Blogs by Allison

I was talking to my team the other day about how they connect to the brand. Mind you most of my team are in their 20’s... But they bring a different perspective to the table and it’s inspiring to hear from them. One of them mentioned when she’s in the Showroom helping customers, she views it like shopping with her mom. She talked about how she noticed that her mom has lost some confidence as she ages and is frustrated with the clothing that is out there.  I’ve always loved fashion. I was a slave to every fashion trend and learned how to sew so I could alter clothing to get the look to work for my shorter frame. I love all of it - the fabric, the styles, the colors. But most of all, I love how fashion can transport you to another place. How it has the ability to make you feel like another person. I think that’s why we name our outfits - POWER SUIT, DATE NIGHT OUTFIT, or CASUAL FRIDAYS. For some of us, it’s a suit of “armor” we wear to gear up for the day ahead. And we use these guideposts to help show up as who we want to be.  And as I age, I want fashion to be something more than that. I want it to be the support system that allows me to show up authentically as myself. I didn’t realize it until talking with my team, that my focus has been to design clothing for every stage of our life. When I started, I was 20ish and focused primarily on my plight as a short woman. I designed premium petite denim to solve the current problem I, and many others, were facing. Fast forward to my 30’s, after having kids, and accepting that my metabolism slowed down - I started to design clothing that could minimize my additional weight gain. They were styles that would cover and drape my soft tummy, minimize my wider hips and back side.  And as I enter my second half of my 40’s, I’m asking myself “now what?” I’ve been FINALLY accepting and loving who I’ve become and who I am right now. Yes, it comes with saggier skin, a wider midsection and wrinkles (thanks perimenopause) - but I’m learning to love every part of myself, even when I look down and wonder - what’s happening to the skin around my knees?? And because of it, my designs (like myself) are evolving. I don’t believe as we age, it means our lives (or our love of fashion) are over. It doesn’t mean we’re no longer sexy, or attractive, or worthy to take up space. It’s the total opposite.  Now, I’m more interested in loving and accepting what I see reflected in the mirror.  Who is this person? Is it an authentic reflection of how I feel? This is my new challenge. And I started to design for that. I’ve slowly been challenging myself to design new styles that will give us (dare I say) “older women” the permission to take back our beauty and worthiness.   My new mission is to begin to design pieces that will allow us to see ourselves in a new light, to journey towards loving all of ourselves. It’s going to be designs that are more about us, and less about how it makes others feel. So what if people get a little uncomfortable seeing a 40 year old (or 70!) woman wear a top that hugs a little more mid section (that may or may not be flat). Or maybe pants that hug our hips and butt (that may be a little lumpy). If you look in the mirror and like what you see - then go for it. Wear the tank top that shows your arms - they may not be like the arms of your 20 year old self, but these arms have lived life and deserve to be celebrated. They’ve given many hugs of comfort and have pointed towards so many goals and destinations. And I say, let’s wear those shorts that show off your legs more than you’re used to - those are the legs that have carried you through every major event in your life. They were the coziest lap for my kids to curl up on, even as they get older. So why not celebrate them? Because you are beautiful and you are worthy to take up space in this world. To stand firmly in the light. You have every right to wear a shorter dress or a top with a low sexy V-neck if that’s what your heart is asking for. We deserve to feel vibrant, confident and beautiful - this is my goal, this is my purpose. I can't wait to continue this journey right next to you and share all of it!    - Allison

