Vancouver-Based Fashion Brand Ization Studio Brings the Fun

Colour blocking itself is a bold style statement, but Amy Herndon, creative director of Ization Studio, wanted to take her latest clothing collection one step further. “I didn’t want to just do classic geometric colour blocking, so I started doodling on my whiteboard,” she recalls. Those whimsical lines became the Squiggle collection, a roundup of sweatpants, long sleeves, mock necks and quarter- zips handmade from eco-friendly and deadstock fabrics.

Herndon is originally from Edmonton and moved to the Lower Mainland to study fashion at LaSalle College. Her background is in film—her full-time gig is in costuming—but the recent strike allowed her more time to work on the Coquitlam-based slow- fashion studio she founded in 2018. She came up with a goal to design a new collection for Ization created entirely from leftover materials. It might sound like a challenge, but Herndon laughs it off: “I think people underestimate exactly how much fabric I have.” The only new fabric she’s had to source for the Squiggle collection is faux sherpa (and even that is made of recycled polyester).

The designer makes every Ization Studio piece herself (“I love being able to see something from start to finish,” she says) and plans to launch Squiggle tanks, dresses and other sunshine-embracing garments as the weather warms. Everything is customizable and made-to-order: “As a customer, you’re really getting something that is for you,” she says. “And I think people really appreciate that.”