Spring '24 Featured Designers
Spring '24 Featured Designers
UglyFlex
UglyFlex is not just a brand; it's a celebration of diversity and individuality. The designs are a fusion of feminine and ethereal aesthetics, embracing the beauty of women in all colors and shapes. Through handcrafted creations, made out of reclaimed vintage napkins and tablecloths, UglyFlex demonstrates that true beauty lies in sustainability.
Join the journey to redefine fashion, one repurposed garment at a time. UglyFlex is part of the movement towards conscious consumption, proving that beauty can emerge from the unexpected, and that style can be sustainable.
K.S. Garner
An eccentric, slow-fashion brand that focuses on sustainability by upcycling and made to order pieces.
reclaim.
At reclaim. we create repurposed wearable art that’s personal, emotional and unique. Our pieces are handcrafted in Knoxville, TN, primarily from vintage quilts. Our heritage pieces pay homage to our deep lineage of Appalachian quilt-makers, as we create each piece with respect to our histories and a love for where we come from.
We’re storytellers, educators, and dedicated advocates for the slow-fashion movement. Therefore, our garments are a catalyst for conversation, always telling a story of history and sustainability.
Our brand advocates for a circular, accessible approach to fashion - embracing imperfections as a testament to a garment’s history. We blend tradition with a forward-thinking perspective, connecting our work to a future that values sustainability and meaningful narratives.
Dear Ivy
Dear Ivy, established in June 2022 by Julia Read, is a visionary brand dedicated to fabric circularity. My approach involves crafting each piece from the remnants of local fashion brands and those committed to using recycled and biodegradable materials.
For the upcoming 2024 collection, Dear Ivy collaborated with Proclaim, a socially responsible lingerie brand in LA known for its sustainability and inclusivity, and Pa Pe Studios, a brand originally based in Austin that champions earth-friendly fabrics and dyes. The palette, materials, and designs draw inspiration from the landscapes and moments from our daily lives on this planet.
Faire Sauvage
Faire Sauvage is a sustainable brand for the woman who wants something she’s never seen before. By using scraps and upcycled materials, we create one-of-a-kind products for the creative woman. We hope our designs make our clients feel their most confident and sexy while wearing them. We are for the artists, the dreamers, the edgy it-girls. Our brand is centered around sustainably, creativity, and fashion.
Recover Season
Recover season started as a community to spread the love for sunsets and what they symbolize: a time to slow down, absorb, reflect, which has become ever so important in this day and age. With a penchant for beaches, and growing up in the textile capital of South-East Asia, surrounded by a tight-knit community, it was only a matter of time before all these ingredients came together to evolve Recover season into what it aspires to be : a community centered around resort wear and accessories that lets you interface with cultures
from across the world, and all the while imploring you to reflect, on yourself and the beauty around you
Our brand values revolve around empowerment, enablement and education. We empower the communities we come from by employing physically challenged people, we enable other budding brands reach the right market, and we educate the consumer on the significance and possibility of south Asian designs.
YvieStyleIt
YvieStyleIt is an ever-growing brand centered on expression and culture. We consistently incorporate African influences and cultural materials like unique fabrics to design dresses reflecting diverse personalities. This brand aims to captivate youth culture by interconnecting art, emotion, and self-expression. We bring realness to fashion by redefining creativity for today's generation.
Starting with retro fashion, we have explored streetwear, corporate looks, upcycling, and more with the purpose of fostering inclusion and empowerment. Our designs break the box, transitioning across eras and styles while maintaining our core values.
As a profit for charity brand, all of YvieStyleIt's proceeds support the community work done through our nonprofit arm, YvieDODEQ. From summer tech camps for displaced youth to sexual health education initiatives, YvieDODEQ empowers underserved communities in Nigeria and beyond 15+ countries in Africa. YvieStyleIt allows us to spread this impact even further.
Our team has a bold vision - to revolutionize fashion as a vessel for change. By interweaving African heritage with boundary-pushing designs, we seek to tell unique cultural stories that inspire confidence in wearers. Our philanthropic model enacts real social change. At our core, we believe fashion should make you feel seen, uplift communities, and open minds. We're on a mission to spark that universal impact - one custom dress at a time.
Additionally, our founder with a Nigerian heritage is a scientist pushing a mission for sustainable environmental technology. This goal translates to their fashion, sourcing, and design choices as they work towards representation and sustainability.
Prior Waste
Prior Waste was founded on the principal of combatting the mass production/waste issue in the fashion industry by creating completely unique pieces using unwanted and damaged clothing and reworking them in by hand into one of one creation. Prior Waste also holds a strong emphasis on creating and strives to bring together the creative community and showcase their talents through photoshoots, runways, markets and more.
Defizm
Defizm started as my own self exploration and quickly turned into a way for me to show up for my community. Defizm says- this is what it means to show up as oneself with no fear. What started as “resist spillage” turned into “resist repression”. Def can conjure up the parts of you that you long to have back. Every garment, every painting, every piece is intentional & blessed. Sourced as ethically as possible from family/friends hand-me-downs, leaving no thread or fabric scrap to go to waste. Def is by the people, for the people. What’s your izm?
Futurekind Studio
Futurekind Studio (opening Spring 2024) is an inclusive creative studio centering the queer, disabled, and neurodivergent communities. Our aim is to use fashion, art, and design to push for positive social change.
Founder Elena Cortez-Neavel is a lifelong artist, but originally pursued a career in healthcare policy and medicine. During her studies, she became increasingly aware of the mounting failures of our country’s healthcare system, especially in regards to caring for the humanity of our most marginalized communities, namely disabled people.
In 2018, she made the decision to leave medicine and devote her work to social advocacy through art, fashion, and design. Through her use of bright colors, shiny metals, sensory-stimulating textures, and bold graphic patterns, Elena embraces the notion of “Radical Visibility”, a disabled queer clothing reform movement proposed by Sky Cubacub.
Elena hopes to bring excitement, attention, and appreciation to the beauty of diversity, while showing how fabulous inclusive design can be.
For Slow Fashion Fest, Elena will be co-creating each look with the model who will wear it, to highlight the importance of designing for real people.
Accessories Designer: Junkyard Dog
At Junkyard Dog, we breathe life into discarded threads and forgotten objects. We are not just a fashion brand; we are a movement, a testament to the power of creativity, sustainability, and individuality.
Accessories Designer: Kizmet
KIZMET is a brand that creates one of one pieces using preloved second hand materials. The goal for my brand is to provide people with unique, one of a kind pieces. In a world full of mass production everyone is walking around in the same micro trends that go out as quickly as they came in. My mission is to create a handmade product that is yours and only yours. Everyone deserves the luxury of having personalized unique clothing and accessories, and I have made it my business to make that happen.
