PRODUCTiON iSN’T POLiTiCS. iT’S PEOPLE.

A letter from the inside—on fashion, factories, and the golden age we lived through.

Production isn’t politics. It’s people.
This isn’t about headlines or hot takes—it’s about the lives behind the seams.

I got into the footwear industry at its peak. Hundreds of styles per season.
2–6 global collections—all at once.
From concept to sketch, fittings to production—I was doing it all, simultaneously.
It was chaos. It was glamorous. It was everything.

I’ve walked factory floors in Italy, in Brazil, in China.
I’ve seen cowhides become gold. I’ve spoken with the artisans who stitch for Dior and Vuitton, the patternmakers, the tanners, the teams whose names don’t make the credits. But without them—there is no fashion.

I’ve stayed up late crafting presentations for rooms of decision-makers.
I’ve boarded planes while still sketching on napkins.
I’ve walked the streets of Hong Kong at 3AM and felt completely safe, completely alive.
That was the world I worked in. That was the world we built.

Now, as the conversation around tariffs and relocation rises again, I’m watching it all with tension.
Yes—let’s bring manufacturing back to the U.S.
But let’s do it with time. With funding. With care.
Because the infrastructure doesn’t exist—not yet.
And punishing those who kept the current system alive isn’t progress. It’s political theatre.

Fashion isn’t just a product.
It’s people.
It’s hands.
It’s lives.

We don’t talk about that enough.

So this is me saying something.
Not from the outside looking in, but from the inside looking back—with pride, with grief, and with the unshakable feeling that we’re forgetting the most human part of it all.

Fashion deserves more than a headline.
This isn’t just product.
It’s people.
It’s personal.

—
by STÄNzii
Former industry darling, current truth-teller.