in the colors, I’m always thinking about the little things that you can bring into your bag when you’re looking to go out. We kind of move a little bit with the seasons. Our best sellers are always the Caramel Suede, the tan colors, and so we’re always keeping that as the foundation. Camo is a big thing for me and it’s really interesting. When we first put it out there I was like ok and it’s great to see how our camo with the pink and red stripe has really become a big thing for us.
AM: It’s cute.
IC: Yeah and it’s such a great bag to travel with and a great bag to work with.
AM: Where do you go for inspiration? Even though the line has those evergreen elements in terms of your assortment, I’m sure that you’re still adding things here and there or looking at trend reports, Pantones, etc.
IC: You know, I always say that when you look at the products, for me the designs that we do are always a little familiar to you. But then the inspirations and feel is about putting a little something to it. So is it a red handle versus a brown one?
Our bags are familiar and yet there is something not familiar about it? That’s what makes me want to buy things these days because there are so many things that are out there like the fanny pack which is our sling bag. It is a fanny pack which is familiar, but lets do it in a beautiful leather and let’s use a strap and put in a pop of color so that your personality comes forward. I think that that is my inspiration and I am a practical person so that is what I draw from.
AM: I love the straps!
IC: They are so fun!
AM: I like that you can customize it and make it your own a little bit. Going back to the Sling Bag it’s a style that generally would not be one that I would personally gravitate to.
IC: I know!
AM: But then you hit IG, and I’m looking at how it’s larger than a traditional sling bag and I’m like, “why not change out the one I use on set and bring that in?” or I was just at Governors Ball and I did have a sling mini backpack that I brought, I would have preferred to have this body style and of course, I have styled a number of shoots where I have had sling bags in them. Then once you get to thinking about an accessory paired with my moto jacket you start to see how it can be worn personally. To your point, it’s about the familiar with these tones that have a little something nuanced. I do love a good slouchy bag style and years ago, there were so many and now not so much. There are versions that are oversized but that structure of the slouch that gives that cool girl style is not always there it’s just large. So a bag like XL Jane that is in my wheel house!
IC: It's putting your vision on it where the familiar meets the unfamiliar! That’s what takes it to the next level and you’re like, I need that! The familiar lets you connect with that memory and then the part that isn’t you say hmm there’s something there and together it becomes something that you love – it’s a little link and a little extra!
AM: It’s a little something. I love that and I love visual texture. Now there is a place I love visual texture. Now there is a place for something that is completely new, but then you have to think about it and see how it sits in your life. I knew that these pieces felt familiar while being presented differently. I knew when I looked at the colorways and the fabrications that I would wear a good portion of them and in some cases it reminded me of a bag from many years ago that I either wanted but couldn’t get, or had been part of my collection and had been lost to time, or would just be a silhouette that would be in a primary rotation.
IC: Oh thank you!
AM: Yeah and then you think about how versatile it can be with my leggings, jeans, maxi dresses, etc. I love visual mapping outfits because I love collecting pieces but there is a tight edit of my go-to’s that are with me when I’m out and about, at a meeting, etc. Those are the pieces that you live out of. So I like the classic and effortless components with that little bite so that it’s not too sweet. I’m not a fan of anything personally that is too sweet.
IC: Me neither! That’s so funny! I’m not a frilly person, but I will wear a shirt with a puffy sleeve, but then I have to put it with a pair of jeans.
AM: Same. I had a fun summer boho puffy sleeved maxi dress in black and it felt a little sweet, but of course, I paired it with my Caviar Beaded Lagos and a pair of Adidas Superstars with my Carrera’s to edge it up.
IC: You always have to juxtapose it. Even when we first started with that tote bag, we put leather straps on it and then a monogram and it took a canvas bag to something that was different. It’s fun!
AM: Have you guys done collaborations or are you working on any?
IC: We’re starting to do more of them. We just did one with Larissa Mills, she has a great story. She's a mom in Boston who has this insane following on Tiktok and Instagram and she has amazing style. She has collaborated with everybody like the Gap and for some reason, we really connected and we just did this cool little envelope clutch and we’re looking to do more of that and I just feel that I really love to meet those who share the same sense of sensibility and it can be any product! It’s about making that familiar product and making it a little bit extra!
AM: What will Fall and Holiday look like – or anything that you can share on that front.front.
IC: Yeah, Fall and Holiday is really all about burgundy tones, dark espressos, navy, and a lot of suedes. The Charlie bag has done really well for us and we want to bring more of that slouch in there with the jewel tones. We are doing textures like basketweave and hair – I love hair. So I love a cheetah, I love a great zebra print, and also playing with hot pink hair and yellow hair! That’s really fun on straps! So taking fun stuff and putting it on a strap so you’re not married to hot pink on the main part of the bag. But you can bring that texture in. A lot of croc and shiny things – like little tiny shiny things for Holiday!
AM: Oh that’s exciting! I can’t wait for that to come out!
IC: We’re really excited about that and it’s just really yummy. I love a burgundy and I really love an oxblood which is perfect for fall.
AM: You can never have enough oxblood. I love it when you talk about leather accessories, I love that color when you talk about a gel mani – it’s so rich and although for me it’s like a new neutral, it’s really great in the Fall!
You know, there are a number of brands that have lived in the handbag portion of the accessory category and they are now branching out into travel and travel specific pieces.
IC: Yeah.
AM: Is that something that you envision for the brand?
IC: Yes! That Charlie bag that we just introduced, we just did it in an XL and I tested it by taking it to Iceland and it was awesome! We are going to do more of that. We’re also working on a really good slouchy tote and again, over the shoulder, really slouchy, beautiful leathers and I can’t wait for that!
AM: Oh that sounds amazing and I can’t wait to check it out.
IC: It’s a great bag and it’s going to be one of those things that you’ll want to drag it everywhere! I want people to live in these bags! Also understand that it’s ok for it to get messy. People get so crazy when they spill on it and I’m like, “dude, that’s life man!” You should be proud of that, that means that you are moving and yeah it got dirty. If there is a drop of wine on that, that’s life!
We had the great honor of meeting 4X Team USA Olympic Beach Volleyball Medalist Kerry Walsh Jennings (G3, B1) and I think that she is just so bad ass! I remember when she was pregnant and she won that Gold medal and I was like, damn, she is so badass! So she came in and she had our sling bag on and she was like yeah but I spilled on it and I feel awful and I was like that’s awesome. She carries it everyday and she’s so tall and that’s life and I loved it! It should be your companion and that is what we want to strive for and we want you to grab it and know that it feels good and it does what it needs to for you.
PHOTOS COURTESY | Parker Thatch
Read the JUL ISSUE #103 of Athleisure Mag and see PARKER THATCH | Irene Chen in mag.
This month's cover has been someone that we have watched excitedly over the past years. He hit our radar in 2012/2013 and we were immediately struck by his design aesthetic that ensures that you are the conversation starter and statement in whatever room you occupy! From the craftsmanship, the visual texture, and passion of the designer, Walter Mendez and his Walter Mendez Atelier have been worn by celebrities, iconic entertainers, socialites, and more.
When it comes to designing, it's about creating a world and one that continues to evolve from season to season. We wanted to know more about how he got his start, his creative process, his approach to his RTW, couture, bridal and bespoke; his recent The Golden Cage Exhibition held at The Beverly Hills Hotel, what he's working on, and how he takes time for himself.
ATHLEISURE MAG: I have loved your work since 2012/2013 and certainly no later than 2014! So the fact that we’re chatting right now is definitely a moment!
WALTER MENDEZ: Oh wow, you’ve literally seen the journey and I am honored that you have been aware of my brand for that long! I think that everything that I say in terms of what this collection means to me, you’ll be able to understand a little bit more. So that’s really beautiful, so thank you!
AM: Well thank you! I’m the Co-Founder/Creative + Style Dir of Athleisure Mag as well as being a fashion stylist, so I have followed your work on Instagram and those who have worn your pieces. Your design aesthetic, your approach to bodies whether they are male or female is so amazing. I grew up in a family of designers and product designers. My mom was a couture designer and so I have such an appreciation for you and the space. So I know our readers are going to love it, but I want to tell you thank you for creating this and things that I have looked at when I was in an airport on my way to wherever or when I’m scrolling as I go about my day – the pieces truly transport me away to somewhere else and it’s a vibe! So I thank you for what you have done!
WM: Well thank you, it truly is appreciated. There are moments like yesterday when I was posting and last night I was going through photos it made me say wow. I’m genuinely so proud about what I have accomplished, of my craftsmanship, my aesthetic, my voice as a designer and I’m just so proud of what I know and what I feel that I represent. And not just what I represent to my family, but so many other people out there.
AM: When did you fall in love with fashion?
WM: I would have to say that falling in love with fashion really started early on. I remember being probably 4 or 5 and I just remember putting on my favorite jacket and what was so surreal to me in that memory is that feeling of that jacket. I just felt so cool and the minute that I would put that jacket on I felt that I was owning that room. I remember feeling that feeling and I knew that that was the essence that I wanted to capture in my designs. It was the essence that I want my clients to feel because it’s such a beautiful feeling. I’m sure that you can relate. You have an outfit where you can say, “I know I slay.”
AM: Oh yeah!
WM: I know that when I walk into a room, this outfit shows that I mean business. That feeling, that is the essence of my brand and the essence that I want to give every client of mine. That’s priceless. The energy that you’re able to control your entire day – when you feel good, you’re walking and you’re able to walk to the beat of your own drum, people notice. You attract a different experience.
AM: At what point did you realize that you wanted to be a fashion designer and then that you wanted to create your own namesake collection?
WM: I think that I always played with the idea of being a fashion designer and as someone growing up who didn’t have much, I found myself kind of wanting more. Looking back, I see the beauty in it and I always look at the fact that having nothing allowed me to dream of everything.
You know, we all have the things that spark our interest. We all have our things that we gravitate towards on a level of beauty. Because I’m just that type of person who loves that, I thought, “ok, I may not be able to afford it, and I may not be able to go out and get it, so I’m going to create it.” That’s really where my creativity flourished and I found myself being challenged. I remember my first dresses. I honestly barely only had one sewing class.
