Loose Buttons is an independent publication, founded by Moe Ebii and Jen Liu, based in New York City. We explore community-oriented approaches in design by showcasing conversations that highlight independent designers, artists, and craftsmen.

We a primarily in print, but are also online at @fromloosebuttons on Instagram. 

If you would like to collaborate or be featured on Loose Buttons, please email us at fromloosebuttons@gmail.com.




Index
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
Issue 1
Issue 2
Issue 3
Issue 4
DIALECTIVE Runway
Loose Buttons × Amanda Zheng
from Moe and Jen
01.Issue 1

Oct 2024
Publication







02.Issue 2
Dec 2024
Publication





03.Issue 3

March 2025 Publication





04.Issue 4

Oct 2025
 Publication





05.DIALECTIVE Runway

May 2025 Showcards





06.Loose Buttons × Amanda Zheng

Feb 2025
 Photoshoot



×GRACE GUIIssue 2
Dec 2024

GRACE GUI is a Brooklyn-based sustainable knitwear brand started by 21-year-old Grace Wang. Her designs are a fusion of her Chinese roots and American influences that bridge a unique harmony between the two cultures. Each piece reflects her deep appreciation, love for her heritage and sense of self shaped by the community around her.

On a hot October day, we arrived at her studio in Brooklyn, a gorgeous open concept with floor to ceiling windows. Her latest collection was hung up on racks by the window, illuminated by the sunlight coming in.


As we sit with Grace, surrounded by her work, she shares that fashion was never part of her plan. “I went to a ‘sports school’ in high school, so I never took any art classes, but I grew up painting and drawing,” she explains. “My plan in high school was to do sports and get into a good college.” She went to school for pre-law in Scotland, where she got COVID twice — an unexpected turning point that marked the beginning of a new path.

“In the college I was at, you had to self-isolate for 2 weeks, so I was in my room for 28 days total. During that time, I started sewing and knitting, and I was posting [on Instagram] and getting attention. I don’t know why people liked them —I was just playing around. I was like, “What am I gonna do for 28 days?” Then people wanted to buy my designs, and APOC STORE [“a curated online marketplace for independent fashion, design, and art”] DM’d me. I didn’t think my knitting was that good, but it was what was calling to me at the time.

From there, I was like, “I’m just going to apply to design schools and see if that works out for me or not.” Then I got into F.I.T. and came back to New York. I met Leti at Downtown Yarns and started knitting more. That was my first introduction to the knitting scene, and that’s how I got here. I went home recently, and I saw a little notebook that I had when I was younger, and there were sketches of clothing. Maybe that was the only inkling of me doing fashion, but for the most part, I didn’t know I was going to do fashion, and everything just fell into place.”

She often credits her success to “luck” — “I started knitting in the Winter of 2022, so it hasn’t been that long. Then, I launched the brand in May 2023. I just got really lucky.” Yet, the work around us tells a different story. The truth is: Grace is incredibly talented and hardworking, with a distinct and unique approach to knitwear. Her designs carry a personal and emotional depth, making each piece feel authentically her. As she unfolds the influences behind her work, we find ourselves increasingly captivated by her and her story.

“My grandpa was an ink painter, and you can see a lot of that through my felting. My whole house was just ink paintings everywhere. My grandma used to raise silk cocoons to wash her face, so there are a lot of memories of going to the Costco parking lot; She would toss me in a tree with a bag, and I’d be throwing down leaves to feed the worms. When I was experimenting with fibers and what I wanted to make, I was thinking about them. My grandpa did all these ink paintings and it’s what I grew up with, so I put that in the felting, and I wanted to be able to use the silkworms, but ethically; So I kind of manipulated them in the way of ink painting.  People started emotionally connecting with that—how I embedded my grandparents' design aesthetics into my own. Emotional connection is so important, at least for my business. It’s also great because then I get to be more myself. I get to think about what my grandparents were doing with their creative endeavors. At first, I was doing it just out of thinking about them, but now I’m realizing that’s what my audience likes, so it’s good that I get to emotionally connect with my business, as well as having it be beneficial business-wise.”

