When COVID hit, property manager Juanairis Revis lost her job. The majority of residents in her building had perished during the worst of the pandemic. “I wasn’t doing anything; I was just collecting unemployment paychecks,” she said.
More than four months ago, tired of doing nothing all day and missing a sense of purpose, Revis enrolled in a 15-week course with Custom Collaborative, a nonprofit based in the Garment District. The course taught Revis and six other women the basics of clothesmaking and entrepreneurship, including trips to various ateliers and the Metropolitan Museum of Art for inspiration.
Founded in 2016 by Ngozi Okaro, who now serves as its executive director, Custom Collaborative aims to empower women through fashion and business. “I’m a tall woman, so I always have my clothes made,” Okaro said of her reason for founding the venture — being too tall for most women’s clothing is just one of Okaro’s frustrations with the mainstream fashion industry. She has long criticized the unsustainability of affordable fashion and the exploitative practices that disproportionately affect women with limited economic means.
The idea for Custom Collaborative came to her while picking up custom-made clothes from a West African seamstress. Okaro thought about how successful the seamstress could be with the right business plan and connections. “She could be making so much more money, and it just wasn’t right,” she said.
Marielle Argueza photos
Ngozi Okaro speaks to graduates of Custom Collaborative’s 13th cohort 
Isetou Bahaga, self-proclaimed “proud Gambian Muslim woman,” models custom-made evening dress. Cohort members learn how to design for all women, taking into consideration sizes, cultural backgrounds, and religious modesty 
Kazi Delgarcia models fellow cohort participant’s final creation 
Juanairis Revis’s final evening gown draws from her roots in Dominican Republic. Pops of color and ruffles from delicate floral-patterned fabric evoke lightweight colorful dresses of Caribbean ballroom dancers 
Juanairis Revis (right) poses with model Iisis Allyson
Okaro’s professional background is in law rather than clothesmaking, so she enlisted experts from the fashion industry to help shape the nonprofit’s programs. Today, Custom Collaborative operates with the help of volunteers, mentors, seamstresses, veteran fashion sellers, and business owners who guide cohorts of low- to no-income women, many of whom — like Revis, originally from the Dominican Republic — are immigrants.
The program is far from a simple mending workshop. It’s a comprehensive crash course on the fundamentals and intricacies of clothesmaking and the fashion business. Veronica Jones, Custom Collaborative’s entrepreneurship coach, is a seasoned fashion wholesaler who teaches participants about the economics and management of running a successful business. “I teach everything about running a business — managing themselves, managing employees, everything. They don’t graduate if they can’t make a business plan,” said Jones.
Jones’s teachings align with Custom Collaborative’s mission. Okaro didn’t just want to inspire a new generation of fashion designers; she wanted to create financially independent entrepreneurs. To date, 97% of graduates — who hail from 25 countries — have increased their financial literacy; 80% are immigrants, refugees, or first-generation immigrants, and 83% have gone on to start their own businesses.
At the end of the course, participants showcase their skills in a graduation fashion show. On a windy December night, 12 years after its founding, Custom Collaborative gathered in the organization’s studio to celebrate the graduation of their 13th cohort, including Revis.
Surrounded by friends, family, donors, and supporters, cohort participants modeled their peers’ customized creations. The outfits — evening gowns inspired by the film industry, the graduation theme — reflected the cohort’s diverse religious, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.
“Some of them couldn’t even hold a needle 15 weeks ago. Remember that,” Okaro told the audience.
Revis wore a white mermaid-silhouette dress with off-the-shoulder sleeves and a matching headscarf, designed and produced by fellow cohort member Kazi Razia Delagracia. Her own design, modeled by another cohort member, was inspired by her Dominican roots. Featuring a mermaid silhouette and plunging neckline, the dress was accented with flared ruffle trim and ruffle flowers. It evoked elements of bachata and merengue dancers’ dresses and the wob dwiyèt, a lightweight ruffled dress once common in various Caribbean countries.
All the dresses were made with recycled fabrics, zippers, and buttons. Custom Collaborative exclusively uses donated materials or those destined for landfills, reflecting its mission to make fashion more sustainable. The dress Revis wore, for example, was fastened with an outerwear zipper rather than the delicate invisible zippers typically used for evening gowns.
Mimi Jackson, the nonprofit’s success manager, looked at the cohort’s creations with pride. She helps participants thrive beyond the program by connecting them with internships and jobs. “These women come from all kinds of backgrounds,” Jackson said. “Some were home health aides, and some were immigrants with no way of supporting themselves when they got here. Now they have the tools and motivation.”
For Revis, the program reignited her passion for working independently. The tools Custom Collaborative gave her are more than just a needle and thread — she now knows how to navigate a business plan and has outlined a new career path. She hopes to secure an internship and eventually launch her own sustainable label. “I’m so different from who I was before,” said Revis. “I feel like I have a purpose now, and I know what I want to do.”
For more info, visit www.customcollaborative.org.