But I knew I wanted to play with fabrics and I knew I wanted to play with textures and shapes. So how those dresses came together, I don’t know, but they came together and I saw the vision and the look. It was just so beautiful to see my journey evolve.
AM: I love that!
How do you describe or define your design aesthetic?
WM: My design aesthetic in terms of modern day context, I feel that I design for the main character. For me, if I am dressing you, I’m dressing you to be the star. If you are coming to me, you are going to walk into that event and you are going to own the room. If you want to go to an event and kind of be low key -
AM: Then don’t wear your designs!
WM: Ha ha – I want to give you that full fantasy moment from the minute that you walk into the room and for everyone to want to know you, want to talk to you, give you compliments and for them to be in love with your essence. That is what I give my clients because I know the power and the importance of feeling good and looking good. It’s really about learning to get the most out of a special event. That’s really what it is. Everyone that comes to me, it’s for a special event. I know that the level of production, the level of experience that you’re going to – it’s elevated and more than your average day. I know that I can elevate it to another level.
AM: I will say that there are times when I am watching a red carpet or a music video, there is an ethereal quality whether you’ve designed something that is closer to the body or has various dimensions to it, I can tell when it is one of your pieces that I am looking at. I know it before the credit has been rolled or stated. You can just tell.
WM: Yes!
AM: It’s amazing, it’s absolutely stunning.
What was your feeling when you launched your first brick-and-mortar store? What did that feel like as it is such a huge accomplishment.
WM: It was such a beautiful feeling because for me, I felt that it gave me a home. It was such a beautiful feeling to feel that I have something that is mine and I am focusing on a legacy. Even looking back, in this moment now, I look back at that Atelier – it was beautiful. I’m so proud of it.
Despite being in a different situation than I am now with the level of clientele obviously, my world knowledge, my fashion knowledge – I literally have always tried to make the most out of everything that I have. That is always the advice that I have to myself. It’s about being creative and how do I take it to the next level? How do I challenge myself?
AM: How do you get inspired for each season the you create or for that which is bespoke? Where do you start pulling from?
WM: When I design the collections, I always pull from almost a point of my own personal journey of where I am in that time. So, I always have a lot of self reflection. So what’s my outlook in life, what am I excited about, what intrigues me, what fantasy world would I want to go to next? It’s all a form of a little bit of manifestation and a little bit of a form of intrigue/interest. Like for example, prior to the Golden Cage, I did the Odyssey Collection. For me, I looked at it and at that time, I had traveled the world and I had seen so many beautiful places and it was like, what’s next? So it was the idea of playing with a bit of an outer space world evolved. I started being inspired by different stars, three dimensional Saturn rings, the idea evolved from that and I wanted it to feel modern and sleek and sophisticated – but for it to still have this element of wonder.
That led me to The Golden Cage where I felt that I could do an artistic reflection of my journey. I wanted it to be a love letter to the younger me.
AM: Do you ever look at a fabric – sometimes from a stylist perspective, I see a fabric, a handbag etc and that notion gets stuck in my head and I think about how I can style around that idea for a look or series of looks for an editorial. Have you ever had a nagging item that eventually found its way to being part of a beautiful collection?
WM: Yes and that happens very often! It happens all of the time. Sometimes it can be a physical item that I end up using a prop or it can be a particular movie or music or a certain film. Anything that is able to evoke emotion in me can be used as a form of inspiration. For me, it is so important to capture that essence and then it just evolved. It evolves when you put the different pieces together, it evolves into the next level. For me, it’s like how does this go into a movie – let me create the characters – let me create the story of how can I make all of these dresses that are very much so different but are still part of the same story.
I’m often my very own movie producer, casting director, costume designer, and then it all just makes sense in my head.
AM: You have created this brand that is so coveted by so many people. It’s luxury, it’s on the red carpets, in divas’ residencies, it’s on celebrities, socialites – what does it mean to you to have that kind of impact with the people that want to wear your work and want you to be part of their story when it’s their moment?
WM: It’s truly surreal, it’s a blessing, it’s a privilege. I love what I do and I am so proud of what I do, but I am also blessed that the people that believe in me are able to not just want to wear me, but to be part of my story! I understand that every single client when they are coming to me whether it's a red carpet, an event, a gala whatever it is – I know that you are coming to me because it’s a special moment. The fact that you are choosing your special moment to share it with me and my designs, that to me just speaks volumes.
AM: Obviously you’re known for your RTW collections, couture gowns, and bridal. I love that you were quoted saying that, “fashion was meant to be custom made.” I love that and agree it is such a privilege to have something made with me in mind. Tailoring is always key. Why should people understand this and the importance of tailoring, investment pieces as opposed to spending on items that are not constructed with us in mind and in many ways are throw away.
WM: Yeah, it’s important for me to communicate the fact that fashion is meant to be custom. Because I feel like it is almost a fogotten fact. When you think about history, traditionally, royalty – everything was custom made.
Even if you weren’t royalty, you would get custom made because things weren’t mass produced. The challenge with mass production is that we all have different body types. I mean as a person, one arm is different than another. We are custom built as people. We have individual stories and we have individual needs. So even the girls that are the same weight size – one can have a little bit of a shorter torso, one can have a longer torso -
AM: One boob is bigger than the other.
WM: Yeah there are so many details that are just custom to your body. So when something is mass produced, they’re trying to find the middle ground. They’re looking at hopefully the most amount of people that can buy it. So if you’re off slightly by any way, it’s never going to fit. There is nothing more important than a tailored piece for you.
AM: One of the things that I was talking about at the beginning – I’ve always been a fan of your social media. I love how it’s about you, your line, your collection. I love seeing you with Olivier Rousteing, Creative Director of Balmain, and your account reflects such a vibe of authenticity, this world of luxury, globetrotting, etc. How important is your social media to your brand to showcase to those that are your clients, potential future clients, friends, or people who are simply conduits that can refer others to you?
WM: I like my social media, because to me it’s more than ever, I want to be a beacon of representation for my people. I love sharing all of these experiences because I want to show other people who maybe are from my same background, same challenges, or just not your perfect typical white picket fence All American life – there are people like us in those spaces. These spaces are for all of us and I always tell my family, especially my cousins, and my friends that my success is your success. I want to prove to you all – people like us that we can be in these spaces as well. I think that some of is is being done for the inner me. I literally grew up thinking that someone like me a POC would be in these spaces.
Growing up for me, every brown person that I knew, they weren’t in a place of status or those positions. So growing up for me, there was a period of time where I wondered, “can I not get there?” Is that not how it works? More than ever, I want to highlight to people that I want to show them that we can get there. You can get there and you can do it wherever you want and you have to believe in yourself. We have to start somewhere.
AM: If you don’t see it, it can be hard to visualize for some people when they don’t have a road map. You do have to start somewhere. You have to put in the work and you can have this lovely life.
WM: Also, besides representation, in addition to my skin color, I also look at all of the queer youth to show people in the LGBTQIA community that there are people in positions of status, in positions of wealth and in environments of wealth. We don’t see that enough and I want to show people that everything that makes you, you can make it into what makes you strongest to what makes your career and to be successful at it is what is truly a blessing!
AM: Tell me about your fashion exhibition at The Beverly Hills Hotel. It looked stunning as I have seen the pictures as well as coverage on this. Why did you want to do this, what was the idea behind it, and how long did it take you to do as it was like a Met Gala Costume Institute’s Exhibition. (Editor’s Note: The Met Gala is the first Monday in May and is the Oscars for fashion. It launched in 1948 and was the brain child of fashion publicist Elanor Lambert who played a key role in launching NYFW. Although it has evolved since it’s inception, it's current iteration includes a red carpet with noted celebs dresses by designers that attend this event in a specific theme. The Met Gala is a charity and fundraiser for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. The Gala has traditionally been timed to mark the opening of its annual fashion exhibition. For 2024, the Met Gala’s dress code was The Garden of Time and the exhibit for this year is Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion and can be seen at the Museum and features 250 rare items from the Costume Institute’s permanent collection. The exhibit spans over 400 years of fashion history and includes Schiaparelli, Dior, Givenchy, etc. This year’s exhibit will include 3 main zones – Land, Sea, and Sky which pays tribute to the natural world).
WM: So the reason why The Beverly Hills Hotel was the place that I wanted to have that moment was that I have always been inspired by the 1957 Cadillac ad that was shot at The Beverly Hills entrance. I’m sure you know what I am talking about based on that reaction.
I have always seen that photo as such a glamorous moment in life. I have always been allured by it. I have always gravitated towards it so when it came to creating and curating an event for my next collection, I felt that I would use that moment of inspiration. I need to give my people that moment in a modern day life. To be able to be someone who looks up to the entire Metropolitan Museum and what they represent, an event like the Met Gala, I needed to make sure that whatever I deliver was up to that level because I know that I can. I know that I can, I know that I deserve it, and I know that my clothing is worthy of it. I know that my clothing is meant to be in those spaces because I see my work as my art and I know that what I can do, nobody else can do. I am truly and authentically me in my essence and in my work. It’s a mixture of me being so proud of my work and me being educated and making sure that what is being presented is not only going to impress me, my family, and my friends, but is also going to impress my clients, my peers, and anyone in the fashion industry. Because to me, it's such an honor to be able to get the feedback from people that know what they are talking about to be like, “wow, I’m impressed.”
AM: It was stunning to see it. What did it feel like to be in the room with everyone from your friends, family, clients, etc. to toast you like that as well as this body of work?
WM: It felt like the different dimensions of my spirit were coming together and being acknowledged. Like I was being celebrated for my creativity while also being comfortable in my skin, in my queerness, in my creativity, in my aura while celebrating my family and being a beacon of light for everyone that has not only paved the way for me to be there but also paved the way for people who will walk after me. To me, I want to be that leading force and to show people, if I can do it, you can do it. You just have to believe in it and you have to work hard. You have to be consistent because this just doesn’t happen overnight.
That’s why I am so appreciative that you love and are aware of my journey because you have seen the elevation of my work, my craft, and my dedication.
AM: And consistency.