Her brand is a celebration of community, with designs deeply rooted in her heritage and family. This connection to her local community is integrated into all aspects of her design process, reflected by the materials she chooses to use.

“I’m not somebody who’s interested in doing big-batch productions. For the business model to be sustainable, it must prioritize small runs and made-to-order. It’s something that’s always interested me, even though I do wear synthetic material myself, when I’m making things I don’t want to touch synthetic materials. It’s just not what I find attractive, I’m just not drawn to it. I grew up in west New Jersey around a lot of farmland, so I source fibers and stuff from my neighbors. I went to Rhinebeck this weekend and that’s usually where I get my stuff, from local farmers. It’s great because I get to think about the way I was raised in New Jersey and implement that into my work.

I also have a rabbit called Boots that I shave in my boyfriend’s backyard. I put the fur in a bag and bring it home, and he looks like a little rat after shaving. But then he gets really cute in the in-between stages. And his fur grows so quickly, so I have to shave Boots once a month. He stays calm during the process; He knows that he’ll get spoiled with a whole bowl of fruit.”

Sitting in the studio, surrounded by the work that defines her journey, was an interesting experience. It’s hard to connect the success we saw around us with the fact that all of it — the brand, the designs, everything — was built through Grace’s efforts. The hard work that led her here is hidden behind the finished pieces, allowing us to simply enjoy the fruits of her labor. This left us wanting to learn more about the challenges and obstacles that shaped her path to this point.

“My parents and I didn’t speak for a year and a half, almost two. So I had to really double down and pay for FIT, get a job, and really “make it.” It was super difficult. I was part of a fashion show in Scotland and my parents came. After the show I was like “I’m actually going to do this,” and they were not for it at all. Now, since I’ve had my own success, they’re fine with it. But that’s how things happen. I see where they’re coming from. It’s scary to have your daughter pursuing something so stable and then switching to something so unpredictable. It’s a scary thing, so I always understood their point of view. It was hard, but it was also forcing me to do it seriously. I realized that this can’t just be a school thing, I need to make this work. And then I made it work.

What I’m making, I feel like a lot of people feel a certain emotional connection to it. And then, for me, I never had this big desire to make a salary or anything. As long as I can make enough every month to pay rent, school, and just live, I’m content. If I’m making enough money, people are caring about this, and I’m caring about it, then I might as well just do it full-time. My former boss has been super supportive of it too, and I think watching them do what they do kind of made me feel better — because I’ve only ever worked for small designers, — just watching them do their thing. I think being a small designer is difficult and seeing the way they were handling things, I realized that this is the life I would want to live rather than working for something corporate. So, I’m just going to do it for as long as I can.”

Throughout our conversation with Grace, she mentions Instagram several times, crediting it as being a key component to her success. “ Instagram has just been very good for me,” she says. Yet, she also confesses that she doesn’t feel as though she’s making the most of social media, explaining that it’s simply not who she is. It’s something she’s had to come to terms with.

“If you see my account, I'm not running ads or posting every week. I’m posting like once a month, but I’m definitely feeling that pressure. I was talking to a buyer yesterday about it, and it’s like people can tell when you’re not being authentic on Instagram, and something authentic to me is posting very curated looks once a month. And that’s just something I have to come to terms with. It’s not the greatest for engagement or sales, but I’m not trying to be the next big thing, I’m more trying to develop my own sense of style and business. So if that’s what’s true to me, then I’m just going to do that. But I do feel the pressure, I would love to be posting on TikTok every day or being an influencer, but it’s not who I am and I feel like people can tell. I'm just going to do me and leave it at that.”

To wrap up, we asked Grace about the role of knitwear in the fashion industry.

“I haven’t been in the knitwear industry for that long, maybe like 4 years, approaching 5. I think, at least in America, it’s been getting more respect. In Europe, knitwear is huge. That’s where they’re willing to pay what it’s worth. In America, because you’re going to a mall, you’re not really seeing full-knit pieces. In Europe, there’s more support for small designers. I also have such respect for Gabe Gordon and Agbobly because they’re making knitwear more high-end now. People are starting to see the specialness of knitwear, and moving away from just granny knits. There’s also a bit of DIY knitting becoming huge too, and gives more respect to knitwear; People are realizing how long it takes and how much work goes into knitting.”

