DC-based designer Ari founded STRIPT in 2020 on Black Friday. The whole concept just came to her after she finished law school at Howard Law early. With lots of extra time on her hands and no traditional design school background, she took a chance on herself and started learning through a friend. “I had a friend who was already in the industry. I had always told him how I wanted to do a clothing brand. He was like, ‘Now’s the time.’ So, during that span of six months, he introduced me to a pattern maker, and then from there, I started developing the company,” shares the young entrepreneur.
Her love for catsuits was what initially propelled her to really get into it. In fact, she told us she once pitched to one of her favorite athleisure brands to expand their collections with catsuits on top of their other athleisure pieces, and when they didn’t, she knew then what she had to do. Ari carried her favorite pair of leggings with her in search of the same quality fabric, and when she finally found it, the design process with her pattern maker began. “I knew I wanted to do bodysuits, which is not reinventing the wheel,” Ari tells ESSENCE. “I just wanted to be the best version of it. So, I knew I could not play about the fabric. I always wanted to develop that niche; we definitely have like the best body suits on the market.”
Ari has always been into fashion, though, and her brand is a reflection on quality over quantity. She only makes enough pieces that are ordered in an effort towards sustainability. “We’re not fast fashion in the sense of pushing out so much stuff. We make things lean and sell them at an appropriate price, and we’re not selling a bajillion pieces just to make money.” The fabrics used especially for a brand like hers must be the best long-lasting quality as her designs focus on basics and essentials. Low-quality basics are the bane of Ari’s existence.
Her ethos is incredibly innovative. She’s been able to build community and customer relationships by doing direct polls on Instagram, which has helped inform her on what pieces she should keep producing and what pieces she should introduce. For her, the brand isn’t about statement pieces, she’s only concerned with staples. Even when it comes down to color, it’s important for her to stay true to herself, but she did budge on one color in particular, so be on the lookout for that. “For example, I don’t like lavender, but everybody wants lavender. So we’re doing lavender.”
Ari just wants the women that wear her brand to feel like a “bad bitch” which has been a consistent brand identity for STRIPT in their community. “That’s our brand, bad bitches, and I think that us being consistent to that in our marketing, our branding, our photos, down to even our stickers with our motto, which is ‘good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere,’ that’s why when the girls put it on, I feel like they embody that because that’s so true to the brand.” She elaborates, “when you’re wearing something that’s actually well made and actually contours your body, it makes you feel snatched. That helps you feel like the bad bitch on the inside by looking that way on the outside.”