WM: Yeah, you have to wake up everyday and give it your best. I always believe that it doesn’t matter how fast you are moving, as long as you never stop moving. As long as you can say that you are better than you were yesterday, that is all that matters.
AM: Absolutely – 100%!
What is the next project that you’re going to be working on that we should keep an eye out for?
WM: That’s a hard one! There is a lot going on, but I do like to be mysterious as I always like to surprise people. Even for this event when I was sending out the invites, it was “you are invited to the Walter Experience.” So many people like my close friends, were asking what it was, what it meant and I told them, it’s a Walter Experience – when you get there, you will know! I wanted it to be an experience and a moment where I could show me and the way that I process things and it’s such a complex way. Even when I was working on the set design with the team and Butterfly Floral, I was like, “it has to be bigger, it has to be grander.” They were trying to process it and asked me if I was sure. They wondered if I wanted things so giant.
AM: Yes!
WM: And I was like, “YES!” It is important for me to have people to be able to look up because that is a moment that for me, reminds me of my childhood. Always feeling like I was looking up and having that sense of wonder and exploration. Because this was a love letter to my inner me, I had to give that perspective.
AM: I’m sure you’re coming to the end on working SS25 in terms of the collection side. Are you going to be showing here in NY, are you going to be showing in LA – what can you tell us about that?
WM: I can definitely tell you that that is what we are in talks on with the team. It’s really amazing to see not just the response here in the States, but also the international response from other fashion capitals of the world. To hear them tell me that they love what I do and that they would like us to show there and to be part of their calendar for Fashion Week. It’s so surreal because every season that I come out, I am so excited to see the Fashion Weeks around the world and to have them now that these companies and production companies now want me to be part of those Fashion Week calendars it’s a blessing! It just makes me so happy because those moments it's so much but in a blessing! It just makes me so happy because those moments it's so much but in those times I come alive! I know that I am meant to do that. Something comes over me and I just get comfortable in those spaces.
The fact that I am able to do what I love and be authentically me and then be able to produce art that is so widely celebrated, it’s such a beautiful feeling.
AM: You have worked on so many dresses so I know this will sound difficult. Are there 3 that stick out in your head? Whether it’s the dresses themselves or a moment that generated making them, or the clients themselves? Are there 3 moments/dresses/looks in your career where you were like, yes this is what I really love?
WM: Yes there are 3 and yes it is very hard to narrow it down to that. I’ll pick 3 that have just felt like full circle moments for me and have just touched me to my core. Because to me, now I am at a position where it’s very important for me to always celebrate that child and celebrate that inner child that dared to dream because that’s literally where it all started.
I would say that one moment that was really special was the first time that I dressed Beyoncé (Mufasa: The Lion King, Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé, Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé) as it happened on my birthday. I just remember sitting there thinking that Queen B just redefined my brand! I will forever remember not just my birthday, but the first time that I got to dress her. It was a beautiful moment because the first that that I got to dress her, it was the first reveal post twins. All eyes were on her and everyone was watching. So to be able to design a piece for her that not only made her comfortable but also made her look absolutely stunning, it was a huge moment where all eyes were on her and to be part of that was just amazing and it was a blessing. So that would be one of my absolute favorites.
Another favorite piece that I absolutely loved was working with Mariah Carey (Precious, The Butler, Girls Trip) for her Vegas Residency and to see my gown on all of the billboards all over Vegas and even here in LA the billboards promoting her. That residency in Vegas was such a surreal moment because I had a flashback to the younger me when I was in 7th grade in my ESL class because English is my second language. It hit me because I literally picked Hero by Mariah Carey and that was the song that I chose to translate to present it to the class!
AM: I love that song!
WM: I had completely forgotten about that and then it didn’t hit me until that moment. I went to the opening night of the residency and she closed the night with that song. It was such a beautiful moment for me to get to experience and for me to be able to look back at that little boy and think, wow. The journey to go from that moment in my life to this one! It was just a full circle moment. That was a really special moment.
Then the third one, I have to say that that one is hard. There are so many special moments. I mean there are so many people. I am going in between Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building, Selena + Chef, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me), JLo (Enough, Hustlers, Atlas), Paris Hilton (The Simple Life, Paris in Love, This is Paris) – there are so many moments! Even my Oscars moment last season was so special. It’s really tough!
AM: I recognize that as I knew it would be!
WM: There’s also 2 epic Beyoncé moments!
As a whole, I remember growing up as a kid, I had all of these posters of singers. Remember those tabloid magazines like J14? I had all of these posters of these celebrities over my bed. Every celebrity on that wall, I dressed! Like Britney Spears (Kenan & Kell, Will & Grace, Crossroads), working with her was such a beautiful experience for me because my first exposure to American music and the English language – I learned to speak through the voices of beautiful talented artists like Beyoncé, Mariah, Britney and now here I am at a point where they believe in my art.
AM: You have left such a mark on the fashion industry, what do you want your legacy to be?
WM: I think that my legacy is wrapped in the word authenticity. I really push all of my clients that I dress and I do it with the way that I present myself and people really finding their true beauty and authenticity. We all know what we want.
When we’re all going somewhere and we know what we want, we say I want to wear this, I wish I could wear that etc. We know what we want and sometimes it’s a matter of being afraid or not wanting to do too much and some people wonder whether wearing something will get people talking. But you know what you want so if you know what you want, why not?
That is what I want my legacy to be. I want it to be about authenticity. So when people come to me, I tell them to tell me what they’re dreams are. I want to be let in and no limits so I know the vibe, the essence, and who you are as a person. What do you want to show? Forget what people are going to say – it’s about you – what do you want? I try to do that with even the way that I dress. I dress for me and I’m not trying to follow a trend or to be like anyone else. I’m doing me and that lets me radiate on my own terms and on my own level.
AM: As someone who I know your schedule is always packed, when you’re not designing or working on the next project, how do you take time for yourself? Do you find that time because I know when you work for yourself it’s tough to turn it off and we have to figure out ways that we can focus on ourselves so that we are infusing our energy back to us. That way we can be our best selves for everything that we are doing?
WM: I do try to make it a time to give time for myself. I do know that it takes a lot whether I’m meeting with my clients or I am going into fittings. I invest all of my in my work and with people so it’s very draining, but I always make it a point to make sure that I have my me time. My gym is in the mornings, my yoga classes, those are my me times. I try to make any moment that I can with me – even if I am just walking around the city. I put my headphones on and I put a song on that makes me feel good. I am runway walking down the street – that is me! It’s just what brings me joy, it clears my mind, and it sort of allows me to process it. Because despite it being a lot of work and very demanding, and a lot to process and deal with and manage because I have a large team at the Atelier from pattern makers, sewers, hand beaders, and teams of assistants, the PR team, the Social Media team – it’s a lot to drive the energy of my village. It takes a village, but to me, I am in charge of driving that energy and it’s very draining. Now when I say draining, I mean it in the most loving way. To me, draining is not a negative word. It’s sort of like, if you love to run marathons, it’s going to be draining – but you love it! But I always make it fun. This is fun. I live in a fantasy world. Because I love it, I find those me moments in there.
AM: I totally get and feel the same way!
WM: Even talking to you right now! I’m having fun!
AM: That’s the thing! We get to do so many things and to engage with so many people that you may feel tired, but when you love what you’re doing you’re always able to dip into that well. Somehow, you figure out how you can refresh yourself.
In this industry and I know you know of people like this as well, they went out for something that they wanted to do, it didn’t work out and then they either stopped or soured on the experience. Then there are those such as yourself that wanted it, found a way, and they are living exactly what they wanted and I always find that to be amazing and energizing as I love knowing those stories especially when it’s from those that I have admired their work from their beginnings and have been able to see that trajectory over time. It’s such a vibrant community to be part of.
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | FRONT/BACK COVER, PG 16 Chris Martin | PG 19, 20, 23, 24, 28, Alex W Photography | PG 31 - 34 for 9LIST STORI3S Kelly Balchim |
Read the JUN ISSUE #102 of Athleisure Mag and see BEHIND THE SEAMS | Walter Mendez in mag.
Miami Swim Week took place May 29th - Jun 3rd of this year and a number of designers took their looks to the runways across South Beach as we already begin thinking of upcoming travels next year! It always ends up being a star studded events as athletes, celebs, recording artists, and enthusiasts show up to the shows as well as the associated parties!
We caught up with Supermodel Chanel Iman who was a Victoria's Secret Angel, as well as walked their shows, as well as iconic houses including Tom Ford, Gucci, Versace, Roberto Cavalli to name a few. She has also been in a range of campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana, Ralph Lauren, Bottega Veneta and more. She shared why she loves Miami Swim Week, shows she has enjoyed watching this season, the power of fashion, her summer travels, and partnering with CÎROC Limonata.
ATHLEISURE MAG: What do you love about Miami Swim Week?
CHANEL IMAN: I’m a beach lover so it’s exciting to see the new swimwear designs. I also really love Miami.
AM: Tell us about 3 of your favorite shows that took place this season?
CI: The Louis Vuitton Pharrell men’s fashion show is one of my favorites. Zuhair Murad is also one of my favorite shows to watch because of all the beautiful dresses every season! Rick Owens is such an edgy show with everyday great pieces I can’t wait to rock.
AM: Why is fashion so empowering for women and how can women use that as it pertains to their swimwear?
CI: Fashion is so empowering for women because it’s a way of expressing yourself and how you feel for the day.
AM: How have you found confidence through fashion?
CI: I feel confident about creating a new look for myself every day. I like matching highs and lows for a unique look. I work a lot with my stylist, Monica Rose, and she pulls the best.
AM: As someone who enjoys traveling, what are some tips that you have that we can use as we’re navigating across the globe?
CI: Travel light and take pieces that you can mix and match. Be conscious of where you’re traveling so you can respect the culture wherever you are traveling. I try not to overpack so I could leave space for new items wherever I go.
AM: Where do you enjoy traveling during the Summer and what are 3 must-haves that you will bring for a stylish beach getaway?
CI: Europe is our favorite destination to travel during the summer. We love the South of France, South of Italy, Greece, and Spain. I have to travel with my body chains, swimwear, and a good pair of flats.
