We recently connected with Choua Vang and have shared our conversation below.

Choua, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

We’re Cali & Dana, a New York City-based minority women-owned company founded by Choua, Alimou & Dana. Our design philosophy on fit is embedded within all our products, focusing on Curvy Petite customers. In our personal lives, we’ve been disappointed and exhausted time and time again because fashion standards and brands are constantly pumping out useless products where curvy petite women are not even considered, forcing them to just settle.

Curvy Petite women endure two pain points as a result of fashion standards: 1. Grading. The standard grading for bottoms is to grade up and out, meaning the bigger the size of the waist the longer the inseam. This does not make much sense for Curvy Petite women and it doesn’t reflect how our body shapes change. There comes a time in most of our adult lives when we stop growing taller and sometimes just grow wider. 2. Petite sizing standards are old-fashioned. It often assumes petite women lack muscular builds and inseams are 26” which are often too long for most petite women. Keeping these pain points in mind, we set out to design the best-fitting jeans for curvy petite women 5’3” and under.

In 2020 we welcomed our first set of jeans: Ruthie Skinny Jeans in high-rise dark denim and a mid-rise black wash, both 25” inseams. We stayed true to fit and ensured our size 10, 5’0” Co-Founder Choua could confidently wear it in all aspects of her life. Since the launch of Ruthie, we’ve continued to expand our jean selection with the launch of our cropped straight Miriam Jeans in a mid-rise light blue and black wash in 2022. When curvy petite customers try on our jeans, they are instantly surprised and relieved that a pair of jeans could fit them so well.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Ask Curvy Petite women about fashion and a common annoyance is finding jeans made for them, often feeling ignored in this category. Cali & Dana’s design philosophy focuses on designing suitable fit options that are mindful of slow fashion with an eye on sustainability. Imagine jeans that fit your curves and height!

The jeans are waist size inclusive and made to last. Rigorously tested, the high-quality denim withstands wash after wash. We wear-test our jeans to make sure they can withstand a long work day, running to and from the train, and a date night with friends. Our jeans provide support in the front with tummy control pockets while the fabric provides stretch and comfort.

When it comes to fabric, we try to source as sustainable as we can afford – being sustainable in the denim fashion industry is difficult for small businesses. As a small business, it is very expensive to purchase sustainable denim, so we do as much as we can. Our high-rise dark wash Ruthie jeans are made with Repreve denim, which means each pair is made with 7 recycled plastic bottles. Our mid-rise black Ruthie jeans are made with recycled polyester. While we specialize in jeans, we also provide additional products such as our handmade Kimono Inspired Throws. The Kimino Inspired Throws are all handmade in NYC by Dana where the fabric is purchased locally in Harlem or through Fabscrap, a recycle/reuse resource.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Choua and Dana grew up in Michigan and met during undergrad at Central Michigan University through a mutual friend. Choua studied business and pursued a career that eventually relocated her to New York where she reconnected with Dana who was already building a robust resume in the fashion industry. During this time Choua also met Alimou at Fordham University, both working toward their MBA. While catching up over dinner, Choua expressed her frustration with finding jeans to fit her. Alimou also expressed the same, as a curvy woman, Alimou just settled for ill-fitting jeans. From a dinner venting session they decided to try to solve the problem, however, neither had experience in the fashion industry. That’s where Dana came into the picture, bringing in her extensive knowledge in fashion and denim. That’s how Cali & Dana came to be.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Cali & Dana is a self-funded business. We were able to receive a gifted amount of $5,000 to help with our first production. We each also contribute a set amount each month into our business account for ongoing expenses. When we first launched, we realized our friends wanted to support us as well, but were not the Curvy Petite consumer, so we created sweatshirts and totes to allow them to help support us. That helped us with funding our next couple of projects. As a next step, we will be applying for grants, which will help us scale our business and expand our collection.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://calindana.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovecalindana/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/calianddana

Image Credits
Nicole Balboa David Pham