We were lucky to catch up with Alexa Jovanovic recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alexa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business
This story still leaves me speechless and I have to replay the video to remind myself that it really did happen. The day was already off to an incredible start. My husband Jake and I were in Toronto with our good friend and visually impaired model, Mara Hutchinson (@atemara). We were on the set of Cityline, Canada’s longest running daytime television show, and we were getting ready to film a segment together on inclusive fashion, which would feature my clothing brand Aille Design (pronounced: eye).
Backstage we met two amazing disability influencers who we follow diligently on social media, Taylor Lindsay-Noel (@accessbytay) and Spencer West (@spencer2thewest). Then we chatted with Myles Sexton (@mylessexton), Cityline’s fashion expert and one of Canada’s prominent fashion icons, who hosted the inclusive fashion segment while wearing our signature blue braille dress. The day was at an all-time high, the segment could not have gone better, and we have not yet even reached the crazy/most exciting part of the story, which upon reflection may have very well been my favorite moment of 2023.
After a long, busy day in Toronto, we get home, relax, put on a movie, and fall asleep on the couch, feeling so grateful for the amazing day we just had. At 10pm, Jake wakes up and notices five missed calls from his parents, followed by a text that reads,”AILLE DESIGN IS ON JEOPARDY.” “Aille Design is on Jeopardy?” he repeats to himself out loud in a half awake and incredibly confused tone. What does that even mean? Maybe a contestant happens to own one of our braille shirts and is wearing it on the show?
As Jake is reading and re-reading the text, his parents send a video clip. Celebrity Jeopardy, Season 2, Episode 3: “Can we do fashion for all for $1200 please? A clothing company for the visually impaired, Aille Design stitches this reading system into its shirts and dresses. That answer: What is braille?”
Aille Design was an ACTUAL CLUE on Celebrity Jeopardy! Jake wakes me up to share the news and I immediately scream. He said in just a matter of seconds it was as if I drank five cups of coffee. There was no way I was going back to sleep after that. I must’ve rewatched the video at least 30 times that night.
Without the video proof, I would still be in disbelief. We had zero idea we would be featured, so we are immensely grateful that Jake’s parents happened to be watching the episode in real time. They were completely stunned, as were many of our Instagram followers who started flooding our inbox with DMs to let us know.
The full episode can be found on Hulu or you can watch our brief clip on the Aille Design Instagram (@ailledesign).
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?
If you’re blind, why would you care what you look like? False. I’ve heard this phrase countless times, and it could not be further from the truth. For over 284 million people worldwide who are blind or visually impaired, being ignored by the fashion industry is their reality. My name is Alexa Jovanovic, also known as “The Braille Fashion Designer”, and I’ve been researching disability representation and DEI in fashion for over nine years. I am the Founder and CEO of Aille Design (pronounced: eye), which was named by Newsweek as “the braille clothing brand changing the fashion game.”
Aille Design is a designer brand that works directly with the blind and visually impaired community to create fashion-forward clothing and accessories with fully legible braille beadwork. As one of the leading inclusive fashion companies in the country, we are pushing the boundaries of how inclusive practices and co-design processes are shaping the way that fashion is evolving.
Our designs are functional for braille readers, but so beautiful that they can be loved and worn by anyone. Ultimately, our designs allow you to literally wear your values on your sleeve and promote conversation about the importance of accessibility. The braille on each of the items ranges from physical descriptions to empowering statements and is designed so that the braille is the focal point of each piece. Made with high-quality beads, the braille is easy to read, machine washable, and very stylish. We offer a wide range of clothing and accessories from t-shirts and sweaters, to high-waisted wide leg pants and accessible keychains, which can all be found on ailledesign.com.
One of the most meaningful pieces we’ve created to date is our signature blue dress, which features over 2,600 braille beads. I worked closely with ten blind women to create this piece, and all of the fully legible braille beadwork on the dress describes the color blue from the perspective of those ten women. Their emotions, experiences, and memories are embodied in the creation of this piece and paint a picture of the many meanings behind the color blue, despite not seeing its visual beauty. Just recently, our blue braille dress was worn by visually impaired actress and writer, Mared Jarman on the red carpet at the British Academy Film Awards, while she received the prestigious BAFTA Breakthrough Award.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
Aille Design (pronounced: eye) originated as a research project when I was in my final year of university studying fashion communication. I took several courses about diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, and learned about countless communities who are overlooked by the fashion industry and misrepresented in the media. I began to better understand some of the problems in our industry and immediately felt compelled to be a part of the generation that would evolve these outdated fashion traditions to a new era where fashion is for everyone and diversity is celebrated. I fell in love with design all over again, but this time, in a completely new way. I saw design as a way to help others and create social change.