AM: You have partnered with CÎROC Limonata, can you tell us more about this and why you enjoy it in your favorite summer cocktails.
CI: Partnering with CÎROC Limonata has been an incredibly exciting venture for me. CÎROC Limonata is the perfect blend of sophistication and taste, making it an ideal ingredient for summer cocktails. What I love most about it is its vibrant lemon flavor, which is both invigorating and versatile. Whether I’m hosting a gathering with friends or enjoying a quiet evening at home, CÎROC Limonata brings a touch of elegance to any occasion.
AM: Are there any projects that you are working on that you would like to share that we can keep an eye out for?
CI: It’s too early to share now, but there’s something in the works. Stay tuned to find out.
IG @chaneliman
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 41 Loamis Media | PG 44 for 9LIST STORI3S Valeria Sarto |
Read the JUN ISSUE #102 of Athleisure Mag and see ESCAPE WITH FLAVOR | CHANEL IMAN in mag.
Read the JUN ISSUE #102 of Athleisure Mag and see 9LIST STORI3S | Walter Mendez in mag.
Read the JUN ISSUE #102 of Athleisure Mag and see 9LIST STORI3S | Chanel Iman in mag.
Read the JUN ISSUE #102 of Athleisure Mag and see 63MIX ROUTIN3S | Allyson Fanger in mag.
Read the JUN ISSUE #102 of Athleisure Mag and see THE 9LIST in mag.
Read the JUN ISSUE #102 of Athleisure Mag and see 9LOOKS | Blumarble in mag.
When you're watching a series or a film, there are a number of elements that draw you in and provide additional context beyond the dialogue that is being spoken on the screen. Costume design is one that we're always watching as it adds that element of visual texture.
We sat down with Costume Designer Allyson Fanger who has brought her creative approach to a number of series and films including Wild Things, 10 Things I Hate About You, 80 For Brady, Grace & Frankie, Shrinking, Apples Never Fall, and Mack & Rita to name a few. We wanted to know more about how she chose this field, how she got into the industry, iconic looks that really delve into and drive the story forward, and how she approaches these projects.
ATHLEISURE MAG: I have been such a fan of your work and it’s such an honor to be able to talk with you!
ALLYSON FANGER: Oh, thank you so much!
AM: I have been a fan of your work since Wild Things and 10 Things That I Hate About You! I remember being in college and watching 10 Things That I Hate About You and just watching the images and how the characters were dressed and it really stuck with me! It was seared into my mind so personally, I have been a fan for awhile.
AF: I love it! It’s having a moment!
AM: Right?
AF: It’s so great!
AM: It’s really a testament to your approach to your work. As you’ve said, it’s still super relevant!
I’m a fellow Midwesterner myself and I live in NY now. I’m always intrigued by how those of us who come from that area of the country and then we end up leaving to go to the East or the West Coast. I find it interesting. How did you get your start in this industry?
AF: Well, I mean, that’s a big question. I got a degree in Anthropology actually and I started getting into photography and visual media towards the end of college. I have always been a very live in the moment type of person in general. In school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do and didn’t know that this was a career path that was possible to me. As you know, I lived and grew up in Minneapolis and went to college, then I came back after college, and I traveled a ton! I went to South East Asia, I went to India, Singapore, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia – you know I, did that whole South East Asia thing. That really was very formative I think in my interest in culture and society and people! The difference in people in different areas and cultures, socioeconomically, geographically, how they grew up in a certain area and how things defined them from a costume perspective – from a look perspective, I was really attuned to the different colors, especially in India! Like the beautiful pigmented colors that have to do with not only skin tone of the people in the area, but also the light. The way the light hits and what looks well and the way that they use pigmented dyes and plants to make their colors.
All of those things were not lost on me and it was hugely formative to me on all of my work today. That is why I am able to find the various details and nuances in character and all of the elements that feed in to making a person, an individual full and defined and different and unique in their own way. Every single person is.
When I was doing Anthropology and Social Anthropology, the study of people – so that kind of tied into that and I came back to Minneapolis, and I wondered what I was going to do. I started hanging out with a lot of artists in Minneapolis just because those were my people. I had this very good friend at the time whose name was Gus. He was a big commercial photographer in Minneapolis. I was talking with him and I was starting to have a crisis on what I was going to do with my life. I went to live in London for a year and then I came back and I asked him what would I do with my life as I was 26 and he said, “honey, you should be a stylist.” He said it right away and I asked him what it was as I didn’t know anything about it. He told me to come work with him as he was a big commercial photographer and that I should work with his stylist Molly. I worked with her for 1 day and I got it. I knew that that was what I should be doing. So I started working on commercials in Minneapolis and I was making good money doing that, but then I got much more interested in doing character. I was like, commercials are fun, but at that time, especially with where commercials were – they wanted their people in Gap khakis and that was the mode of that very average look. It was like a great place to be in to learn the nuts and bolts, but I was really interested in character and at the time, I was very fortunate to also see that there were a lot of films that were coming to Minneapolis so I just hustled and got myself hired as a PA on a couple of features there and then I met Sharen Davis (Westworld, The Help, Fences) who is a Costume Designer and she is like my mentor. I don’t know if you know her.
AM: Oh yes!
AF: She did Dreamgirls and Watchman series, she is one of my dearest, dearest friends and I love her so much! She was like, “oh, you have to move to LA,” and she hired me on projects and she got me in the union and she kind of put me on my way and so here I am!
AM: That’s amazing!
AF: I mean, I did take 7 years off because I did have 3 children.
AM: Your body of work is amazing! Before we start delving into that. I want our readers to understand the difference between a Costume Designer and a Stylist?
AF: Oh that’s such an interesting question because there really is quite a difference! I mean, a Costume Designer and it’s funny because it comes up all the time, because my actors will always ask if I will style them for an event. I’m always like, “I definitely could,” but costume design is really about character development and informing character through look choices right and storytelling and that is what I love about it so much. It’s about intention, propelling the story forward, giving the viewers a kind of intimate relationship visually with characters and helping them to relate to the people that are on screen and that is what I love so much about what I do. It’s about finding pieces and I always try to have very personal pieces on people that hopefully get recognized by viewers. When I am doing a TV series especially, you watch these characters evolve and that’s part of it too. You put in elements of character evolution and how they journey through the story and as it changes. Sometimes, you don’t even know how it is changing. Then it’s changing and then we adjust and that’s how you make your choices in the morning. I like to say that people say to me, “I know who that character was before they even opened their mouth.” When they say that, I know that I am doing my job well. I think that that is true of all people. You get a lot of information just by what they are wearing and it’s one of those things that people don’t register consciously until it’s not there - you know what I mean? It’s interesting. You know when people have pictures coming up on their phones?
AM: Yes.
AF: One of our producers, he changed his picture and put up one where he was dressed up from an event for an Awards show. I was like, “oh Mike, I love that you changed your photo!” He was like, “yeah, you know what? Someone else had their photo and it presented so nice and I feel that I should have one too.” I said, “See how important it is in what you wear and you wear and how much the impact is when someone that you don’t even know?” It’s so huge! I mean, the people who even work in the business don’t recognize that that is happening.
Styling is about more of the look and stylists developing relationships with PR companies more and working with showrooms and there are loans. So that is why when I say to my actors that although it’s flattering and I would love to do everything, I say, "you know, working with someone where that is their world – it’s a different world.” And I do do it sometimes, but it’s it’s own niche world and it’s about look, fashion, impact, red carpet moment you know and it’s a whole other arena. Do you know what I mean?
AM: I am a stylist and I agree that Costume Design and Styling although there are similarities that do occupy very distinctive space. You could do both but they have very different elements to them. I may be thinking of a set that I am styling or a project and putting a story behind it but they are still very specific moments in time as opposed to having an arc that is not only spanning various episodes and seasons, but also integrating with a cast of characters that speaks back to one another.
When I watched Apples Never Fall, within the first few minutes of the show I knew that it was you who did the costume design. There are tones and elements of your work especially when I look at each character and how they are set against others in the cast that I can see it’s an Allyson Fanger fingerprint. Like you said, before the character opens their mouth, I have a great sense of who they are, who they’re aligned with, and in many cases how they are different from those that they are meant to be in the same group with.
AF: Thank you so much!
AM: All of those nuances that are taking place for a series or a movie Is not all the levers that I am navigating when I am doing a shoot of x amount of looks that may span 14 shots. There might be elements of it but not anywhere along the same scale and it’s still within the parameters of 1-3 people and just for that shoot.
AF: It’s different and it is its own art. Stylists who do it well, they blow me away. They know how to get those cameras snapping.
AM: Where do you start once you get attached to a project? For me, I’m looking at dealing directly with the brand, PR, showrooms, etc. I have a moodboard or project board where I’m thinking of the tone of the shoot how it ties into my celeb, the set, and vibe.
For you, what is your treasure trove of things that you are pulling from when you’re going on to a project.
AF: It always starts with the script and the words. It’s a well drawn character in the script. When I read a script in a project, I know that I get so excited when I know that the characters are so well developed and sometimes some of them are not and the writers know! I have put together boards for a meeting and I’ll let them know that I am not completely sure of this person and they’ll say, “yeah, I know. We didn’t give you any information.”
So the information is in if they have flushed out a character, if they know who that person is, then they are able to translate it into their words and into the story. That then gives me the information that I need. I look at geography which is huge to me. Where is this person from, where did they grow up vs where do they live now? What do they carry with them from that time from their formative years? We then know what their socioeconomic status is and I always work with the production set as I want to know what their house looks like, their car – all of those things are what I go off of. Then it’s what are they doing in the story and what’s their job or not? All of that goes in and then I have meetings and a lot of times as costume designers, they throw you a script and tell you that you’re going to have a meeting with boards which includes everyone – producers, directors and you sort of have to take your best shot at filling in the lines and see. But the thing is, as I have done at this point in my career, it’s either a match or it’s not. As you see it, and again, I am getting such good scripts now, that I feel like I am always able to sort of hone in on what it is an things that they haven’t thought about a lot of times too. They get excited and will say, “oh my God yes!”