  I’ve been in denial a little… As I embark on my 15th year in business, I honestly can't believe it’s been that long! If you asked me 15 years ago where I envisioned myself, this would not have been my answer. I’m not disappointed in any way. I’m grateful for my life and how everything has led me to this point. But, 15 years ago (or even before that) when I had the inspiration to start this business, I was a completely different person. I was focused on making beautiful clothing and I’m ashamed to share this with you, being rich. Isn’t that what all 20 something year old fashion designers want? sigh… I was 30 when I finally left my family business and embarked on my own (that’s some scary sh** for someone in an Asian family!) I dabbled in other businesses, until I found my passion in creating premium petite denim. I stumbled a lot in the beginning, facing numerous road bumps and dwindling funds. I started this business selfishly, for myself. I was short and I wanted clothing that fit my height. And then realized that other people were facing the same insecurities and frustrations with the fashion industry.  I went from trunk shows to consignment into local boutiques. My dream was to launch my denim in every boutique from here to New York. I heard a lot of “no’s” along the way, it was discouraging and set me back a bit. But it also pushed me to go deeper and understand what my purpose was. I wanted to offer my customers classic, clean styles that were timeless and easy to wear. I went from wholesaling into Nordstrom to retail in the blink of an eye! And then the Universe pushed me to grow once again . . . Ala Moana. It was daunting but the opportunity led me to meet a lot of people and grow my reach here in Hawaii. It was there that I was able to find a deeper why. It was there that I was inspired to create IZU Body Types and the idea to Live Your Letter. To give women permission to be proud of their unique shape, their bodies, their height, their age.  Whatever it was that was holding them back, I knew it was the brand’s purpose to let women know - ‘own your uniqueness, you are beautiful and worthy!’ It was through seminars and events that I was able to meet more women and hear their struggles. And as a designer (and obsessive problem solver) I went to work, designing styles that could help them feel better about themselves. Minimizing those parts that we want to stop thinking about, and highlighting the parts that we ‘kinda like’. This was my inspiration, this was my focus - YOU.  At the core of every decision, every design, every fabric or color choice, I would picture you and ask if you would love it. It was a long journey to get here, but it’s because of my deep respect and care for you, me, our community of women, our struggles, and our uniqueness that kept me going. I wanted to create a brand that stood for more than just clothes. I wanted this brand to be a beacon of light for women, a permission slip of sorts to say, “yes, you can be 100% yourself with us!” The heart and soul of this business is you - my customers, my team, my friends, and family. So yes, this isn't where I thought I’d be 15 years ago. It’s not jetsetting from New York to Paris or rubbing elbows with famous people. It’s deeper and more fulfilling and it’s better!  Every time I get to talk with you, every time I see the joy in someone’s eyes, the way they stand a little taller or stare at themselves a little longer in the mirror, that is what my dreams are made of. That connection back to you, to have you know that your worries are my worries, that your insecurities are the same ones I share, that is priceless. To have the honor to be connected to you and your life in this way, is an honor.  Thank you for allowing me to be on this journey with you. I am grateful.   Cheers to 15 more.   - Allison

I love planning events and with our 15th anniversary coming up, the team and I began working on how to celebrate this year. If you’ve been to Manoa Marketplace and visited our Showroom recently, you definitely noticed all the construction going on around us. We thought it would be a great opportunity to plan an event outside of our Showroom so we could celebrate with all of you. We decided on hosting down the street from us at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. It’s a great space, a wonderful organization, and easy parking! As the planning progressed, serendipitous moments started appearing . . .  July started to feel like a “new year” of sorts for me. Like a normal calendar year, many things have ended while so much has changed and new opportunities rose. Lots of struggles that created opportunities for growth and learning occurred and through each situation, I chose to react differently. I’ve been able to let go of fears and worries a little quicker each time and the recovery has been a little less painful. So this event is a celebration, to let loose and give myself some grace and pat myself (and my team) on the back to say, “great job, amazing learning!” And the perfect time to connect with you at the start of this “new year” for the brand.  It’s also our 15th year in business and although we celebrate our “Alliversary” in September, we figured why not start the celebration a little earlier? The new collection that we’ll be launching is a design palette cleanser of sorts. A way to start fresh and set a new foundation for the rest of the year to come. I used to do a lot of events upstairs in the ballroom area of JCCH in my earlier years as a growing business. This organization, this space has laid some of the groundwork for my ability to grow this business into what it is today. I kept getting “chicken skin” as I walked through the museum - seeing exhibits and artifacts from my ancestors' past. Each step was a beautiful reminder of how far they’d come to create this opportunity for me.  I could even see the stories of my parents within the museum, similar artifacts in the museum that sprinkles my dad’s man cave - old refrigerators, irons, typewriters and sewing machines. Collectables that keep him tethered to where he came from, never to forget his own struggle/opportunities. If it weren’t for each of my ancestors struggles/opportunities, would I still be where I am today? Would I still have this gift of living my purpose through this brand? I don't think I would . . . so to every one of my family members that got through their struggles and created an opportunity, I say “DOMO ARIGATO GOZAIMASU”. I couldn’t be here without you, and so through this event, I pay a homage to them, for carrying me on their shoulders and delivering me to this moment. This event is more than just a party, more than just a collection release. It’s a time to honor those who laid the path for me, my ancestors, my team and you. So thank you, for your continued support of me and this brand. I hope you can join in celebrating this moment with me.- AllisonClick here for event details and to RSVP.  

