Journalist: Meet Zack and Rebecca Lovelady, a married couple that uses the Apple Vision Pro to design athletic-wear. What does fashion mean to you? 

 

Becca: Fashion is tech, passion, conviction, and art, expressed in pixels, fibers, and hems which tell the world about who you are and how you want to be treated. 

 

Zack: Fashion is capturing a moment in a killer outfit. That can be an Olympic event. A sports event. A wedding. A military graduation ceremony. A historical period. It can be a defining moment, like Neil Armstrong’s astronaut suit, or more recently, the Apple Vision Pro.  

 

Journalist: Where do you live? 

 

Both: Palo Alto, California, Silicon Valley based. 

 

Journalist: Who inspired you to become  fashion designers? 

 

Zack: Steve Jobs, Jon Ive, Tesla, Edison, Da’ Vinci, Michelangelo…the greats

 

Becca: Coco Chanel and Dior. Two of the all-time greatest designers!

 

Journalist: And what inspired you to become a fashion designer? 

 

Becca: My passion for fashion is to design fitness inspired yoga pants, running shorts, on-the-move tops, fitness jackets, super-soft hoodies, and swimwear. I also like designing leather bags, volleyballs, pickleball paddles,and sports accessories. I’m motivated by athletics. My unique design perspective is centrally focused on color. 

 

Zack: I like the industrial design approach. I want to know why we’re building a garment or piece of gear? What materials were used? Why? How much do they weigh? How long do they last? What has been built? Are there problems with existing products? If not, move on. I like to find problems and develop solutions.  

 

Journalist: Can you describe your aesthetic in three words?

 

Becca: Style, lifestyle, and performance.

 

Zack: Durable. Efficient. Light.    

 

Journalist: Do you know what is trending? 

 

Zack: If a garment is published, then it’s on a parabola. Published trends are usually at the peak. 

 

Becca: No, I don’t! Nobody does. Maybe Google does, but if they do, they won’t tell you. I just know what I like and I stay true to that. 

 

Journalist: I don’t understand? Your line walks in seven days. How can you guys not know what to design if you don’t know what’s on trend? 

 

Zack: I would say a trend is easy to spot but hard to identify. If you remember the Apple headphones, the first ones with the white wires, I remember that very few people could afford $100 headphones, but I could spot them. Then suddenly, they started popping up all over the place, so the trend was easy to identify when more and more people were buying them. It just takes time.    

 

Becca : Time isn’t really a consideration with the Apple Vision Pro. I use Free Form, Adobe’s InDesign, SYKY, Remix by Swatchbook, Unity, and the Gucci App. I can design a thousand times faster in augmented reality. Honestly, I don’t worry about what is trending, I worry about what my customer needs.  Women today are more active, more fit, and more diversified than at any other time in history. Sports have turned women into modern day superheroes and I intend to design clothes that allow them to be exceptional. 

Even if I knew what was trending, the changes are happening so fast that designing on trend is nearly impossible. We haven’t actually finished the line by the way. But I know it will be finished by the time I get to Las Vegas Swim week on the 19th… 

 

Zack: It will… 

 

Both at the same time: I hope. 

 

Journalist: You can’t be serious?

 

Becca:  Oh, but I am. At LA Swim week, I had two swimsuits come in at the last minute, straight out of the sample room. I was hand-stitching logos as the last model walked out.

 

Zack: It’s true, products came in, went on models, and walked the runway half way into our show. 

 

Journalist: Can you tell me about your experience in the fashion industry? 

 

Zack: We traveled Europe for a year and half and studied fashion industrial design. We have a passion for understanding how things work. I like mechanical things, clocks, computers, cars, boats, and aircraft.  

 

Becca: Aside from fashion school? Really, I’m just getting started. But I would say Erik Rosete at Art Hearts Fashion show and Cindy and Tom Keefer at Fashion Tech Works have been instrumental in my success. Cindy helped me understand how tech has accelerated fashion design. In fact, she did an entire line in three days. Erik mentored us on the runway and introduced us to tons of models, celebrities, and photographers. April taught me how to cast models. Jacquelyne Rankin of Magnet Group gave STYX a major boost with their STYLE OASIS runway show in Vegas and COTERIE in New York City. Tim Cook gave us the Apple Vision Pro. Wow! Now that I say it out loud, that’s a lot… ha! Ha! Ha! I can’t wait for Paris!!!

 

Journalist: Can you share your vision?  

 

Zack: It’s a simple invitation for the world to experience Division 1 athletics. 

 

Becca: We’re targeting a Division 1 athlete named ‘Aura.’ I want to catch the moments she does yoga. Runs. Swims. Competes. Her ambition. Her passion. I want to know her thought process, her diet, and her schedule. I want to show the world what she looks like on dates with her boyfriend, Charles. I want to see what a new-join rookie named Blake wears when he catches her and tempts her from her beau, Charles. I want to feel her struggles. Her losses, and more importantly, her wins. 