Like in Apples Never Fall, one of the things that I did was – the relationship between Stan Delaney (Sam Neill) and Brooke Delaney (Essie Randles) was the strongest relationship in the script and she was the most of his ally. So, I helped to tell that story with help from clothing by her. Like his oxford shirt, she would wear the shirt sometimes over more tank top and athletic pant vibes. In my head, those were taken straight out of Stan’s closet. I love telling stories with families so much because I love family dynamics. I love finding the thread in the family, the thread was already there in Apples Never Fall and the thread was already tennis, but you know just relating the characters through and finding the differences and well defining them and then finding the sameness.
I love doing mother/daughter. In Grace & Frankie, I always imagined that Mallory (Brooklyn Decker) and Brianna (June Diane Raphael), although they were so different in how they presented, both could have pulled from Grace’s (Jane Fonda) closet for different things.
AM: My mind was blown the very first episode of Grace & Frankie. I mean it was a confluence of beauty from the writing, the cast, how the characters were dressed, the set, etc. What made you want to be part of this project? This series ran for 7 seasons unlike Apples Never Fall which was a limited series, so how do you create this world and balance between growth of the characters as well as continuity. It must be incredibly difficult.
AF: That was something that we talked about from the very beginning of Grace & Frankie – it was about their journey and how to make sure to tell that through costumes. One of the big ones for that was Grace, because Grace comes in at the beginning and she was so closed off emotionally, damaged, hurt, and protecting herself. Also, just her aesthetic in general was stoney and we used ceramic colors. So I said that we should have her colors be those of ceramics and pottery – grey, taupe, camel – it was about using those cold colors.
AM: There was a sterility about it although the pieces were beautiful. So you had these sterile moments with a bit of a prickly edge that would come out every now and then!
AF: Yes! The collars and she’s just very controlled as a person emotionally! Then you have Frankie (Lily Tomlin) which is such a fun person. What a blessing that show was for me. Frankie was this artist soul and I had her color as a Santa Fe sunset. She’s got her red, yellow, orange, green, color pattern, texture – all of her kooky moments. I didn’t want her to feel like – and we talked about this a lot – it wasn’t about having her as a caricature of a hippie lady or a Bohemian lady. She had to have a lot of depth and she’s an artist. So I really looked at the artists ladies in Norway and Sweden and it was about having the long layers, architectural and jewelry and I used crystals because obviously she was spiritual so I used those large crystals on her and if you noticed some of the necklaces were made out of rubber. So she wore a lot of those vibes also. She had a number of European brands that she wore so that is something that I did with her.
The things about their journey together is that we had Grace bring color into her life and that happened around the end of Season 1 and then we kind of kept it going and we never really changed her completely as a person, but we would bring more Frankie into her life as she embraced life more right? She experienced life more through Frankie. We had all of Grace’s shirts made. The first shirts, the color shirts - the first print that Grace had ever worn were these shirts that I got that were made from Carolina Herrera and we loved that shirt! It’s such a great shape and a classic look.
AM: Really loved that shirt!
AF: It was perfect for Grace and I was like, “they don’t really make print or color.” I reached out to them and I said, “do you have any print or color?” They said that they actually had some archival fabrics that they made the first 4 shirts for us for that show. Then that was it, there were 4. So I started sourcing fabric and making all of those shirts. So all of the shirts that Grace wore, they were custom and we made all of them as they kind of didn’t exist at the time! A lot of people are making them now though. So that’s the story of them!
AM: I love hearing about those shirts as I loved them! Is it different for you if you’re dong a series versus a film?
AF: Yeah, but well, not necessarily with character development, it depends on the arc, it depends on the story. Films are easier.
AM: Yeah it’s an endpoint!
AF: Yeah, you have 1 script! And you have it ahead of time. I’m an adrenaline girl and I love a challenge. I thrive well in chaos in this world. I don’t get rattled, I kind of get very last minute in TV because they are always writing those scripts! Right now I’m on Shrinking -
AM: Another great display of characters as I love the palettes.
AF: Thank you, we’re on Episode 10 and I don’t have the script for 11 and 12 yet and we start shooting that in probably about a week! So, it has it’s own challenges! Whereas a film has its own arc where it’s wild and busy and you have all of these things going on and then it’s done and it’s over. I do love doing film and I want to do more film going forward in my career and I am manifesting that for sure.
AM: What are 3 of your favorite looks that you have created whether it’s for a series or a film or 3 characters that you really loved working with?
AF: Ugh, I love them all! When I get this question, I mean they’re all my children so that is such a tough question for me. I really feel attached and love all of my characters so much! I mean, Frankie is probably the most near and dear to my heart. The character Frankie, I mean first, Lily Tomlin (9 to 5, The West Wing, 80 for Brady) one of the most amazing women and such an incredible person and so is Jane (Monster-in-Law, The Butler, The Newsroom)! I mean, the two of them probably – I have to say that it was the most seminal for me and really transformed me as an artist in this world and I got to spend 7 years with them and I got to really get to know them as members of my own family and they kind of were. I think that the thing with Grace & Frankie is that they resonated so strongly with people because they resonated with some part of everyone’s family or someone who they knew and loved! Everybody saw someone that they knew or loved within one of these women or both! I always say too that Grace & Frankie, they are characters, but we are all a little Grace and all a little Frankie. We have pieces of both of these women in us and our mothers and our sisters and our aunts right? So, I think that that’s why they were resonating so strongly with so many people.
AM: Even the other characters in the show, I have a friend group or family member that reminded me of them. Like many, I was sad when it was over. It got me a bit teary eyed. I know that things can’t go on for forever and sometimes when a show stays on too long, the thing that you loved about it stops taking place because maybe there isn’t enough story and then that isn’t great either. But it was such a comfort with the visuals, the cast, the writing, and it would be hard for even another show to replicate and achieve that tone and playful push pull hat took place throughout the series in the way that it did. It’s rare to have that type of an ensemble cast, with the breadth and depth of topics covered, and all the other elements.
AF: Well that’s Marta Kauffman (Dream On, Friends, Leave the World Behind) she’s amazing and I am very grateful!
AM: Do you have any upcoming projects that are coming up that you are able to share that we can keep an eye out for?
AF: Yeah! I’m doing Shrinking Season 2 right now. I’m thinking, did I do anything between Apples and Shrinking? No – we’ve had some strikes here in our industry.
AM: Of course.
AF: So there has been some stalls. I’m doing a pilot with Marta Kauffman of Grace & Frankie. We’re going to be starting that soon also. Right now, those are my babies and they’re keeping me quite busy!
We could have spoken with Allyson Fanger even more about how she delves into her character and like that her approach pulls in a number of factors so that the characters are easily positioned in our mind! For those who have yet to see Grace & Frankie, you can stream all episodes right now on Netflix.
Apples Never Fall can be streamed now in its entirety for this limited series on Peacock. As a bit of bonus information, Allyson sent us some notes on how she approached creating the costume direction for this show which focuses on a tennis family!
We enjoyed hearing how she looked at the relationship between Stan and Brooke to inform how would they look and to show their connection with one another. She sent us some other notes which focuses on the relationship between Stan and his son Troy (Jake Lacy), as his father always called him out for being flashy, but he wore a number of big brands too!
She shared that Troy is flashy, but in a way that reads more of a wealthy understated nature. This is more of an anti flashy aesthetic where the clothes are expensive, but there are no logos or there may be subtle ones. It's all about a IYKYK vibe. His clothes are meticulously fitted as well as being tailored.
In terms of his father Stan, he's not focused on whether a brand is expensive, but it's about brand names that are athletic. Tennis is not just what he excelled in or involves training others, it is who he is and is very much part of his identity. So it's natural that he is in an athletic aesthetic like tracksuits and branded pieces. Interestingly, in those moments that he is not dressing like this, he seems like he is out of place.
Interestingly enough, both of them have large personalities and egos and how they present and dress is important to them and as much as they butt heads throughout the series with one another, it's really because they are similar in their personalities.
When you're watching the series, brands such as Tory Burch, The Upside, Lucky in Love, Sporty & Rich, Ciao Lucia, Venroy, Ralph Lauren Polo, Alo, Lululemon, FILA, NIKE, Reebok, Helly Hansen, and Golden Age of Tennis were included.
While we watched this series, we were reminded of an array of tennis stars. Interestingly enough, we were not that far off as each character had an inspirational star!
Stan Delaney's costume direction was inspired by Jimmy Connors, Joy Delaney spired by Jimmy Connors, Joy Delaney (Annette Bening) was inspired by Martina Navratilova, Troy Delaney's costume direction came from Roger Federer, Amy Delaney's (Alison Brie) look was inspired by Maria Sharapova, Logan Delaney (Conor Merrigan Turner) is a mixture of Bjorn Borg/Andre Agassi, Brooke Delaney which we spoke on earlier in this article is inspired by Anna Kournikova, and Harry Haddad's (Giles Matthey) costume direction comes from Rafael Nadal.
PHOTOS COURTESY | Allyson Fanger
Read the MAY ISSUE #101 of Athleisure Mag and see IT STARTS WITH THE CHARACTER | Allyson Fanger in mag.
When we began working in the fashion industry, there are a number of memories that we will never forget that allowed us to see the work of those who have brands that focus on the importance of heritage and artistry. One of our NYFW experiences involved a stunning runway show that showcased dramatic crisp white shirts with architectural collars and accessorized with belts and earrings. We also attended an intimate fragrance launch at her home where she not only played piano for us, but allowed us to see how her brand is truly one that runs seamlessly in your life beyond just what one wears on one's body. Josie Natori is the epitome of refined style, luxury, and the ultimate in self-care.
We sat down with the Founder and Chief Executive of The Natori Co. in her offices in NYC to talk about being a child prodigy in piano, how she climbed the corporate ladder at Merrill Lynch, and how her passion for creativity led to her launching her namesake company which includes a number of coveted labels, and the importance of having brand authenticity and integrity.
ATHLEISURE MAG: It is such a pleasure to see you again! We met many years ago!
JOSIE NATORI: Yes, you were at one of my fragrance launches, I don’t remember which one it was.
