My name is Evangelia (Lia) Gamberdella. My entire life has been surrounded by dressing up to express who I am. From as early as I can remember I would pair my fire fighter jacket with my princess heels or my panda hat with a ballerina tutu. Fashion for me is used to describe what words can’t. It is about pushing the boundaries and combining two things that don’t go together, creating one-of-a-kind individuality. I've always struggled to represent myself verbally and fashion has been my relief in a sense. I have seen the harmful disadvantages that lack of expression can cause and I have made it my mission to create an outlet for anyone interested. Throughout my studies in design school I have gained a lot of knowledge on the realities of the fashion industry. I was hit with a hard realization that my love for creating and fashion would not comply with my morals if I followed industry standards. That is what this brand is to me. This brand is an outlet for myself, to create sustainably, and freely while following my morals. Even if that means working twice as hard as a full-time student or post grad beginning to work in the industry, I will always have my version of fashion. My goal is to spread this mentality throughout the fashion industry and provide our one-of-a-kind customers with unique inimitable pieces.

My name is Leilani and I’m 22. Right now, I work full time and am in school full time and running this business with Lia so really every second counts. I grew up in Los Angeles and honestly didn’t get into fashion or anything until I got sober a little over 3 years ago. I had to wear a uniform to school from 1st grade through high school. Once I got sober I could actually feel myself becoming a real person with a desire for self-expression. I got a job at a buy, sell, and trade clothing store and that’s when I met Lia and I started experimenting with clothing. Looking back on where I started in trying to find my authentic style, it’s very humbling to say the least. I just kept on trying more and more things until I found what really fits me. Now, fashion means everything to me. Getting dressed for the day, night or for whatever it is can be really meaningful but also not that deep and just really fun to go out into the world as my most authentic self. Fashion helped me figure out who I am and who I want to be. I’ve experimented with dressing more feminine, more masculine or a little bit of both and it’s really helped me discover and connect with my true identity. The fluidity of most of the clothing that we make is a huge part of why I love this brand so much. 

Lia and I were talking the other day and she reminded me of when she started working at our old job and I was a manager at this point. I asked her what she wants to do in the future and she said that she just wants to sew. And I said the same. For the next two years after that, she would talk about school and all of the really cool things she was making and I would share my horror stories of learning how to sew on youtube. We just started talking about ideas we had and what it would look like if we started a brand together. Then it kind of just started to happen. Our creative and business juices started flowing and LL9311293 started coming to life.