During my final year of school, I was out shopping and saw this beautiful beaded jacket. I had an “aha” moment and made the connection between the similarity in size of small beads and braille, then questioned why this beaded jacket couldn’t have a function beyond its aesthetic value. I instantly imagined all of the beads being rearranged to create functional messages in braille that were fully legible and described the item’s color, textile, fit and care content. It was an opportunity to create fashion that could increase independence and empower an entire community that’s been completely overlooked and misrepresented.
I went home and did a lot of research. Not only did braille fashion not exist, but there was also little to no information available on individuals with disabilities as consumers, let alone consumers of fashion. I built strong relationships with local blind and visually impaired individuals and we discussed everything from shopping, clothing trends and closet organization, to society’s misconceptions of what it means to “look and feel” blind. Together, we created braille beaded garments that provide functional legibility for the visually impaired community, while also increasing awareness and creating conversation about the importance of accessibility.
In 2020, four years after my initial idea, I transformed the research project into a side hustle, which quickly gained popularity. By spring 2022, the demand for our braille fashion products reached a level that we could no longer maintain while also holding full-time jobs, so my husband Jake and I, chose to leave our jobs and commit to Aille Design full-time.
Since the brand’s first sale in 2020, Aille Design has received a remarkable amount of earned press from news organizations such as Vogue, Fast Company, Newsweek and Celebrity Jeopardy. We have sold to thousands of customers, including Fortune 500 companies, and have collaborated with prominent visually impaired celebrities like jazz phenomenon Matthew Whitaker (@matthewwhitakerofficial) who has been named the next Stevie Wonder, and blind skateboarder and team USA Judo gold medal winner, Anthony Ferraro (@asfvision). In January 2024, Aille Design was even commissioned by NBA G League team the Cleveland Charge to create custom braille shirts for the team’s executives and staff, and we applied braille to the team’s official game day jerseys.
Aille Design has grown 450% over the past three years and with a global brand partnership set to release in July 2024, we are on track to become the vendor of choice for all braille clothing merchandise purchased in the US.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
The strong and trustworthy reputation Aille Design (pronounced: eye) has built amongst our customers and followers is undoubtedly due to our commitment to bringing authentic disability representation to the fashion industry. We make sure the blind and visually impaired community is involved in all stages of the business, and we achieve this through a process called co-design, where we work together to discuss challenges and find solutions that benefit all. This co-design process is just as important as our final product, and it’s the part of the business that brings me the most joy, since I get to work so closely with the community and get to know everyone on a personal level. Many of my closest friendships have actually stemmed from these co-design sessions.
During the early research days while I was still in university, it became evident in one of the co-design sessions that very few people have ever asked the blind and visually impaired community for their opinion on fashion and that their needs have been assumed. I will never forget the first time a participant was able to successfully read the beading on one of our research prototypes. It was the denim jacket and we just began testing a new technique. The smile that appeared on her face, the joy that this experience brought her, and how proud she was of what we accomplished together is why being a fashion designer and creating adaptive clothing is so important to me. Fashion isn’t about sight. Fashion is about feeling, from the touch of a soft fabric to the rush of emotions and empowerment you experience when you put on your favorite outfit or read braille on clothing.
I am incredibly grateful for all of the support and opportunities Aille Design has received over the years. The many partnerships and friendships we’ve developed with organizations, families, and influencers in the visually impaired community are what I consider to be one of our greatest accomplishments. Our work is truly a team effort, and the impact we’re making in the fashion industry would not be possible without their support and contributions to our design process.
Our longest standing strategic partnership is with the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), who we’ve been working with since 2020 when Aille Design first transformed into a business. It is through our relationship with AFB that we have been introduced to countless other accessibility advocates and visually impaired individuals in both the corporate and non-profit spheres who further strengthen our reputation and credibility within the community.
Contact Info:
- Website: ailledesign.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/ailledesign
- Facebook: facebook.com/ailledesign
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/alexa-jovanovic