AM: Yes it was awhile ago and it was such a beautiful event as I was able to hear you play the piano, and you hosted it at your home. I have been such a fan of the brand for so long so it’s amazing to be here now to talk to you!
When did you realize that you loved fashion and wanted to design?
JN: No, I never said that I wanted to design. I loved fashion, when you grow up in the Philippines, you love clothes. So it was never a dream or an aim or a goal. It was a total accident as it was not something that I would have thought about.
I started out in Wall Street for 9 years and it was a great business to be in. But then I also had this artistic background as a pianist as I had been playing since I was 4 and that creative and artistic aspect as well. I never dreamt of nor wanted to and I don’t like to be called a clothing designer. I’m an artist and a businesswoman. I like beautiful things and I have figured out how to do them.
AM: What do you love about playing the piano?
JN: It’s kind of second nature. You’re born, you dance, you play, you sing, you dance, you act, and my mother, she was also a pianist. So everyone had to play an instrument, you didn’t question it – you just did it. I started playing when I was 4, I performed concerts and at the age of 9, I played solo with the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra. Thank God that I did it and I love to play the piano because it’s a great way for me to express myself through the piano.
AM: That really nice.
You came to the US and attended Manhattanville College with your focus in Economics and you’re such a trailblazer, as you climbed the corporate ladder at Merrill Lynch in the 70s.
JN: Yes, I was the first female VP of Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch.
AM: Well what did it mean to you to have that position especially as a woman?
JN: You know what, when I was on Wall Street, that never really occurred to me. Growing up in Manila, I came from a place with strong matriarchal society where the women were very strong. My mother was an entrepreneur, my grandmother was also a businesswoman. I never questioned that. So when other people would look at what I did and say how unique it was, for me I never had that as an issue, I never confronted it, I didn’t worry about it, I just did it. I know that those looking at me felt that as a woman and a minority, I checked 2 boxes, but I never saw it that way. I think that I was just at the right place at the right time and I think that with my background and my upbringing, I had no fear.
AM: What took place for you to transition from being in finance and doing well, to move on to fashion?
JN: Yes, I got bored after being there for 9 years and I came to the decision that I had no desire to be the President of Merrill Lynch. It’s not that I was given that opportunity, but I knew that that wasn’t something that I wanted. I felt that I had climbed the mountain, and I woke up in the morning and I felt that I didn’t have -
AM: That fire.
JN: Yes. So I always knew that I would have my own business because my grandmother is entrepreneurial, my father started his business and he was a self-made man. It was only a question of what business. Then Ken and I got married and I was thinking of what business we could do. We explored a brokerage firm, but we didn’t have the resources and it wasn’t the right time in the Stock Market. So I started exploring and thinking about other businesses like opening up a McDonald’s and other ideas. But it was just by accident that the business of import/export in the Philippines came up. Not in a million years was I thinking about design, it was about the trade of product. It evolved and I was really fortunate and the left brain and the right brain aligned. That’s what was missing. Wall Street had made me work in one way and there is a lot of creativity in that field that people find exciting, but for me, it was boring. In terms of finance I did enjoy making the deals. But in fashion you’re making deals and also working with product. It was exciting and I have always enjoyed fashion, I’m a shopaholic.
AM: What was your vision initially when you first launched the label?
JN: There was no vision, it was just buying and selling. It was just me seeing items and purchasing it and you just keep going. It was only later on when I brought in an embroidered blouse to a buyer and she felt that it would be great as a sleep shirt and so that was lingerie. At the time, lingerie was either lewd or frumpy. So I was lucky that I was able to get into that area and I was also very persistent and I learned on the job!
AM: It’s the best way to go about it sometimes.
JN: No one taught me.
AM: Looking at your brand today, you have a number of labels. What is your process in deciding what pieces will go with what portion of the label and the corresponding design?
JN: I think that over the years we have been fortunate to be able to have some tiers because you have Josie Natori which is the most luxurious, distinctive, and most expensive label and that’s not for everybody and it’s available at Saks in terms of its distribution. Natori is more everyday and it’s at Dillard's and N Natori at Von Maur. It’s for that day-to-day life. We also have Josie which is a bit dormant right now, but it is for that younger customer. We’re just really fortunate to be able to have that a brand that has different tiers and also includes various categories. I think that we have something to offer for everyone. Whether you’re buying a caftan for $6,000, $900, or $198 you see the difference in materials, but the integrity of the brand is there.
AM: I have had the pleasure to wear some of your caftan dresses from Josie Natori and they are the most stunning and beautiful pieces to wear.
JN: Thank you!
AM: One of the things that I like so much about your lines is that you do have a number of licensees and categories that are within the brand. What is your process in terms of how you decide on including accessories, home goods, candles, fragrances, etc?
JN: Well, I think that it was after 5 years. You know, you’re not really a brand until the customer tells you so. When the customer tells you, that’s when you can look at things differently and Natori really is a state of mind. There is a whole philosophy about it. I thought that the brand is about feeling good and there is a sociological element about the brand and there is also a design element. The brand is about having feel good products and being true to yourself as well as feminine. Then there is the actual aesthetic of the design which is the East-West and the modern aspects of it and you can see it in a number of the pieces that we have. It is about bringing art into life.
But when it comes to products, I’m not going to do pots and pans, that doesn’t relate to the brand. We’re focused on the inside and out as well as head-to-toe. Because you can create that East- West in so many places in the home and under the covers. A feel good brand means you’re going to think about fragrances, fabrics, and what makes you feel good. As a brand, I think that we have a point of view and that’s what makes us distinctive and there is also that psychographic where when you buy Natori, it’s a gift to yourself. It’s about feeling feminine, loving yourself, why not? It’s indulgence.
AM: One of my favorite bras is actually from your line as it’s a T-Shirt style super light and comfortable while feeling luxurious. It’s always easy to wear and I agree with you on how the brand inherently has that feel good nature about it.
In looking at the collections that you have, it allows that woman to go out to for a night on the town, to work, to being casual and to really navigate her life. What would be 3 pieces that are essential across your whole brand or for each individual label?
JN: That’s really hard and you know, my philosophy is that we make clothes that make you feel good, feminine, comfortable, elegant, and stylish. But where you wear it, that’s your decision! I’m not telling you what to do! Some people like to take our slip dress and wear it to sleep in, but someone else is wearing it to go out in. So for me, it’s a range of possibilities and a point of view. It’s a sensibility of how you dress you know? It’s a statement, it’s feminine, and to me, it’s about wearing it wherever you want!
In terms of pieces, you want to have that great foundation, so you want to make sure that your underwear is comfortable. Then you have those options of wearing a caftan, or a lovely kimono or a dress. Of course, there’s accessories and it’s hard to point out just one as there are so many options! To me, the items that are closest to your skin are the most important as opposed to what’s outside.
AM: I couldn’t agree more!
There was a runway show that you did years ago and I know my mom and I attended this show. Most of the looks were dynamic white crisp shirts paired with your accessories. I just remember seeing beautiful collars, elements of Geometria, and belts – it was just stunning.
JN: Oh great!
AM: It was like a Dynasty moment which I am a huge fan of as I love the glamour and drama that came through with the way that the characters were styled on that show.
JN: I am very proud of the artistry that we have created for this brand and the handwork comes from the Philippines. We have been able to bring that craftsmanship to our collections and it’s about bringing the best of the past and to apply it to modern luxury whether it's on your body or your bed. I just think that we deserve it. We work so hard on this Earth!
AM: Where do you see the brand going whether it’s collaborations or big product launches that we should keep an eye out for?
JN: We are fortunate that we have built a following and a customer base and we have never taken that for granted! We need to continue to be relevant to the next generation. We want to continue only do the categories that relate to the brand and we always have to think about who our customer is. Each generation is different and I am always thinking about who we can speak to what they are looking for and what makes sense for who we are. We can’t be stuck. My son is the President of Natori and we’re always looking forward and keeping things fresh.
AM: What does it mean to you to have Natori as a member of the CFDA?
JN: Obviously, it’s a wonderful organization that really showcases and supports its members and it’s great to have a voice and I appreciate that. I don’t really consider myself a designer, but I think it is important to be involved whether it’s hosting a function/event, to mentor as well as to advise and to have that representation.
AM: Absolutely.
What are you the most proud of in terms of what you have done with this Empire?
JN: Well, it’s not an empire number 1.
AM: I think it is a big deal to be around as long as you have with your distribution channels, licenses and being a multi-million dollar brand. To start as a sleepwear/lingerie brand and to have an array of celebs like Lady Gaga, Kate Beckinsale, and Rose Huntingon-Whiteley wearing your labels.
JN: I have to say that we are very proud. There aren’t too many brands, I don’t think that have lasted this long and are independent. So I feel that that is something that my family is very proud of. My son Ken taking over as President, but I’m not retiring anytime soon! I’m getting close to 77, but I don’t feel old you know? It’s really a mindset to me and I think young! When I’m traveling with our team, sometimes they say, “can we rest?” and I say, “what do you mean rest? It’s time to go!” They are more than half my age. So it’s fun and I think that we are just proud that we are able to build this brand and we are proud of the connections to the Philippines because I think that without my Asian heritage, and I am very proud about that, it is what distinguishes me and it is my point of differentiation to bring that heritage and background and to bring the essence of that in an art form into our prints and patterns is great to add and to infuse in our modern way of living. It’s been an exciting journey you know? We’re known for our prints and I think that being able to have that distinctive point of view we are proud of what we have offered and continue to do. We are proud of being a privately held and family owned company. But, there is no sitting on your laurels. It’s a very tough environment and we’re just navigating that is the business climate is different and has its challenges. But it’s exciting when you’re doing this and to see what you have built and will continue to do as you evolve and to present yourself the way that you want to present yourself. There is freedom in being able to do that. I’m proud of that and I think the real test is that I want the brand to live beyond me. It has to keep on going and we can’t bastardize the brand. I’d rather keep the brand like this and to have integrity which is important to me.
AM: You have been such a trailblazer and it has been such an honor to have you talk with us about the brand so that we can share with our fans and readers of Athleisure Mag!