What advice would you give to someone thinking about starting their own brand?

I think consistency is the key. When you’re starting out, there might not be that boom of success. I think that I’ve been lucky to have that, but after being in the industry for a bit now, it’s going to matter who’s there in five years, or ten years. It doesn’t really matter how much attention you’re getting now. It’s about being consistent, and developing more personal connections, rather than chasing followers or ads. Anything like that doesn’t matter right now. Who’s still there five years from now, that’s what’s going to matter. So as long as you focus on yourself, your story, and what you want your brand to be telling; What do you want your work to say about you? As long as you consistently build that, if you feel discouraged in any way like there aren't enough orders or there’s not enough attention, don’t worry. Fashion is always moving, cycles are always happening, and in six months it’s not going to be anything like what it is right now. Just stay consistent.

Can you expand on that six months idea?

I guess what I meant about the six months thing is that six months ago I had a store in Miami, and it didn’t go as well as I thought it would. I still broke even, but I wasn’t making as much as I thought I would. And it really discouraged me, and I took a month off. Then I came back and rented out this studio, and now with this collection, I’ve gotten more press than I ever thought I would, and more orders. So, if you ever feel discouraged, in six months everything will be completely different. As long as you stay consistent, and put out your work, it’ll come.
Any words of advice for aspiring creatives? 

Stay true to yourself. As a person, if you can’t identify with what you’re making, it’s going to be hard to get other people to believe in that. Also, the more secure you are with yourself, the more willing you are to analyze your past or what influences you. And stay consistent. So many artists were so true to themselves, and people never appreciated them. And then they pass away, and years later people are like that was the genius of the century. So you never know how things are going to be. I could be making this and a hundred years from now people could be like Grace Gui that was crazy. But I would never know. I just have to be secure in the fact that this is who I am. Even if you’re not getting attention, as long as you’re doing something that speaks to you, it’ll be ok. I also have a lot of friends in their 30s, they’re still trying to make it. But I can see that what they’re making is so truly themselves. And I’ve asked them how they keep going when they’re not getting the attention that they might want. And they just say that they’re doing what feels true to them. I don’t know if the success I have now will still be here, so I just want to feel good about myself and know that I am being true to myself.
What’s something you did for this collection where you challenged yourself to do something new?

I definitely needed to do more wearable things. That’s something that I struggled with in the past, where I was being too experimental and it wasn’t translating to sales. For example, I made this blue and yellow wedding gown, that was our best-seller. People loved it so much. So, I’m going to learn from that, and I’m going to try to have the same audience love a newer piece. That led me to make a new wedding gown based on that one, and it ended up being our best-seller so far. I took an old silhouette that the numbers were saying was the best one, and then I made it into something that I felt like I had a deeper connection with. I call it the ‘Diaspora Wedding Gown’ because my mom wore red to her wedding, and so did all the women in my family, and I’m the first person in my family to be born outside of China. I was thinking, if I had a wedding, what would I want to wear? So I made it red and white, and I put the traditional qipao style line on it, and it connected even deeper to my Chinese roots than the old gown, and it’s showing through interest that people are also connecting to it more. So it’s like thinking about how I can take something popular in my own collection and then build a stronger emotional connection. At the end of the day, yes there are trends and trend predictions, but you can never compete with emotional connection.

It’s something to think about. For you guys too, being Asian and living in America, how do you want to translate that through your work? It’s something personal: it’s the way we look, the way we were raised, the food we eat. It’s something to think about when you want to represent yourself in your work.


What’s in the future for Grace Gui?

On November 16, we’re going to do a pop-up. Then February of 2025, during fashion week, I have a fellowship with SoHo House, and they’re offering a free space. I pitched a presentation as my project, and they’re helping with the funding. 

Writer: Jen Liu
Copy Editors: Gabriella Acquafredda, Karissa Poon, Shin Yu Liu