Nazia Siddiqui, founder and designer of Transcend.
MY STORY
I grew up in India going to the bazaars with my mother. We would pick out the fabric and the trims together, bring them home, and I would watch her cut and sew an outfit we had designed at the kitchen table. Natural fibers, hand embroidery, block prints: that was simply what clothes were.
When I moved to the United States at fifteen, all of that disappeared. Shopping meant the mall and fast fashion, and the artisan-made pieces I loved were nowhere to be found. The artisans who made them had no way to reach people here.
After fifteen years in corporate work, I started Transcend in 2020 to bring the textile crafts I grew up around into clothes people actually wear: one-of-one and small-batch pieces made from reclaimed textiles and natural fibers, artisan made in India, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan and Seattle, with the makers paid fairly and their story travelling with every piece.
Nazia Siddiqui, founder and designer
SHOP WHAT WE MAKEWHERE TRANSCEND COMES FROM
Transcend began as a clothing label and grew into something larger: a Seattle production studio, a repair and custom service, and a growing effort to keep good textiles in circulation.
THE CLOTH
Our reversible bombers and Leila coats are cut from vintage kantha quilts: cotton saris that women in Bangladesh stitched together by hand, often decades ago. Our embroidered coats carry suzani needlework from Uzbekistan. When we use new fabric, we choose natural fibers such as cotton, linen, silk, wool and cashmere.
THE MAKERS
Each piece is made by artisan partners in India, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan or in our own Seattle studio, in one-of-one or small-batch runs. We pay fairly, we work directly, and we would rather make fewer things well than many things quickly.
THE STUDIO
You can find us at Pacific Place downtown and at SeaTac Airport, Concourse C. Both are working studios as much as shops: alterations, repairs, custom coats and upcycling happen a few steps from the rail.
THE LOOP
We repair what we make, and most things we did not. Worn pieces come back to the studio for mending, relining or a better fit, and textiles that cannot be worn again become something new. The goal is simple: clothing that stays in use.
OUR TEAM TODAY
Transcend today is a small team of makers, tailors, retail leads and partners, including makers who came to Seattle as refugees and immigrants carrying decades of garment skill with them. Between our two studios and our artisan partners abroad, every piece passes through hands that know cloth.
We also run a hands-on production training program in Seattle, so the skills that built this company keep passing on.
HEAR THE STORY IN PERSON
Nazia speaks about circular fashion, local manufacturing and building a company around craft.