JN: I’ve looked at your magazine and Athleisure doesn’t mean that you’re just wearing the sweats, track suits, or activewear. I think the term and how you present it is redefining it. Natori is a way of dressing. It’s a way of dressing that’s feminine, glamorous, statement, full of color, happy, and it feels good. It’s a mindset of how you want to be whether I’m relaxing and reading the paper on the couch. Athleisure is my time! It’s me time! That’s why Natori is about buying for yourself! You can buy it and afford the pieces that you want and I think it is interesting!
IG @natori
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | Natori
Read the APR ISSUE #100 of Athleisure Mag and see INDULGE YOURSELF AND ME TIME | Josie Natori in mag.
Accessories are always the favorite part of our look and it's always great to add to our collection. Over a decade ago, we learned about a boho brand that allowed us to wear them with a number of our outfits, no matter the style we were rocking at the time. This brand is known for their leathers, fabrication, style, and very quickly become a go-to that you enjoy wearing!
We caught up with CEO/Founder, and Chief Cheerleader, Tony Drockton of Hammitt. His passion for this brand and its growth is undeniable. He believes in having fun in the workplace and creating memories for those that will wear the brand as they make it their own. We wanted to know more about how the brand started, how he came to the brand, the design aesthetic, and upcoming projects that we should keep an eye out for.
ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s such a pleasure to connect with you as we have been a fan of the brand for as long as it has been around! I also love that we have a few things in common from both of us being from the Midwest!
TONY DROCKTON: I’m from Cleveland and I get to make fun of it because I was born there. It was great growing up there, but then I just absolutely wanted more. I like going back, I’m grateful to have family there, but I’m also grateful as you know – you being on the East Coast and me on the West Coast, it’s great to be here! Where in Indiana?
AM: Indianapolis and my parents met and graduated from your Alma mater, Bowling Green State University!
TD: Oh wow! I’ll be back there in BG this month.
AM: Nice, I went to Indiana University.
TD: Yup, that’s a good one! BG, they have a thing called Entrepreneurship Week every year and I started going back last year and I’m going back this year. I get to speak and judge a competition it’s so fun!
AM: Before we delve into talking about the brand, can you tell me about your background and how you came to Hammitt?
TD: Well we are in our 16th year, quick start, I bumped into Stephanie Hammitt when she was making the bags locally and I fell in love with her as a person as she’s wonderful. She was looking for an investor and I loved the designs and the brand and thought, “let’s give this a shot.” That’s the nexus and once I got into this industry, I fell in love with it.
AM: I remember being gifted a back back in 2009 at an Editor event and I love a lot of the things about that bag that are still cornerstones of the brand. The hardware – the rivets are one of my favorite things, the beautiful fabrication, just how easy it is to wear. I would take them with me to TV segments, a number of events, and travels. I think that it is a testament to the brand that it has really held true as well as having grown into other categories, which is great!
TD: Thank you! The DNA of the brand has been since Stephanie Hammitt and it has really iterated along what we felt would improve the functionality, keep it relevant on the design side, and more importantly to last multiple generations. It’s really about standing the test of time like you mentioned. That’s what we look to do with every new design and also some of our earliest designs are some of our best sellers.
AM: For those that aren’t familiar with the brand, how would you describe what Hammitt is and what are those main things about the brand that people can always see?
TD: I’d say the joy of the brand is how I like to describe it. Like you said, years ago you ran into it and you still remember it and wear it. I think that whether you’re manufacturing footwear or handbags or furniture or cars, when you make something that people get joy out of being apart of, wearing, driving, being in a community of, you’ve nailed it. Think of the late Tony Hsieh, the founder of Zappos, I was just relistening to his biography and he talked about how he wasn’t a shoe guy, he was an experience guy and that he wanted to make sure that his internal team, his vendors, and his customers all had a great experience with Zappos. I follow that same lead with Hammitt.
AM: Being the CEO and the Co-Founder of the brand, tell me about your roles at Hammitt and I also love that you are the Chief Cheerleader which I think is awesome!
TD: Thank you! Well you know, when you’re the founder, you do it all. There’s just a couple of us in the office including our current designer, Jeanne Allen, she's on her 10th year. Then you grow into sort of more of a leadership role as a CEO. I stepped away and became Chairman and brought in a CEO for 7 years and then he just retired. We retired our first long time Hammitt person in March and now I'm CEO again! So I’m Founder, CEO, and also the Chief Cheerleader which has always sort of been my role. I go back to my football days where I was always the guy cheering them on whether I was on defense or offense saying, “we can do it, we can do it!” Whether we were down 1 or up as you want to keep up that energy.
I think it’s very important for people to have fun wherever they work and also cheerleading our team during some of the tougher years. It’s just as important to remind people to stay humble when things are going as well as they are right now and that’s a cheerleader right?
AM: Absolutely.
What’s an average day or week like for you at the brand?
TD: Ha! There isn’t one! You really want to have an open schedule for when people need you. I’m a big believer in keeping that so that I can have 1:1 time as needed. We also have a limited number of regular meetings that we all have within the company and then I try to spend as much of my time in front of our customers or in front of our retail sales associates at our 3 stores, or with our vendors out in some of our Wholesale partners. That’s the joy of standing by our collection in the middle of Minneapolis, and having people try it on and to ask them how they know Hammitt or standing in my store. Or it’s about walking down the street when someone has it on in the wild and asking them how they know about the brand? The next words they say are the words that energize me. Most of the time it’s, “oh I just love this bag, it was given to me by somebody,” or “that it has traveled with me all around the world.” Sometimes it’s simply how many memories that it has created. That’s what they usually talk about. That’s what is so wonderful!
AM: Well, I love the fact that you are so in tune from the customer side and also with your team. My background was in Wholesale, I worked at Lacoste so I dealt with a lot of our accounts. When you see someone that is in the C-Suite that’s rolling their sleeves up, it’s actually energizing not only from a customer perspective, but the actual team of employees that works together. So that’s amazing.
TD: You know Kimmie, in the earliest days, every new person had to work in our in-house distribution center for at least a week. They got to run the products, they got to ship them, pack them, write the handwritten notes when people purchased them, look at the repairs when they came in, and check in new product. That sort of energy can’t be recreated by starting in the office. We’re much bigger now so not everyone is in our fulfillment center, but many of us still spend time on the retail floor, and if we don’t do that, we absolutely spend time at our events. We throw a lot of events and our team always shows up to support. Being in front of the people that love the brand, it’s not work. If it’s work, get out! The greatest companies in the world do this all the time whether it’s in the fashion industry, or any other industry, or the service industry right?
AM: Yup! 100%
How would you define the Hammitt customer?
TD: Ooo. You know, laying aside demographics and laying aside the main psychographics, she loves life and that’s our customer.
AM: I love that! You never know what detailed answer will come with a question like that and it’s great when you hear it, but there is something simple and expansive about she loves life!
I love that the assortment is so diverse whether you’re minimal or not. Can you walk us through the assortment or major product types of the brand?
TD: Well, let’s start with some signature pieces that have been around for about 5-15 years. We have our Daniel which is our satchel and it’s carried all over the country. It can hold a notebook computer or it can hold just a couple of things for the day. We have the Bryant right next to that – those 2 go hand-in-hand. Our collectors have both. Then you go into our clutches and we have the VIP which has been around since almost the beginning and there is a whole series of VIP different styles around that. The belt bag is hot right now so Charles is in charge. There’s a slingback so you can wear it around or wear it as a crossbody it’s a great bag. Then we drop down into the bag that I like because it’s called The Tony!
AM: That’s fair!
TD: It’s a perennial winner when it comes to events. I’m sure for Athleisure Magazine, there are a couple of people that might like sports and you have to have a clear bag when you’re going into the stadiums! Then The Tony leather sits side by side that series. Then we have a new entrant called the Kyle. Kyle is small and goes everywhere for the woman who seeks joy and goes everywhere, she’s going to love Kyle!
AM: Wow! When does the Kyle come out?
TD: Let’s just say that it could be out by the time that people are reading this!
AM: Ok!
So if there had to be only 3 bags that a woman would take to start or round out her collection what would those essentials be in the world of Hammitt?
TD: If she’s going on a trip and she can only take 3, I think that she's going to pack the Charles for everyday and probably inside of that, she is going to have a Tony or a VIP to go out with friends or for some events. Those are the go-to bags that I see most women carrying.
I have to mention one more!
AM: See that’s what happens!
TD: It just came out and we just dropped our VIP Mobile which carries a mobile phone and everything that you need in a day.
AM: In terms of fabrication, I love that you just have so many colors and textures. What’s your approach when it comes to colorways in general or as it pertains to the different bodies?
TD: The beauty of having a brand that has been developed over this time, I have an amazing design team led By Jeanne and Collier Smith, they’re all about color theory and one just currently came back from over seas and the other is in Brazil right now. Additionally, they were in Paris, they have been to Milan, so they just finished choosing colors for Spring 25 and they’re already looking for colors for Summer 25. They really look at color as a combination of when the bags are going to come out and what is the inspiration for the collection. So, they have some pastels in our Fall collection for 24 and they’re pastels – they’re right on the runway in the Fall collections. They really try to align both with that woman that loves to be a little bit on the fashion edge while also always wanting something that is timeless. So they walk that line with color theory.
AM: In terms of hardware, I have always loved that about the brand as well. Is that the same thought that goes into that by maintaining certain elements of it and deviating a bit here and there depending on the styles that it is on?
TD: You know, we’re really consistent on our hardware. The reason for that is the DNA of the brand is actually the look of the the brand from far away and across the street. So that signature rivet detail either comes down on the side, the bottom, or the front of every design. It’s 1 size rivet and it’s spaced pretty consistently and that’s the main hardware. Then the other piece of hardware is interchangeable, for example, all of our straps are removable so you can move them from bag to bag especially when trends change. So, we’re pretty consistent. But I will let you in on a secret – we might be working on a new custom piece of hardware that may come out sometime this year and that’s new for us! What we will do also is that within the rivet, we may change finishes and we might even change to a custom rivet for one of our collectible editions. We have done a lot of collaborations. So we have done collaborations with different brands so there will be some customization on the actual rivet for a specific collection which you might have seen in the past on a few items and you’re definitely going to see that later on this year.
