We founded Curator in 2005, motivated by our mutual love of clothing and working together. Our friendship has always inspired creative collaborations that pushed new ideas and missions forward.
We met on a soccer field at 16 years old, where we discovered that we ran at the exact same pace—ahead of the pack. When we ended up picking the same college in San Diego, we grew even closer - living and “getting ready” together for over 10 years. Sharing a love of thrift store shopping and making things from our home - from photoshoots to silkscreening t-shirts - we produced a kindred understanding of clothing, and a love for working together.
While we were drawn to a lot of the same clothing, we noticed early on our bodies couldn’t be more different. Because of this, fit is one of our guiding principles behind all of the garments we make. We design our clothes to fit a wide range of bodies and when we make a piece that works on both of us, we know we’ve got something magical. We source hardworking fabrics and choose shapes that flatter. The goal of each Curator piece is to make you feel powerful and uninterrupted in your day. Clothes that are easy to wash, wear, and support all of your pursuits. Clothes that we want in our own closets.
We created these pieces for the important days of your life, the ones where you want your best friend standing beside you. Just imagine two best friends trying and retrying on these pieces, debating the sleeves, the width, the ease of these garments to get the fit right. We hope our clothes become your favorite pieces to pull out of your closet and that you feel the joy that went into making them every time you wear them.
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Deirdre Nagayama & Stacy Rodgers
Curator is built around a 30 year friendship. We put our hearts and souls into each other and this work. This company reflects who we are and so we strive to do the right thing in all stages of the business. From where we source our fabric to who we work with to sew the final garments, every decision we make matters and we take that responsibility seriously.
For the many risks of entrepreneurship, one of the very best rewards is the ability to work from our own ethics. We ask the hard questions of our suppliers. We do the research. We inquire about labor practices. We invest more to have our clothes made locally. We employ communities we want to support. The judgement calls are ours to make.
In an effort to give back to our community we donate monthly to City of Dreams, an organization that is guided by a bold vision: to end the generational cycle of poverty in our city's most challenged neighborhoods. The same neighborhoods where we produce our garments.
As SF natives, we proudly work with three factories in the Bay Area to produce our small batch goods. We ensure our partners pay fair wages and provide safe working conditions. The majority of our factories are family-run - more so even - women-run. Every one of these factories has an owner that works alongside their employees everyday. That’s a key component in selecting a factory for us.
Currently all our factories are within a 20 minute drive of our headquarters. We proudly cut, sew and dye all of our garments right here in California. As Covid has changed the world, so to has it changed the industry in the Bay area. Workers are retiring and factories are closing. We are monitoring these changes, and if we move production, we promise to take our same value system to production wherever we go.
We partner with reputable mills who focus on ethical and sustainable practices. We use low impact dyes on all of our fabrics. And we wear-test our garments to make sure they hold up to your lives. Before any fabric lands in your hands it has gone through extensive testing.
We’ve learned that fabric can be a lot like meeting a new friend -- you need to hang out with them several times before you know what they are made of. Their traits become especially clear in hot water and tight situations.
