In recent times, fashion brands are striving to implement more functional merit into their clothing rather than only aesthetic value. For fashion brand Aille Design (pronounced eye), this mission is enforced in every product that they market. When university student Alexa Jovanovic was browsing the store racks and glimpsed at a beaded jacket, that was the moment where inspiration struck. She saw the potential of texture to go beyond physical practicality. She started creating fashion pieces that incorporate braille for a research project, where she absorbed the mentality of embracing new norms in the fashion community. While executing her project, she forged relationships with local people who were blind or visually impaired to discuss clothing and what people misunderstand about the meaning of “looking and feeling” blind. With each piece of work, she incorporates a design procedure called co-design where she collaborates with a diverse group of disability advocates, people that are skilled at reading braille, and regular fashion stylists that consist of both sighted and visually impaired individuals. Working together, they assemble products that promote and encourage communities to be more inclusive, which eventually developed into a full-scale business.
According to Aille Design, their company aids in diminishing the stigmas around people with disabilities and educating a wide range of people about how accessibility is an imperative aspect of society. These factors are what promotes the spread of innovation and inclusion. Committed to helping produce equal opportunities for the blind and visually impaired community, they progress in their mission of attaining new levels of inclusivity and educate companies on how to implement accessibility strategies. They have showcased this through many partnerships, including working with visually impaired actor Hayden Zaller. Together with Hayden, Aille Design constructed a custom dress shirt embroidered with braille. He wore the shirt to the premiere of his first movie entitled American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story.
The ingenuity for the business is rooted in inclusion, but the inspiration behind the name has just as much meaning. Aille Design declares that their name derives from a French verb called Aller. This word indicates the meaning “to move forward” or “to go.” They incorporated this particular verb to align with their belief that this movement is what the fashion industry needs to progress towards. The pronunciation of the brand is additionally rooted in their mission. It implies the personal tense of “I.” Aille’s products assist to support and bolster self-sustainability. Furthermore, it alludes to the physical body part of the “eye” due to the company assisting and being a producer of clothing with a message of understanding and promoting different types of vision. The two dots in their logo convey this, which includes the character in braille for the letter “i”. The two dots signal how crucial braille is in an inclusive society while reminding consumers of the brand’s pronunciation.
Their most recent project that the company has been a part of involves one of the most famous singers in the world: Andrea Bocelli. Andrea Bocelli recently performed a show at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut that was completely sold out. The center decided to give the company behind his performances, Bocelli and Gelb Productions, a gift for performing. They worked in unison with Aille Design to create a custom tote bag for the singer. The tote bag had the lyrics of the famous Italian song “Nessun Dorma”, which translates to “ Let no one sleep,” written in braille on the sides of the bag. The tote bag was from the brand Dange Dover and Aille offered to embroider it with the famous song. As more brands try to make strides towards a wide array of inclusive ways, Aille Design is there to lead them in the right direction one piece of clothing at a time.