Sitting in her studio space set aside in her basement for her artwork and projects, junior Sabrina Ross carefully paints the second coat of her detailed white design on a pair of black sweatpants. The sweatpants are just one of the several fashion projects Ross has commissioned in the last few months after starting her small fashion line business called “The

.” This studio work time became part of Ross’s daily routine when she first started customizing clothing a few months ago. During this time, she has made over 15 gender-neutral fashion pieces customized specifically for her customers who she gains through her social media accounts promoting her brand. 

“I have such a passion for art,” Ross said, “and in the past couple months or year I’ve really gotten into fashion.”

Ross’s mother, Jackie Ross, is very supportive in what Ross chooses to pursue in her art and fashion career and could tell art was something she was very inclined to and passionate about at a very young age. 

“From about 3 years old I could tell that Sabrina was very artistic and crafty,” Jackie said, “She incorporates art and fashion with everything she does. She is always looking for more ways to express herself and also looking for new fashion ideas that are not mainstream.”

Trying to experiment with something new and not mainstream, Ross became really interested in embroidering and incorporating into some of her fashion looks this past summer. After experimenting with it for a while, she realized she likes painting more because of the techniques she is used to. She had never painted on her clothes before, so this was something completely new to her.

“I started with embroidery,” Ross said, “but I found that I easily got frustrated with it because it’s very particular and if you screw up one little thread then the whole thing gets screwed up.”

Inspired by her love of both art and fashion, Ross decided to start her brand a few months ago when she posted a picture on her social media of a painted sweatshirt she made for herself. To her surprise, many people directly messaged her asking if they could buy the sweatshirt or something similar to it. This was when she realized she could start a business out of doing what she loves. 

“I wasn’t planning on selling any of it,” Ross said, “then with so many people saying, ‘I want to buy this,’ I was like I could make a business out of this.”

Ross’s present goal is to go to fashion school in college and ultimately start and design her own brand when she’s older. She hopes that the efforts she is making now as a high schooler will benefit her later in life to be able to reach her goals. She also created this clothing line to help get her name out there early.

“I really want to go to fashion school, so I’m working on making my name for myself with my own brand because that’s the goal,” Ross said. “I really want to have a fashion line of my own one day so I’m trying to start small.”

Ross’s style really leans towards street wear, especially because it is a mostly male dominated field and she wants to open people’s minds and make it more gender-neutral. She tries to match all her orders along the lines of her style, but if a customer wants something else she will gladly ship it out to them. 

“I have a style that I want the brand to look like, but if someone asks me ‘hey will you do flowers on a sweatshirt’ I’m not going to tell them no, but personally I want to move more towards the streetstyle and streetwear aspect of it,” Ross said, “that’s what I love personally and so I want my clothing brand to be a reflection of me and my style.”

While she definitely loves what she does, it can still be overwhelming to keep everything in her life balanced and still keep up with her orders, according to Ross. Juggling her education, social life and small business requires a lot of motivation and organization from Ross to get everything done and get her orders out in a timely manner.

“Time and getting publicity are probably the hardest parts,” Ross said, “and I don’t like having people wait.”