Recent Grads Launch Sustainable Fashion Company
Recent Stanford grads Ellie Chen and Jensen Neff
graduated during the COVID-19 pandemic in May of 2020. Entering into an uncertain job
market and a rapidly changing world, Ellie and Jensen had an unexpected opportunity to reflect
on what they wanted with their professional lives. Ultimately, they decided to create and grow
the business that had been the focus of their Product Design senior capstone project. ODDLI
clothing.
ODDLI is a sustainable fashion company, born from the idea that clothing can contribute to the
health of the planet and simultaneously elicit joy, creativity and play. ODDLI creates patchwork
“ColorGrid” pieces made entirely from deadstock fabric, t he 15% of the brand new material that
is leftover scrap fabric from the fashion industry. Deadstock is typically thrown away or burned,
and by using this material to create new items, ODDLI is contributing to the circular economy,
keeping brand new fabric from entering the wastestream.
Ellie and Jensen moved down to Los Angeles after graduation, and have been working with
manufacturers in Los Angeles, CA for the past few months, preparing to launch ODDLI. In
August, they posted their story on TikTok and the video resonated with 2 million viewers,
generating excitement around the brand and earning ODDLI 18k additional followers on
Instagram .
ODDLI launches on Kickstarter today with limited quantities of 3 items: a bucket hat, a pair
of shorts, and a top. This collection will never–and could never–be made again. The pieces are
handmade entirely in Los Angeles, and hand-numbered. As Jensen says, “there’s magic in being
a part of a group of people who want to respect the ground we stand on and dance on it too.
ODDLI: creating a world where sustainability makes us feel alive