AM: Well that’s exciting.
What is your process in terms of your inline items when you’re thinking of adding items to the heritage of the brand versus keeping the core?
TD: Again, the design team, their call to action is that when they see a need in the market, then they’re going to bring us a new silhouette. So we don’t hamper them and say that we need 4,000 new silhouettes every week. In general, it comes down to about 4 times a year that they’re going to bring out a silhouette that fills a need as functionality is the backbone of the brand, but that is also probably on trend as we do have the classic silhouettes that are already in place. It’s a combination of the two and I will let you in on another one, every time that we launch a new silhouette, a single H rivet that we put on it is on the right corner and it signifies that it is brand new. It’s only on it when we launch it.
AM: I like that, it’s almost like a hidden Mickey when you go to Disney. When you know where to look.
TD: Yeah! I heard of this thing about the first pickle at Disneyland, have you heard about it?
AM: Yeah I had heard something about it!
TD: We have some Disney girls that work for us and if you’re the first one in the park and you run to the pickle vendor, you get the first pickle and then a button! I love Easter Eggs.
AM: Same!
TD: When I was a young kid playing video games and you would bump into the secret doorway or you would have to tap the keys in a certain way to open up another level, we have a lot of those in this brand!
AM: I love it!
TD: This catalog right here is our latest one and it has multiple hidden Easter Eggs inside of it. We have the H rivet on our bags, inside of our bags is a little vintage tag which actually says when it was made, every bag has a secret little red somewhere whether it’s outside or inside, and it goes on and on and on.
AM: That’s so fun because as people grow with the brand, they have these fun things to look for and there’s always something new to unveil which is what makes the brand so exciting.
TD: It is! People want familiarity, I believe and the familiarity is the consistency of our long term silhouettes and the signature of the detail and the high quality in the functionality. So they also want something new and when we launch a pure fashion collection, so right now it’s April, we just came out with a new colorway on the VIP that will only be launched now on that silhouette and when it’s gone it’s gone. So it’s a seasonal exclusive, now we also may have repeat seasonal colorways that we bring back every year and that would be normally on newer silhouettes or on other ones. So next year if a leather is really good and then we have our long time perennial leathers that we use over and over again and that’s what we call our bestseller collection. So we have the combination of the 3 and that really allows us to serve every customers needs.
AM: About how many launches would you say a year are taking place – or drops? Because I always love that in accessories it tends to be different then in apparel.
TD: They design in quarter periods. So this year, we call is 24.1, 24.2, 24.3, and 24.4, but traditionally they would call it I guess, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Holiday, Cruise but within each one of those quarters, we have our monthly collections and within our monthly, we also have our weekly drops. So really, every week we’re dropping a new leather family and/or a new leather family with a new silhouette. Every month we have new combinations of either leather families or silhouettes and for every quarter, we have a new collection that tells a story.
AM: Your Sales Meetings must be interesting because that’s massive!
TD: Well, that’s our design team. I love it and they come up with everything. They get inspired and we’re in our 24.2 which is Summer. By the way, do you know Jose Canseco?
AM: Um of course one of the premier power hitters in MLB with the A’s and played for a number of teams including the Yankees!
TD: Well, our latest catalog as you can see here, this is his daughter Josie (Kygo Feat. Ella Henderson - Here for You video, Kith Park: SS2019 NYFW, The Surreal Life)! She’s adorable and amazing.
AM: When you first were talking about the catalog a few minutes back and I was looking at it, I thought wow Jessica looks really good but I know she is much older then the young girl that is on the cover, but wow that’s her daughter!
TD: That’s Josie, we shot her last month and this catalog is our summer collection and it was inspired by our hometown of Hermosa Beach which is where the brand is born and raised, where I live right now with my son, our offices, and Hermosa is a very eclectic town. It’s right next to Manhattan Beach, but it’s its own personality. They came back and that was about a year ago and they laid out what they thought would be a collection to honor our hometown and she was perfect. We shot her and everything came together in this collection of what I just told you about it. It has monthly drops, it has weekly drops, we had a big launch event on April 4th and that’s the first time that we have done this sort of launch. But it’s about bringing everyone together to honor our little town of Hermosa Beach – it’s been fun.
AM: How do you approach doing collaborations and partnerships. I love the work that you have been dong within Mary Fitzgerald of Netflix's Selling Sunset as I think she’s great and you can see how she is aligned with the brand.
TD: We love Mary, she was truly a fan for a long time like you, she knew Hammitt. She was a real estate agent right here on the South Bay where we’re from and then she went out to the West side and had the show, she already had our bags so she was already wearing them. That’s one way that we do collaborations when it seems to be a match. Another way is when my design team and myself love art! Art is my personal inspiration. I go to Art Basel, whenever I travel I go to a lot of modern museums so does Jeanne so does Collier and we found Alex Alpert who is our latest collaboration and we found him at Art Basel a couple of years ago and we’re launching with him this quarter next month. It’s graffiti and when you at look at the design, it’s actually all Hermosa Beach, it’s our city, its waves, volleyball, our logo and he drew this on leather and then we made it into the collection. And that rivet which you can see is a melting rivet.
AM: Which is pretty cool.
TD: So Alex is a fulltime artist, young, very cool and he has a collaboration that I can’t mention coming out with a global brand. He’s gotten really lucky and I don’t even know if he is even 30 yet! The commonality between Mary and Alex – it’s the ones that we think have a great personality. They love life and we want to really collaborate with people where we enjoy the relationship.
AM: Are there other collaborations that we should also keep an eye out for? Are you thinking about LA28 which is coming up? I could see some amazing things there.
TD: Yeah, so there’s a women’s rally launching in the Fall called the Princess Rally and it’s a 100 women driving sports cars from Southern California up to Northern California and it’s sponsored by Richard Mille, a luxury watch brand. We’re doing a collaboration between us, Richard Mille, and them.
Every September we have what we call the September Issue. We have a collaborative bag that will be coming out for that this year as well. Then at the end of the year, there is an artist that we have a collaboration coming out with and she is a print artist and that’s Dani Dazey. She has already posted about it and she's lovely! She’s so great and she did a beautiful print and we have a whole collection that we will be dropping before the end of the year with her. We’re already working on our collaborations for ’25.
AM: Haha I’m always thinking of something. Being that my background is in fashion, being a Fashion Stylist, as well as being an Accessory Expert, I love seeing true collaborations between people or brands that are amazing on their own, but when they are brought together, you truly have a whole new way of looking at something that you really appreciate.
TD: You know, it’s wonderful right? One of the things that we do is these pop-ups as we have 3 retail stores – Manhattan Beach, South Coast Plaza, and Le Jolla here in California. For Women’s Month in March last month, every Saturday, there were 5 of them and across 3 stores, we had 15 pop-ups of small artisans – candlemakers, hatmakers, flowers, and permanent jewelry. They came and set up in our stores on a Saturday and we welcomed in our customers to meet them and they brought their fans and we had champagne, drinks, and music pumping. It was a really great atmosphere and we will be bringing in a lot more of that as we go on throughout the year. It was very successful.
AM: Do you do pop-ups outside of California like here in NY? Or are you thinking of making a store in NY?
TD: We have had pop-ups throughout the country, not in the traditional open for 2 month set up. But we have sat inside a Kendra Scott store in The Hamptons or back in their hometown. We have been invited to do trunk shows all over the country with our retail partners and we still do. We just celebrated National Hammitt Day with our largest partner on a Saturday and they had a small gift for all of their clients and it was a lot of fun. NYC, it’s still on my map and my bucket list. In our earliest day, we used to do a week in the windows of Henri Bendel for Hammitt when they were around.
AM: I remember! I loved that store and still miss it!
TD: I loved it too and I liked us being there. So I have always wanted to come back to NY in style and be on 5th Ave for our own pop-up and it will happen one day!
AM: That is so amazing and I can’t wait for that. Are there any pop-ups in your local area that you want to share that are taking place this Spring or Summer that we can keep an eye out for for our readers?
TD: I would say that in our 3 stores at least 1 to 2 times a month we have small artisans and makers that will be coming in and so look out for those. On May 17th is our Annual Investors Day. So we did a crowd funding and we have a lot of collectors who invested and we are bringing them all together and it’s a day of joy and fun. We can share our results and what we’re doing moving forward. This will be the first time that we have done that. So this will be great. Then once a year we usually have an in-person event that is in Nov where people fly in from all over the country and it’s a theme. Last year’s was Mama Mia and it was a Greek theme and people get to come and be in that theme to have fun, food, and great cocktails. It’s also a great way for them to be able to see all of our latest designs.
AM: Obviously as we’ve been talking, it’s a women’s brand, but there are a lot of pieces that translate for a man as well. Would you ever create a men’s capsule collection or go in that direction in some way?
TD: [Smiles]
AM: I thought so!
TD: I don’t know, maybe you’re on to something haha!
AM: What have been some of the things that you have been proud of for this brand?
TD: I mean, I’m always the proudest when someone comes up to me and tells me how much they have loved my Hammitt. It’s always what they do with them, where they traveled, who they got it from, what memories they have created, and the second piece of it is our team! I was so proud of Angel who was just in NYC.
AM: Yup, I saw him and had the chance to chat with him at the Accessories Council event at Tin Building by Jean-Georges.
TD: He started at our retail store 3 years ago and I asked him what he wanted to do and he told me that he wanted to work at our headquarters. I said great and I told him that when he was ready, let’s go.
AM: What are things that are taking place with the brand whether it’s holiday season or whatever that you’re able to share that it longer term that we can keep an eye out for.
TD: I just saw our Holiday collection. It just came in and it’s mind blowing. It’s the colors, the textures, and it’s going to take it to another level and is a celebration of who we are. I gave you the secrets of Fall – the Princess Rally is going to be great, our September Issue, wait until you see it. That’s all I can give you for now!
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PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | Hammitt
Read the APR ISSUE #100 of Athleisure Mag and see THE JOY OF ACCESSORIES | Tony Drockton, Hammitt in mag.