My father is an entrepreneur. He’s started more businesses than anyone I know. We had a travel agency, restaurant, bakery, construction company, shave ice shop, he sold insurance, encyclopedias and Amway, created sauces, did yard maintenance, was going to be a sales rep for a surf company, and wanted to solve the clean water crisis by taking waste water and making it potable by designing his own wastewater tank. He’s done all different types of things with his life. Although you could say I’m an entrepreneur because of him, I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned from him was the never ending belief that he could do something great. It wasn't in the words he said (we are a Japanese family who doesn't say those things LOL) it was more in his never ending tenacity to never give up. It’s what I’ve always focused on and what I try to emulate in my own life: never give up. There have been times of great abundance in my childhood and I know there have probably been more times of financial strains. But he never gave up (even when my mom went and got a “real job”) - he still allowed himself to dream his dream. Some may call him crazy, but he didn't allow other people’s opinions to deter him from his path. I think the sad part of this story is that my father never found his passion; he just knew he wanted to own a business.  Maybe that’s the evolution from generation to generation that had to happen. I was raised by a dreamer (with a creative realist as a mom) and out came a one-part dreamer, one-part creative and one-part realist. Through having both of them as parents I was able to find my passion - fashion design - and sprinkle in all of my wildest dreams and balance it with the realism from my mom.  Watching them live their dreams, fail, and get back up allowed me to carry the torch, but in my own different, unique way. They never forced their opinion on me, gave me any handouts, or told me to give up. They allowed me to make my own path and to own all of my own failures, so that I could own all of my successes.

Shopping can sometimes be overwhelming—so many choices with so little information. As a shorter woman, I often find it difficult to wade through what will work for my shorter frame as well as what’s appropriate for my lifestyle and age. 

I love celebrating milestones . . . for other people. I rarely take the time to give myself a pat on the back, much less a celebration of any kind. I blame my Sagittarius nature: farsighted, impulsive, impatient, and rebellious. I’m always focused on the next thing and rarely take a moment to be present. So, to ask me to celebrate a one-year anniversary of anything is strange. But it is valuable. The one-year anniversary of Manoa marks a big milestone for me. Taking the leap to leave Ala Moana Center, going off the beaten path of typical retail and venturing out into what felt like uncharted waters at the time. When I made the difficult decision to move back to Manoa, it felt more like moving backward than forward. But I knew what I felt inside, and I knew what my goal was: to build a company that could do more than retail. I wanted, and still want, this company to give me freedom (another Sagittarius trait). I want this company to support my life instead of my life supporting it. I realized the path I needed to take in order to achieve this freedom was to focus on growing the business online. I focused my efforts on advertising on Facebook and Instagram, revamping the website, and refreshing the brand's marketing strategy in order to reach a new customer while still keeping my current customers engaged. But what I didn't realize at the time was how big of an undertaking this was for myself and my team. When we first moved to Manoa, I had a team of 2 + myself. Most of my staff left after we closed Ala Moana, and so a lot of my big dreams were put on hold. We just needed to keep afloat and keep the business running—the design, development, sourcing, production, inventory, emails, marketing, website, and social media—not to mention keeping the showroom open and packing orders. But every month, there was a deep need to keep growing, so I would hire one person here and then another to grow this team into the current 8 + myself. All women, all focused on a specific part of the brand: marketing, Instagram, Tiktok, emails, the website, inventory, production, and development. The one-year anniversary of opening Manoa is about more than celebrating the Showroom; it's also about the team that I was able to grow alongside my dream. I am hopeful that this year has allowed us to create a solid foundation on which we can continue growing ourselves, as well as the business. This celebration is not only about me and this brand; it's also about this team that shows up for me every day. Allowing them the opportunity to grow themselves, follow their own dreams, and create meaningful connections with you, our customers, and friends. This is what we celebrate this month as we cross this milestone of one year. There will be many more shifts and changes, and I understand now that this is what growth always looks like for me: uncharted waters, rough seas, and wild winds ahead. Luckily, as a Sagittarius, that is exactly what excites me; this is my element of adventure that I step into with optimism and reckless abandon. - Allison

