“Have you ever killed a man?” I ask, searching for a great hook for this feature. “Not as far as anyone knows.”
Charismatic, brilliant, and apparently hiding some dangerous secret, Alexis Zerafa, founder of ZUZ NYC, is definitely a force to be reckoned with.
Yes, this gorgeous gal, hailing all the way from Michigan, is interesting, to say the least. Majoring in Integrated Digital Media (smarty pants) at NYU, Ms. Zerafa will be making the move to Brooklyn, New York in the Fall, a trip she is overjoyed to be taking. And what better way to kick off a new chapter in her life than with her own clothing line? Most people buy cars or dye their hair (one of those she actually did) to transition into a new point in their life, yet Alexis decided to kick it up notch, taking the iconic skyline and changing its location.
Yet, this interest in her clothing line wasn’t a childhood dream, in fact, it was all quite sudden. “I was just playing around with some New York-inspired designs, because I hadn’t gotten any college apparel. I decided to spray paint a skyline onto a tank top and it turned out pretty nice. I posted it in the university Facebook group and it got so much attention, I decided to start a clothing line!
And who says Facebook is dying off? With all the attention she received, she even had to enlist the help of some additional workers. “I came up with the initial idea, but I needed as much help as I could get. I have a great team behind me.”
The designs do look quite amazing (see below), yet dawn NYU’s colors, purple and white. Do I spy some favoritism here? “We’re not affiliating ourselves with NYU at all. We want the company to grow enough to reach consumers outside the New York area and hope that it pays for our tuition.”
Well, with the way they look, there shouldn’t be a problem with this entrepreneur, but maybe the brand should reach beyond women’s tanks? “The clothing won’t be geared toward a specific gender. So far, we are aiming towards tank tops, T-shirts, and V-necks. There’s a possibility of leggings and shorts being produced as well, but that is still in the works.
It seems as though Ms. Zerafa has this company all figured out, yet one thing still confuses me, in particular. The name. ZUZ NYC? “The name is a long story, but in short it comes from the name of an old Jewish coin and we really liked the sound of it, not much more to it!”
Well, from what I’ve seen, this little dynamo is coming in hot and soon to take New York in style. The website is soon to be released in a few months, yet you can still like the Facebook page and stay updated here. Alexis can’t contain her excitement to begin the next four years at NYU and we can’t wait to see what she has to bring to the table next.
The First Catwalk 