COLLECTIVE FREAKUENCY
Industry Vets Take Unbeaten Path
Years ago, Tova Celine helped pioneer sublimation burnout treatments for T-shirts with her now-defunct Butterfly Dropout line. She wanted to try out something new with her line Collective Freakuency, which she recently debuted with her business partner, Joshua Lloyd Fischer.
A sense of experimentation rides high with Collective Freakuency’s graphics. They will be placed in offbeat areas—around the cuff area of a shirt, the side of the shirt’s body or the back of a sleeve.
However, the tops’ silhouettes will be touched by a familiar style. “I was looking in the market and thinking, ‘What would I want to wear?’” she said of her new line’s inspiration. “I was missing the romantic, ruffley look, with a little bit of hippie.”
The silhouettes are inspired by female rockers of the 1970s. A top with long fringes is named “Joplin Kimono” after the hard-living singer Janis Joplin. A shirt with huge sleeves and ruffles is called “Sleevie Nicks,” a pun on the name of the Fleetwood Mac singer.
Most of the tops are made in jersey. The line uses organic cotton when the fabric is available; otherwise, they use “jobber fabric” or recycled jersey. One shirt making use of a variety of different fabrics is the line’s “Chop Shop” shirt. “Everything is a little different because of the handwork,” Celine said of the label. “It is not cookie cutter.”
The line also was made unique for the “freak code,” or a few numbers sewn on the tag inside of each shirt. With the freak code, the wearer can visit the line’s website, place the code in the site’s search engine and get all of the shirt’s details. They’ll find out the inspiration for the design, where the garment was made and how it was made. Garments are manufactured in Los Angeles, and Celine believes that consumers will appreciate how the line’s garments were made by what she describes as well-compensated workers and with some sustainable materials.
“You can make sustainable things and make good business,” Celine said. “That is what we are doing, and we are sticking to it.”
Wholesale price points range from $40 to $57. For more information, contact beate@studiotwoclothing.com.