When I first started this business, I approached it solely from the perspective of a fashion designer. I went to fashion school to learn how to make clothing that I felt was missing from the marketplace. Fast forward to today, and I feel like I’ve experienced a crash course in running a business. The easy part is designing the clothing; the challenging part is not only keeping the business afloat but growing it as well. The basic premise—and perfect scenario—of running a clothing business is to design a collection, manufacture it, launch it, and have people buy it. Then, if you want to grow your revenue, you grow your production, right? Not exactly. As I look back at this past year, I knew that when we moved into a Showroom setting, my main focus would be e-commerce. This was because one of the most important things I learned through the pandemic was to have different channels supporting your business in order to grow.To support this growth, I would need to increase production, but that would mean a higher investment for hard goods like fabric and the cost of cut and sew (a.k.a. manufacturing). It was easy to grow at the beginning of the year, with profits from Black Friday and the holiday season. This revenue allowed me to increase my purchases, add new styles and fabrics, and essentially grow the business. It was slow, gradual growth, but it was still growth. However, in fashion, we create four seasonal collections a year, so I quickly realized that I would need another influx of funds in the middle of the year to sustain this growth. That’s where our Mid-Year Sale comes in. We created the Mid-Year Sale not only because it’s an opportunity for us to increase our production but also because it’s a great chance for more customers to shop our clothing at a lower price. Throughout the years of running this business, I’ve slowly improved the quality of goods by forging relationships with new vendors. We’ve recently been able to source higher-quality fabrics, like our Rayon Jersey, Cotton Modal, Soft Ponte, and Double Knit fabrics. But as the CEO, I want to keep my retail prices within a reasonable price range. However, this has proven to be difficult at times. Fabric prices and the cost to manufacture have been increasing on average 5%–10% every year since 2019, but as a brand, we have tried to limit an increase in our markup. I believe that the clothing we create makes women feel great about themselves. I also believe that everyone deserves to feel this good in their body, and I want to offer it to as many people as possible. I walk a fine line between profitability and accessibility, but I believe it will all balance out in the end. With that being said, we knew we could make our brand more accessible through our Mid-Year Sale. Allowing more women to purchase higher-quality goods at a lower price is a goal of ours with this sale. It’s a win-win for both the customer and brand; it helps our company move inventory that’s sitting in our stockroom into an investment in our future. An investment towards growing our production, growing our revenue, and hopefully growing our reach, with the ultimate goal of better serving you, our amazing customers! My bigger goal for this brand is to expand into other cities and states and offer our elevated basics and "confidence-building clothing" to more women throughout the USA. I want to take this time to thank you for being on this journey with me, for your continued support, and for your belief in me and my crazy dream. You are the foundation that allows me to dream big and reach for the stars. Thank you so very much, and I hope you are able to add something new to your closet during our sale!- Allison

