LIVING SOFTLY

As Kassia St. Clair writes in The Golden Thread, “We live surrounded by cloth. We are swaddled in it at birth and shrouds are drawn over our faces in death. We sleep enclosed by layer upon layer of it … and when we wake, we clothe ourselves in yet more of it to face the world and let it know who we shall be that day.”

 

Those of you who know the story of how DINO came to be, know it was born out of a journey toward comfort. Not only comfortable clothes, but the concept of a comfortable life for myself and my son, Dino. Part of creating a comfortable life meant manifesting a new career that would plant the seeds of independence so that I could be home with Dino when he needs me the most. I believe we are all in search of a soft place to land. Whether this means softening into our own skin, our own jobs, our own busy minds, comfort extends far beyond the tangibles of food, shelter, and clothing and is a concept that inherently satisfies our need to feel strong, safe, and supported. This is at the very foundation of DINO. 

 

 

I am proud to have spent the past 10+ years not only making clothes, but by creating a sustainable lifestyle within my company and my personal life. Not only with new innovation, but with common sense. I dream of a day when we consider the clothes on our backs as important to our overall health as lotions, potions and plant-based food. A day when we think of textiles as an agricultural product, and we curate our closets like we do our refrigerator. When we care as much about the skin on our backs as we do the skin on our face. When we take one step closer to understanding the importance textiles play in our every day life, we realize the hand materials have played in shaping our world and our future. 

 

Residing in Venice beach with my son DINO, I started DINO Apparel out of my home studio. Inspired by life as a single mother to my son Dino is how the journey of DINO Apparel began. What I came to realize is that what we really seek is softness from the inside out. Clothing that fits our lifestyle and our bodies, equally. And with this vision I set out to create clothing that is soft on the skin, soft on the soul, and soft on the Earth. 

 

 

Our garments are made from fabric to finished product in Downtown Los Angeles, using earth-friendly materials and produced by family-owned factories.  

 

Thank you for Living Softly with me, 

Suzanne