Painting With Thread: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at The Series
Story originally published on Exposure on March 9, 2020.
Walking into The Series studio, I expected to find a large atelier with multiple heads running around, denim cut-outs spewed on various sewing tables, and an employee finishing final hand stitches on a garment before it goes live on their website for adoring consumers to purchase. However, instead of the scene above, I find Ella Wiznia, the founder of The Series, working on a custom pair of denim jeans at a small sewing table in the kitchen of her cozy, one-bedroom West Village apartment. “Welcome in. Thank you for coming!,” Wiznia proclaims, warmly embracing me as I step inside.
The Series, a seasonless, genderless, hand-embroidered denim brand based in New York, has created such a large following and established themselves as an influential fashion brand to watch that you would’ve imagined them to be housed in a spacious studio in a Brooklyn warehouse. Nevertheless, the fact that Wiznia runs The Series out of her apartment kitchen speaks volumes about the brand’s mission of sustainability and creating purposeful clothing.
While studying Urban Design and Architecture at NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, Ella Wiznia never imagined herself starting a clothing brand her junior year of college. The story of how The Series came into fruition starts in a treatment center for eating disorders during Wiznia’s high school years. While in recovery, she started noticing physical signs of eating disorders on the models she saw in ads for the stores she often frequented, and decided that something needed to change. “I decided to stop supporting apparel brands that I felt promoted unrealistic body types, brands whose visual messaging told me that I wasn’t good enough. So, in 2013 that was pretty much everywhere but second-hand and vintage shops.” Oversized vintage denim became a staple in Wiznia’s closet as well as a canvas for her creations — these were the garments that felt most comfortable on her body. She started collaging on jeans with vintage denim, appliques, textile remnants, and embroidery, which she picked up during recovery. “For the first time, I started to customize pieces to fit my vision and my body, rather than changing my body to fit the clothing.”
Looking around Wiznia’s 3rd floor walk-up, you can clearly tell that the young designer has a real passion for embroidery, specifically needlepoint, and upcycling. Her kitchen walls are filled with embroidered art pieces that she has collected over the years. Her workstation, just a few feet away, features vintage matchboxes, rainbow pins — her favorite color — gifted to her by her mother, and vintage patches that she’s collected for use on her denim designs.
It wasn’t until she started shopping exclusively second-hand that Wiznia became aware of the harmful impact that clothing production has on the environment. The wastefulness of fast-fashion pushed her to vow to solely use recycled and renewed materials in her own garment creations, which she often refers to as wearable art. In her opinion, everything that we need already exists so why create more? And she makes a good point. With approximately 17 million tons of textiles produced and 11 million tons of textiles sent to landfills every year in the United States, according to the EPA, do we really need to produce clothing to the extent that we do?
And while many brands claim to be moving towards sustainability, it’s hard for consumers to hold brands accountable and make informed decisions when there are no centrally agreed upon definitions for terms like “sustainability,” “eco-friendly,” and “ethical.” “[These brands] may be more sustainable than before, but still take part in really harmful and dangerous practices that need to be addressed. I think the best thing for a large brand to adopt is transparency. That way, the consumer can make educated decisions on whether or not the brand’s definition aligns with their own,” Wiznia tells me. The Series takes a big stand on transparency by listing each item on their website along with a blurb of what materials were used and where they were sourced from.
Since its inception in 2015, The Series has seen immense growth. Last year they took part in a sustainable pop-up shop with other east coast sustainable fashion brands such as Berriez, For Good Luck, Daphinette, and Garbage NY. They also held a fashion show and were featured in NYLON, which Wiznia considers to be surreal moments. The new decade is looking even brighter and more exciting for The Series. The brand is currently in the process of growing its team and, more immediately, consumers can keep an eye out for when they drop their spring collection of super fun accessories. I, for one, will be keeping a watchful eye on The Series website waiting for this drop.