I’ve never thought too much about being of Japanese descent. Growing up in Hawaii, it was common to be one in a sea of many Asians; it gave me comfort, and I often took it for granted. As I traveled more in my adult life and went to school in NYC, I noticed that being of Asian descent was viewed differently. In New York, I was Asian, but I was also American. It was hard for me to find a "friend group"; I don't speak Japanese, so I couldn't hang with the "Japanese group", and while I made friends with the "Korean group", I was mostly seen as American. I wasn’t accepted as an Asian, and I didn’t totally feel like an American either. I would walk down the street, and men would yell Chinese slurs at me, people would assume that I didn't speak English, etc. etc. I didn't feel unsafe, but maybe I was just naive? As a 20-something Hawaii girl in New York City, I chose to see the similarities of those around me instead of what made us different. Being Japanese was never the part of me I focused on or wanted to highlight. Not because I was ashamed, but because there were so many other things about me that made me unique; maybe those were the parts I wanted others to see in me. As we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Month, it gives me great pause to put my heritage and where I was born and raised at the forefront of who I am and my business. I intuitively chose to use my first name and my given Japanese middle name, IZU, as my brand name. The name was given to me by my maternal grandfather. He was an artist and a graphic designer by trade. When there were no computers or illustration software, everything, including typefaces, was done by hand. I remember that he could replicate any brand logo easily. I was always impressed and in awe at what he was able to do with his hands and how he honed his craft to be his life’s work. He gave me the name Izu because he said the Izu peninsula in Japan was similar in beauty to Hawaii. A simple reason for a not-so-simple name. Before he passed, he knew that I named my brand "Allison Izu." He would sometimes sketch clothing for me—simple Japanese kanji or drawings, or shirts with cranes and pine on them. Maybe he was foreshadowing my future, because if you search for the meaning of "Izu", one definition is ‘garment: Something to wear.' It makes this part of me and my heritage so unique and special, like a full-circle moment that started before I was born. Perhaps when I was younger, my Japanese heritage was not the thing I focused on, and maybe it's not what I focus on now either. But it is the part of me that keeps me tied to my ancestors, my lineage, and it gives me great pride to carry this name as well as the culture within it. Even if I am not always seen as Japanese or American, I like that I can be a mix of both and make it my own. - Allison

I’d normally start this blog off with something like - ‘being a mother is one of the hardest jobs, etc etc.’ But as I’m getting older (and hopefully wiser), I’m realizing that this doesn’t have to be a truth I live by. If I keep saying that ‘being a mother is a hard job’ - then guess what? It’ll keep being a ‘hard job’ even when it doesn’t have to be.  One of the lessons I try to instill in my kids is that we create our own reality. We tell ourselves throughout the day what’s fun, tough, or boring, and what we “like and don’t like.” But where do we pick up these preferences from? Ourself. So I challenge my kids to see  situations in a different way. Instead of saying ‘I hate doing homework’, I ask them to shift their mindset to ‘homework is tough, but I can see how it’s helping me to understand this concept.’  The advice that I give to my kids is the advice that I’m giving myself. How can I shift my mind to see the things ‘I don’t like’ as positive, or at the very least helpful? In the same way I can help my kids see homework as helpful, can I shift my perception to see bills as helpful? To see financial struggles as helpful? To see any challenges as helpful?  YES, YES, YES!  This blog was going to be about how much I love being a mom, and how it's the greatest challenge and reward in my life. All of this is still true. But what I’ve also realized is that when I chose to be a mom, I didn't realize how much it would support me in improving my own life and shaping my own outlook on the world. That all the philosophies and lessons I would want to impart on my kids, would also shift my own beliefs.  The old school concept of “do as I say, not as I do” isn't something that works for me. Kids are like observant sponges that see and hear everything we do. So I ask myself to show up exactly as I would want my kids to show up in any situation - to ‘do as I do.’ So today (and everyday) I’m choosing to show up positive, grateful, and authentic. To know who I am and what I want. To not waiver in my understanding of what is true. To keep my eye on the greater good, even when the small choices I make seem selfish or unkind to others. And to stand firm in my belief that the world (as well as myself) is kind, beautiful, and full of good. As a mom, this is how I choose to show up, so that my kids can start to choose for themselves how they will show up everyday . . . - Allison