It’s a brisk Saturday morning and a flea market is in full force with city mom’s dropping cash here and there on the newest fast fashion items and the “good for a season” decorating wreaths. If you look closely, you’ll see a bright-eyed, spunky girl sifting through items others skimmed over in the corner. Digging through bins of garments for hours, she finally finds it: a Nirvana letterhead on a raggedy stained sweatshirt. “It’s all about vision,” she’ll say when walking out of the building with an armful of overlooked clothing and a brewing of creativity.
Rad by Design is second year MU School of Law student Georgi Gnibus’ upscale clothing business. The name Rad By Design, a nod to her Southern California roots and its easy going lifestyle, is meant to describe the custom nature of her clothing.
“I was born and raised in San Diego, specifically in Carlsbad. And growing up there, the slogan was, ‘Life’s rad in Carlsbad.’ So, [the name] combines vintage, with Southern California, with cool.”
She’s developed the business from the ground up over the last five years, which she says was a period full of trial and error. Located on the main floor of the Student Center in the Griggs Innovator Nexus is the Rad by Design’s retail space. Georgi won the location through MU’s entrepreneurial program. The best business model pitch won the store location free of charge for a full school year.
It was just the thing Georgi needed to skyrocket her business. She started initially on Poshmark and quickly realized the extremity that came to managing multiple social media pages for a business. Most of her sales were done in-person — which she prefers — at markets, pop-up sales in San Diego and on Instagram.
“The in-person interactions are always the best,” Gnibus said. “People can actually look at [a piece of clothing], try it on and they have more to parooze through.”
While upscaling clothing is a passion, you’d be surprised to know that Georgi has never once taken a Textile and Apparel management course. When asked if she had, she smiled and laughed.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
She gets her clothing from a variety of places: from thrifting, to swap meets, to garage sales, to people who say, “I have these old clothes, do you want to look at them?”
“I’ve been thrifting since I was in high school,” Gnibus said. “It’s a huge game changer when you learn how to sew. That’s where you get the transformative process. They buy the time I put not only into finding something, but [also] putting that custom care and technique into repurposing it into something else.”
The skilled sewer and creative junky completed her undergraduate studies at MU in psychology and is now in her second year of law school. How does a law student become a clothing merchandise owner?
“Intrinsically, I’ve always wanted to help people. [I realized] I can help people directly if I go to law school by advocating directly for them, pushing for things that are valued,” Gnibus said. “Right now I’m really interested in intellectual property, so that means being an advocate for creators and the work they create.”
While she will one day be able to help people by practicing law, Gnibus has always had a penchant for the creative. It seems Georgi’s business is a self-created outlet that allows her to not only help others practice sustainability, but also a form of self-preservation.
As for the inspiration behind some of her upcycled pieces, it all comes down to the evolution of fashion trends throughout history.
“I really like the ‘70s and ‘80s. And, I really do like thinking about classic styles,” Gnibus said. “Like, what are those pieces that you would hold onto for your kids? And when I make a piece, I think, ‘This is something that somebody’s going to keep around for a while.’”
Gnibus’ take on fashion is all about reusing the items of the past to create something new. She says there is a way to remodel an out-of-style garment to fit into the current fashion landscape without buying into fast fashion.
“When I do pitch competitions, I talk about the environmental impact that the fashion industry has. For me, I feel like if I’m upcycling, I’m helping reduce at least a little bit of an impact,” Gnibus said.
Rad by Design is a clothing company founded on the principle of “Custom upcycled pieces created for sustainable and authentic style.” The key word being ‘custom’ in that it is something Gnibus seems to pride herself highly upon.
“I think my tube tops are my signature piece because that is what I started with,” Gnibus said. “I do different backs, and that is something to this day, that even though tube tops have really blown up since I started doing them, I still havent seen companies do the designs that I do.”
But, don’t just take Gnibus’ word for it. A strong support system of friends attest to her skill and talent, often posting their newest Rad by Design purchases on their personal social media pages.
“The way her mind just works, she’s so creative. If we are thinking about Georgi, her work and Rad by Design, it’s custom made and no one is making a piece similar to hers,” said Gnibus’ close friend Aly Nguyen, a second year Mizzou Law student. “I like the idea of knowing that I’m wearing, one: something my friend made… but two: [something] that no one else will have.”
If you have the chance, when walking by, you’ll again see a girl occupying the space in the corner of a room. On her off days she can be found practicing law, upheaving bins of clothes or simply sewing until her eyes come close to crossing. But, if you’re lucky, you can find Georgi Gnibus here: in the business she produced with her own determination and passion.
Edited by Shannon Worley | sworley@themaneater.com