Meet the makers

The people behind the pieces

Our raison d'être is to gather a community of makers and friends and to celebrate the stories behind their work. Every garment and object in the shop carries a history, a process, and a human connection worth discovering.

Parron Allen

Parron Edwards-Stimola

Brooklyn

Parron Allen is the namesake brand of Brooklyn-based designer Parron Edwards-Stimola, whose vision is inspired by his childhood in Lexington, Mississippi. His grandmother, Momma Ruth, made dresses as so many Black women did — with whatever materials were available — creating beauty from remnants long before sustainability reached the mainstream. Parron's designs echo that harmony of whimsy and practicality, reclaiming sustainability as part of his cultural heritage with collections built from fabric remnants, discarded textiles, and thrifted garments. Before founding his brand in 2021 he studied design in the US and UK and honed his craft at Vera Wang, Ellen Tracy, and Rebecca Taylor.

Abeline

Andrea Reynders

Chicago

Andrea Reynders has engaged with fashion as a designer, educator, curator, consultant, and mentor. Her contemporary garments under the Andrea Reynders label are linear and sculptural while remaining classic, some integrating repurposing. Her designs define the space between body and garment, dreams and reality, and the relationship between our private worlds and our lived expressions of being. Andrea is a founder of we are MATERIAL, a collective committed to redefining the intersection of artisanal tradition and contemporary silhouettes.

EFJ Collections

Ernestine Fleming-Jones

Chicago

Ernestine Fleming-Jones, a retired instrumental music educator, began sewing at the age of fourteen, and sewing and crafting became a lifelong interest. Over the years she fine-tuned her skills at workshops, expos and classes across the city. Her greatest mentors include master tailor Eric Styles and the fashion design faculty at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she proudly earned her Fashion Design Certificate.

Volta Atelier

Fernanda Daudt

Refugee-made

Fernanda Daudt and her team make up-cycled leather handbags, hand-stitched by refugee women. Her inspiration came from witnessing waste in the leather goods industry while working closely with an NGO that welcomes refugees — she felt she could tackle both problems through fashion. She's also influenced by her grandmothers, both drawn to fashion and craft, and her mother, a philosopher whose volunteer work was making and mending clothing. Volta Atelier bags come in an array of coveted colors, styles, and sizes.

The Checkroom

Liz Williams

Chicago

The Checkroom's Liz Williams creates “Classic Inspired Statement Coats for Modern Women.” Her early career was spent behind the sewing machine perfecting her craft, where she grew increasingly troubled by fast fashion's poor quality and the exploitation of sweatshop labor. Through The Checkroom, Liz hopes to help rebuild Chicago's once-strong manufacturing roots while revitalizing the American supply chain.

Indie-Pendant

Anjali Raj

Jewelry

Anjali Raj is the designer and founder of Indie-Pendant. Jewelry has been an everlasting love of hers for as long as she can remember. She completed her Graduate Gemology through the Gemological Institute of America and chose to pursue design, inspired by her mother and her husband, Ravi, who convinced her to set up her design house. Her pieces are now available in the shop.

Moyuru

Michiko

Tokyo, Japan

Michiko studied spatial and industrial design at Musashino Art University before turning to fashion. She founded MOYURU — a name meaning to constantly sprout and move forward — thirty years ago in Tokyo. Its philosophy is “360 degrees of beauty”: textiles and films worn as art, delicately expressed from any angle, transforming machine processes into lively, flexible originals through simple, edgy design. There are ten directly managed MOYURU stores in Japan, and Michiko designs every one of them herself.

Made Here Chicago

Nancy

Chicago

Cozy, at-home wear that translates to street wear. Nancy works with small local women's businesses for pattern making, sewing, and selling. For silks, she uses dyes from plants in her own garden — which is why the label is MADE HERE.

SOS PJ's

Dee De Martin

Chicago Fair Trade

This passion project began on a girls' trip to India for Dee De Martin and her friends' 50th birthdays. She works with a co-op that provides free French tailoring lessons and shelter to people experiencing homelessness in India; once trained, they can stay on as employees or move on to other work. As part of Chicago Fair Trade, Dee Dee believes everyone who touches their garments should be paid a proper wage and empowered to help others.

Workshop Apothecary

Tanya Tucci

Soap maker

Tanya Tucci is an oncology massage therapist by day and a soap maker at night. She started making soap in 2009, using Converse shoe boxes lined with wax paper as forms for her soap loaves. Tanya became interested in all-natural products because of the toll radiation and chemotherapy can take on the skin. She's known for her 1951 soap truck — you'll find her at street fairs locally, and in the shop from time to time.

The full index — forty makers & counting

Abeline + Andrea Reynders + Auntie Oti + Barbosa + Chie Mihara + Christina Delfaco + cuddle + kind + Cynthia Ashby + Degen + Diarte + Either/Or + EFJ Collections + Fleks + Grandmont Street + Henry Robinson + Hi Love + Indie-Pendant + Javier Varas + Joanna Kramer + Lapeyre + The Checkroom + 10Metal + Made Here Chicago + Made In + Moyuru + Namai + Parron Allen + Sara Sela + Serienumerica + SOS PJ's + STAM + Steve Kagan + Tatine + The Endery + The Little Project + Tilly Doro + Untitled in Motion + Volta Atelier + Workshop Apothecary + Yoshi Kondo

The people behind the pieces

Parron Edwards-Stimola

Andrea Reynders

Ernestine Fleming-Jones

Fernanda Daudt

Liz Williams

Anjali Raj

Michiko

Nancy

Dee De Martin

Tanya Tucci

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