Allison Izu

Hard to find the perfect petite jeans? You are not alone and "somebody is thinking about you", said Allison Izu Song, Honolulu-based fashion designer, who is petite and designs for petite women.

Graduated from FIT

at NYC (sort of MIT in fashion education), the Hawaii-born designer came back to her roots and started the Allison Izu brand, bringing her talents and skills of garment making to her sisters who are "vertically challenged". It was during her FIT years that Allison found one of the biggest bias in the fashion industry: while the average American woman is about 5'4", the industry is fitting for 5'8" or 5'10", the contemporary beauty ideal of the tall and skinny. No wonder most of us feel so ill-fitted.

Allison made the concept of "petite" clear: "Petite doesn't mean thin. It just means short" (5'4" and shorter). In fact, there are a variety of petite body types, "whether you are straight or curvy, you have a butt or you don't have a butt". By talking with the designer, I can tell she really cares and thinks a lot about her petite sisters.

Q: I really love your "Short and Sweet" tagline. How did you come up with that?

A: We have a few taglines: "short and sweet", "vertically challenged, fashionally advanced", "to hell with hemming". [The peakaboo image depicts] She is short. She is peeking over things.

Q: I thought you are a well-established brand. When did you start?

A: I started in 2006. But I've been working on it for a while. I had manufacturing issues. So it pushed the release date back to 2008. It took me two years to get the basic pattern for the pants. Every designer works off the basic. I reproportioned mine. A lot of it was fitting my friends who are short, anywhere from 5'4" to 5'' to get the proportion on everybody.

Q: How did you get into the petite?

A: Because I am 5'2". I knew I have a lot of problems with clothing, shopping and hemming it and everything. Because I knew about fashion, I knew how to alter it. I can take it to a tailor. But for other people, they don't really know that they can have something better. They kind of make do with what we have. Even when you buy a jeans that are washed. For short girl, the thigh wash goes to her mid-calf, and it is supposed to stop at your knee. So even those kinds of little details that people might not notice, I started to take notice. I wanted to make a better jean so we look tall and we look skinnier too. When you knee ends at where your calf is, you end up looking slouchy.

Q: Why do you start from denim?

A: It was a mistake. I thought denim would be the easiest place to start. It was actually a blessing in disguise. I found denim is the hardest thing for shorter women to deal with. And it is a harder place to start designing it, because it is a lot about fit. Women have a hard time finding jeans that fit them well. Everyone feels it, whether you are tall or short or skinny or bigger. It's something we all deal with. With denim, I can offer different styles that can be a good fit for different body types. There is a straight boy figure, if the girls are curvier, if the girls don't have a butt or have too much of a butt. So I try to design different styles for different body types.

Q: What are the major styles you offer?

A: Kolohe, meaning the rascle, is the skinny and sexy jeans. It's for girls who are confident to wear those kind of jeans. I do a lot of variations on skinny jeans. One of them is more of a straight skinny. I found a lot of women like it, because it doesn't emphasize their hips too much. But for this new Fall line, I did an ultra skinny. It still is 5' and looks like a pencil. So that's for a more risky type of person. I think it will be a fun look for a lot of people.

Paniolo, meaning cowboy, is bootcut. Bootcut origniated from cowboys or sailors who need to put their boots under their pants. It is a universal cut. I think it looks good on every body type. From the knee, it flares out to the ankle. Wide legged are exaggerated. But the bootcut is a really small measurement from your knee. It is good to balance your hip and it makes you look more flattering.

Nolu means elastic. I did a really cute skirt with an elastic waist. I thought it would be fun. You can wear it on your natural waist. So it will be very short. Or you can pull it down and wear it on your hip. So it will be a lilttle longer skirt, a little more casual. I thought it will be a good versatile. Instead of you should only wear it here [the waist], you can try it at different places. Elastic makes it pinch at the waist and make it kind of a bubble effect, kind of a 80s look. I like that.

Q: Which style is the best seller?

A: The kolohe I did before was really popular, because it wasn't super skinny. A lot of people would tell me like, "oh, I don't wear skinny jeans". But I tell them "no, you have to try this on. It's not your usual skinny jeans". A lot of women walk away with skinny jeans. The Honolulu was very popular, the trouser pants. I try to make it a little dressier. Something you can wear in the office and feel really professional. It got the skinny welt pockets in the back. A lot of women like that, because it can go with any age.

Q: What detailing do you use?

A: Welt pocket gives a tuxedo feel and looks really good on jeans. Whether you have a butt or you don't have a butt, that pocket looks great on you. Everybody loves it. It accentuates your back side. A lot of women really appreciate that.

Gold zipper is YKK zipper. So they're well-made zipper. I try to use it in different ways. I try to add details that people don't have on their denim. We did just a zipper front, which a lot of people worry about, not having a button closure. But the zipper locks when you put it down. A lot of people didn't realize that. Actually it works really well. Something fun and different.

Gold button are more for jackets and shirts. But a lot of people like it on the shorts, which makes it a little bit dressier. You see a lot of silver with denim. For Fall, we are using deep indigo and black denim. The gold makes it richer than silver. Silver makes it more rock and roll. But gold makes it richer.

Q: What sizes do you have?

A: From triple 0 to 10. Petite is not just an Asian thing. Typitally American is 5'4". If anything, you shrink.

Q: How do you feel about denim market?

A: Americans wear a little more casual. Jeans are casual, but we can still dress it up. I think the denim market will always be there. But it's saturated. For me, I don't want to stay in it. I want to cater to shorter women in everything. As 5'2", I still have problem with tops, the straps that sort of thing. That part is short, too. And it's too low. Even with dresses. Our dresses hit our mid-calf and they are supposed to hit our knees. And people don't spend the money to hem it properly. So I'd like to create a line where people can buy it off the rack and wear it out of the store.

Q: When will be your e-shop going online?

A: We are trying to get it ready by the end of the month. Even from the mainland, email me "I want to buy your jeans". It would make it a lot easier for people to buy. For now, I am only in Hawaii. A lot of people have heard about me or interested. They are like "I am not going to fly to Hawaii just to buy jeans". So it would be a good thing [to have e-shop]. I am trying to offer free shipping, because a lot of people want to try five different pairs in two different sizes. I want to let them do that and return what they don't want and keep what they do.

Q: Do you want to say something to your shorter sisters?

A: I hope they find that somebody is thinking about them in the industry. That's what I felt as a shorter person. Every fit model is 5'8". That's weird. It [petite women] is a very big population. Some jeans I buy got 35 inch inseam. They are cut off a good 4 or 6 inches. And I am 5'2'. I am thinking there got to be people shorter than me, so they must have a really hard time. It's just get the awareness out there that I exist. I always tell people, "just try it on", because there are a lot of people who are even 5'5". They are like "oh, I am not petite". I tell them "just try it on". And I found I have customers who are 5'6". So it's just the matter of getting the awareness out there.

For more information, go to Allison Izu website.