 

Zack: I want to capture the bros in all their moments. Training. Hanging out. Casual wear. 

 

Journalist: What fear plagues your design?

 

Becca: Being out of fashion. I had a nightmare where I was the garment being assembled. I could see myself from the point-of-view of the fabric being plotted, cut, sewn, and placed on a model that everyone in the audience booed. The crowd threw pickled red beets at me and stained my clothes. It was awful. They shouted, take it all away! Take it away. Take everything away! I think the universe is telling me to be a minimalist.  

 

Zack: Stock outs like the COVID-19 epidemic.

 

Journalist: Ok, I have to know, what percent completion is your line right now? 

 

Becca: At least fifty-one percent. But the other forty-nine is in well organized pieces. 

 

Zack: It’ll be at ninety percent after we slam some energy drinks and sacrifice sleep. 

 

Journalist: Really?

 

Becca : Yes of course, it has to be you see, or else it won’t be sewn together in time. 

 

Journalist: How would you describe fashion over the last twenty years? 

 

Becca: Boring! Exceptionally, predictably, terribly awfully boring. In fashion school they explained this. Everything in fashion is led by analytics. Whatever sold last year is repeated, year over year, with minimal changes, until everything everywhere looks the same. It’s awful. I don’t like drab, boring, and predictable. I like to be wild!

 

Journalist: What design would be wild to you? 

 

Becca: Everyone’s style is going to be different. A better question is what is your style and where can you find it? My wildest design is my bright red beach cape hoodie. When was the last time you saw a cloaked girl on the beach? Plus it’s functional. If my beach babes are too hot or too cold, they can cover up. 

 

Zack: I think the entire line is wild. We’re like the British Royal museum, we have a little bit of everything.

 

Journalist: What era would you say inspired you? 

 

Zack: Hmm… 

 

Becca: There is no going back. Back is the past. No one wants to go backwards. Everyone, everywhere wants to go forward. Where are we going you might ask? Take my hand, I’ll show you. 

 

Zack: Live in the present, not the past. You have to play to win!

 

Journalist: What do you find difficult about design? 

Zack: I think the dilemma with fashion is that the purchased garment carries a certain set of values. The sum of those values is the belief that it looks good, even if it doesn’t. 

 

Becca: I have a gift. I can see how hems should be placed to allow women to move freely. If you cross a flat hem down the side of a legging, you get no tendon support. If you send it down the hip, cut underneath the buttock, and down the back of the hamstring and follow that anatomy to the heel, you get undeniable anatomical support. This kind of stretch can shave seconds off run times.

 

Journalist: So you understand how forms move and you design to form?

 

Becca: Yes, but not only form. It’s important that a garment shapes the form and offers athletic support. But it has to be functional, as well. If the fit is wrong, the garment won’t move with the athlete. I also design to feel. I use a buttery soft fabric that feels so smooth when you slide it over your legs. So yes, my design is about form, fit, function, and feel. 

 

Zack: Take for example the Italian suits. They are the absolute best. When we were living in Italy, suit designers taught me that linen breathes and feels like you aren’t even wearing clothes. You can literally feel the breeze pass right through the fabric. They’re the only suits I’ve ever worn that feel like you aren’t wearing a suit at all. I only buy Italian suits now. If you can design something so superior, the market will be happy to follow.

 

Journalist: When you look at a finished garment, what do you see? 

 

Becca: I refer back to my nightmare. I’m always looking to take the things away that don’t add value to the performance. Minimalist means minimize the design. Take it away. Take all the unnecessary things away. Whatever remains must serve a purpose to the wearer's function. Nothing is arbitrary. The garment should enhance or support the wearer. The seams should combine for the ultimate outcome. 

 

Zack: I see the physical garment itself, but I wonder what can’t be seen, but might be seen with the Apple Vision Pro. I think software is going to have a huge impact on fashion in the next five years.  

 

Journalist: What definition would you use for your athletic swimwear?

 

Becca: Be bold! Don’t worry about elegance. It will come when I design my dress line. 

 

Zack: What will your clothes say when they can literally talk to anyone? 

 

Journalist: Elegance?

 

Becca: Yes! Supergirls must glow up and go to the ball!

 

Zack: Yeah they do! And Champions need to take them.

 

Journalist: What is your goal?

 

Becca: Be a champion!

 

Journalist: That’s a good goal. That’s what I would want for my daughter. What about my son? What do you want for him?

 

Zack: My super Bro’s? Same. Be a champion!

 

Journalist: You both have your MBAs, so let's wrap on a SWOT analysis? 

 

Becca: That’s funny! Yeah, let's do it. STYX strength is that the designs are so versatile. 

 

Zack: Weakness? The STYX line needs retail distribution. 

 

Journalist: Opportunities? 

 

Zack: That’s easy, a corporate team up with Nike, after all, in Greek Mythology, Styx is Nike’s mother. 

 

Journalist: Threats? 

 

Both: Nike.