Sophie Allen | The Chronicle
Fashion is about more than appearances. While design makes a garment stand out on a rack, what goes into the production is much broader. From the quality of the fiber to the strength of a stitch, these characteristics define the longevity of clothing. In recent years, however, some consumers have noticed big-name brands cutting corners and falling short in these areas.
Mason High School (MHS) senior Emma Zhao founded the clothing brand Studio 08 with the aim to address these issues. She began developing the project in September 2025 with help from the Experiential Learning Program’s (XLP) Venture Studio, a small business incubator which aids students in materializing their own startup ideas.
“I’ve been into fashion for a few years now, and in my time buying clothes I’ve had a lot of problems with the way that the fashion industry was heading, specifically in the past six to eight years,” Zhao said. “When it came to developing a business idea, I was kind of looking to get my own fix. I [thought], ‘It would be great if there was a brand that I could count on that catered to all of the different heights and prioritized the things that matter to me.’”
Zhao said she wanted to address gaps in vertical sizing for consumers who are taller and shorter than the average, as well as focus on quality construction of garments and the use of sustainable production methods and materials. She began designing clothing that would meet these standards in order to combat these issues from the production side.
“The main goal is to fix the fashion industry,” Zhao said. ”We initially approached that through a product, so we could sell something that resolved all of the problems that we thought were very prevalent in the industry. But then [Studio 08] gradually got more educational components added to it because we realized that there were more ways to approach solving this problem. Now it’s kind of a hybrid, a business [and] educational community initiative.”
Zhao expanded the brand’s educational focus after speaking with members of her local community. Over the summer, she brought Studio 08 to various local art markets and small-business events such as Art on Vine in Cincinnati, where she found opportunities to teach consumers about clothing and the fashion industry.
“At festivals we would set up different stations that could educate someone about fashion consumer knowledge,” Zhao said. “One of those is a measuring station. We take free measurements for people of the most important clothing measurements that they can then use to buy clothes.”
Zhao said providing these measurements helps consumers find clothing that fits, regardless of how individual brands define their sizes. Measurements such as shoulder width and waist size offer more consistent information than numbered sizes, which can vary between retailers.
“We ended up having that station as one of our main staples [because] it provided the most tangible benefit for consumers,” Zhao said. “We have these small business cards that they can write their measurements on and then keep with them [so] they’d be able to use those measurements in the future. Even if we weren’t able to sell them anything, we still wanted to have a positive impact on the community.”
Developing the clothing prototypes presented its own challenges. Zhao had learned basic sewing skills in the Fashion Design and Construction class with Silvia Cattini during her sophomore year. However, before starting Studio 08 she had only altered existing clothing rather than constructing garments from scratch.
“I didn’t have a lot of sewing experience in the first place,” Zhao said. “I had never done a sewing project from scratch, so taking the leap and trying to make these clothes for the business was a hard process. I had to do a lot of research into how [clothing] is made, like different construction terms and how to create a pattern. That was all very difficult, but gradually I got a system down, and then product development started happening more rapidly.”
Zhao plans to launch Studio 08’s first clothing line in early 2027. The collection will include pants and shorts designed to address sizing gaps. Zhao developed the designs using a pair of sweatpants with a structure she liked as a starting point. She then adjusted specific details to improve the garments’ fit and functionality.
“I based [the clothes] off of a pair of sweatpants that I really enjoyed the fit and drape of, and then I started tweaking it to become more convenient [for the wearer],” Zhao said. “For example, I didn’t really like the pockets because I felt like things kept slipping out. So, I changed the design of the pockets to hold things better. I would tweak a few things, like playing around with how thick the waistband is [to] give a different silhouette, and then how wide the flare is, how tight it gets at the knees — all of that type of stuff.”
Zhao’s interest in fashion extends beyond Studio 08. She serves as the president of the MHS Fashion Club and describes her personal style as “Y2K-inspired,” an aesthetic that has influenced the direction of her clothing designs.
“When I started this, I kind of viewed it as marrying my interests,” Zhao said. “I’ve planned to go into business since I entered high school, so I [thought this was] an interesting way to further my business experience and keep it exciting because I love fashion. I do hope that it can continue to grow as I [enter] college.”
Zhao plans to launch a website by 2027 where customers can place orders and access educational materials and also hopes to expand Studio 08’s social media and online educational content to reach audiences beyond the Cincinnati area. For now, Zhao plans to produce the clothing herself rather than outsource manufacturing.
“Another benefit is that [an in-house system] aligns really well with our business model of sustainability,” Zhao said. “It’s more of a made-to-order model instead of [producing] and hop[ing] it sells, [because] if it doesn’t, you have all these units left lying around. That’s not only a financial risk, but it’s also just wasteful.”
Ultimately, Zhao said Studio 08 aims to improve the consumer experience by making clothing production more transparent and helping shoppers make informed decisions. She hopes the brand’s products and educational initiatives will encourage consumers to set higher expectations for the fashion industry.
“From the beginning we always had the goal to make shopping fun again,” Zhao said. “But you can’t, because [shopping] is almost like homework now because there’s so many problems with the industry: you have to do your research, you have to check the fabric content. [Our] actual business [model] changed, but we still want to reach the same place.”
