Nestled in downtown Brooklyn, is one of New York’s best kept sustainable fashion secrets.
Designing for the corporate woman who is also a conscious consumer, fashion label ELSA AND ME marries timeless design with good old fashioned service. Founded by Swedish born Maja Svensson, the brand is growing in leaps and bounds and is already making its mark on Manhattan.
Here, Maja talks a little about how ELSA AND ME came from her desire to provide classic, feminine designs for the office and developed into a thriving small business.
Yatu Hunt: How and when did the idea for ELSA AND ME come about?
Maja Svensson: I have always wanted to run my own company. When I came to New York in 2008 for an internship in the Consulate General of Sweden, I immediately felt inspired by the city’s entrepreneurial vibe. I started to look for what a company of my own could be all about.
At the time, I was working in a corporate office environment and I saw a lack of diversified and feminine looks for the office. I decided I wanted to start making clothing that offered a conservative, yet stylish and feminine alternative.
Since I am not a fashion designer by training, I started experimenting with designs in 2009 with the help of a friend. I also got in contact with a pattern maker who helped me realize my first designs.
After receiving positive feedback on my first pieces, I decided I wanted to try making clothing for the professional woman.
The inspiration for ELSA AND ME is my grandma Elsa, who has always had a very elegant and classic style. Her generation’s overall better care of resources like garments, heavily influence ELSA AND ME as well.
YH: What are the main principles behind the brand & what does it hope to achieve?
MS: ELSA AND ME’s one and only current design, the ELSA dress, offers a wardrobe classic that can be worn to work and to cocktail parties. The versatility, femininity and timelessness are what we would like to keep as our main principles for future designs.
We believe a versatile and timeless clothing piece is in line with a conscious shopping decision. We hope that our dress will help pave the way for a more sustainable view of fashion and draw attention to how clothing is being used.
YH: Can you tell us a bit about how you came up with the iconic dress design?
MS: The ELSA dress came about from wanting to provide a feminine dress for work, and also a dress that could fit a lot of shapes. I had been experimenting a lot with pants designs prior to the dress, but the fit that pants offer women lacks versatility. Because women are all very different in shape, I wanted to start looking into how a dress could easily adapt to these differences. The thought behind the design was to make a higher and tighter waist to enable for a feminine look and give room for change over bust and hips.
Like grandma Elsa, the ELSA dress fits her style and the ’50s – ’60s very well. I guess the Mad Men hype also stroked my creative process at the time of first making the dress in 2010/2011!
YH: Can you tell us a bit about how the clothes are manufactured and what they are made of?
MS: All dresses are made-to-order and each one is produced for individual clients either on our standard size basis, or through custom orders.
The dresses are produced locally in New York and to the extent possible, we are using GOTS-certified organic cotton fabric.
YH: What do you see as the future for sustainable fashion?
MS: I think sustainable fashion is here to stay. Sustainable might not even be a word in the future, but rather, an industry standard. I believe we will see innovations in fabric and trim produce and the way clothing is being manufactured. Consumers will drive this, and the bigger corporations will be the primary interpreters. New fabric technology (recycled fabric and newly-found efficient ways of producing fabric) and better manufacturing standards are primary components that I believe, bigger corporations will bring to the table.
YH: And for small businesses?
MS: For small clothing businesses, I believe we will see a shift in small business models – from traditional retail business models (having a full clothing line, try to sell to stores type of thing) to better fitted, customized more innovative business models that will spur a better, less risky and more sustainable clothing industry. I also believe educated consumers will influence this change.
To sum up, the best of two worlds is where sustainable financials meets social entrepreneurship.
YH: You have already launched a sleeveless dress and a cute ELSA tie. What can we expect to see from ELSA AND ME next?
MS: We’ll be unveiling new pieces in the fall. Stay tuned!
Images: ELSA AND ME