Lobo Mau
lobomau.com

Nicole Haddad started her made-to-order contemporary sportswear business immediately after graduating from the Graduate Fashion Design program. She was later joined by her brother Jared and together they hope to fight the fast fashion industry by producing quality, classically styled clothes with a modern twist that won’t break down after just one trip through the washing machine. They recently were awarded Philadelphia Magazine’s Best of Philly 2019: Best Sustainable Brand.

Their “slow fashion” approach — extensive fabric research and testing, and careful design and fitting — opposes the human and environmental exploitation of industrial clothing production. All fabrics are hand-printed, using sustainable ink, in their studio, or machine knitted by locally sourced mills. They hire local seamstresses with as much as 50 years of experience in the industry, skills that ensure their products will last and eliminating the need for long lead times; and reducing the carbon footprint created by global sourcing and production. All garments are machine washable.

They produce their distinctive clothing in a sunny fifth-floor studio in South Philly’s Bok building. Their line can be purchased from their online store lobomau.com, nineteenthamendment.com/pages/lobo-mau and www.wolfandbadger.com/us/designers/lobo-mau. Their new store opened on February 1, 2020 in Queens Village, located at 700 South 6th Street, Philadelphia.