Maya Epler’s not busy. In the last six months, the 34-year-old fashion designer has moved from Israel to Berkeley, re-established her business on another continent and launched a new collection for her vegan women’s clothing line. Oh, and she just had a baby. Less than two weeks ago.
“I don’t think I’m going to take a break,” Epler said, speaking shortly before the birth of her son, Oren, over a snack of tea and fruit in the kitchen of her small apartment. She explained that she was counting on family help to allow her to continue hand-sewing clothing orders in the small studio she has created in her sunroom after she delivered her first child. “My sister is arriving tomorrow, then my mom, then my husband’s parents. They’re spread over the first three months.”
Epler was running her own clothing line in Haifa before she picked up and moved to the Bay Area last year so her husband, Snir Gazit, could do postdoctoral work in physics at U.C. Berkeley. Her business, which she started in 2011, was small but solid; she sold her original pieces online, through Israeli boutiques and directly to consumers who would come to her studio. Her volume was large enough that she outsourced the construction of her garments.
“I’m rebuilding it, starting again, ”Epler said of her American aspirations. Rather than fall back on the same patterns she brought with her from Israel, Epler designed a whole new collection shortly after moving to Berkeley. The process took months, resulting in more than a dozen new designs available in a variety of fabrics. Epler is selling her new collection, which she describes as “classic, elegant and vintage-inspired,” exclusively through her online Etsy shop and is hand-sewing each piece to order in her home studio. Items are available in a range of sizes as well as custom measurements. Prices range from $9 for small accessories to $155 for dresses; many of her pieces are unconstructed and drape softly.
Epler studied fashion at Tel Aviv’s Shenkar College of Engineering and Design and worked with estabished fashion designers before launching her own line in 2011. Her style is influenced by Victorian-era and traditional Japanese fashions, but she calls her creations “up-to-date casual and elegant women’s clothing.”
Epler has been a vegan since she was 19, out of concern for animal welfare. Though she has always used vegan materials in her designs, she’s only recently begun to publicize it. For her current collection, she spent two days at a San Francisco textile expo scouting ecofriendly fabrics made from hemp, soy, bamboo and cotton, learning how the materials are produced in a sustainable way. She sources her fabrics from suppliers in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Canada.
“My everyday life is about consuming stuff that is cruelty free,” Epler said. “It serves something I really believe in.”
As she works on re-establishing her business, Epler has been enjoying the California produce she buys at Berkeley Bowl and the vegan-friendly restaurants in her area. She hopes to cultivate local clients who buy directly from her and come to her home for fittings.
“I wish to see women wearing my designs here in Berkeley and on San Francisco streets,” Epler said. “That would make me very happy.”
Epler’s designs are available to view on her website: www.mayaepler.com