as an artist, person, and owner of a small clothing brand i will always be fiercely pro-human.
that means our clothes will always be designed by and for people, from our initial concepts, to our patterning and grading, to the art made by me and our collab artists that gets printed on the fabric.
that means that our clothes are made to be comfortable and practical for every day use. that means having real, functional pockets, good quality fabric and construction, and sewing that doesn’t cut corners to save money. that means making clothing that won’t fall apart after a couple washes.
that means grading our sizes, both straight size and plus size, on real bodies and using data from over 2000 of our actual customers to make sure that our garments fit, to make sure we take into account how clothing looks and feels on normal human bodies, not just laid flat on a table, or on clothes hangers or on professional models. that means making clothing that can stretch to fit throughout daily weight fluctuations, it means including features like expandable hip gussets on “masculine” style shirts because style is not prescriptive of gender, sex, or body type. it means remembering that people have bellies and thighs and hips and arm fat.
it means choosing fabrics that are well made and feel good, even when they cost more, because people have textural sensitivities. it means testing how our garments look and feel not just while standing or walking, but while sitting, because the body sits differently than it stands and something that is comfortable while standing may not be while sitting, and many people spend most of their lives sitting. it means remembering that bodies are are diverse and beautiful.
and it means that the people who make our clothes work in safe, clean environments and are fairly compensated. it means that the materials those workers handle are safe for human exposure. it means we do our due diligence to work with factories that are certified for their ethical labor and safe working environments and materials.
being pro-human means caring at every step of creation: for the designers and artists who come up with the ideas, for the weavers and sewists who make those ideas into real clothing, and for the customers who wear those clothes.
Maya Kern's online store for skirts, enamel pins, journals and more! For shoes, masks, and other products visit my Threadless shop.
