Excerpt from BOLD JOURNEY published September 24, 2025. You can read the full article here. https://boldjourney.com/life-values-legacy-our-chat-with-wati-grossman-of-palo-alto-highlight/
We’re looking forward to introducing you to Wati Grossman. Check out our conversation below.
Wati, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
The fashion industry is predicated upon several fundamentally capitalistic assumptions, a few of the most central being that trends are important, refreshing what you own regularly is necessary, and that consumption/spending money is affirmatively a good thing. I no longer ascribe to any of that. As a veteran fashion designer, I was once very much a part of that machine. I was responsible for designing collections that pushed people to buy buy buy every single season. But now, I no longer consider myself a part of the industry per se. I stand outside of it.
Anyone who thinks sustainably, I would hope, cares about climate, consumes mindfully, and always considers the impact of their choices. The elephant in the room is we need a new system. We have enough clothing on earth to sustain the next 6 generations of humans, so the best thing to wear is whatever you already own. The fashion industry is ripe for disruption, in fact it’s in trouble. On the fast fashion end as well as in luxury, there are serious issues relating to low wages, poor working conditions, environmental exploitation, and a relentless prioritizing of profit over fair labor practices. Not to mention the reduced quality of the goods that end up being sold. The system as is, cannot continue. To me it boils down to a lack of ethics. We need ethical people and ethical methods to prevail!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I started out as a lawyer in the late 1980’s in Australia where I was born. I switched careers after practising corporate law for a few years, realizing I needed to be in a more creative career. By 1990 I had moved to the United States with my partner Michael and applied to study fashion at the Fashion Institute of Technology. I learned the garment business in several junior jobs, eventually working my way up the ladder on Seventh Ave in New York City. At the same time as Michael made the switch to working in Silicon Valley, I was recruited to work in technical fashion design (making patterns and technical packages) in menswear at The Gap in San Francisco. Following my time at Banana Republic (at The Gap), I then established myself as a menswear designer at Levi Strauss & Co. A decade of working for the big corporations then prompted me to start my own children’s wear company called Wati Design, a label that was carried by high end boutiques and department stores in the US as well as in Japan and South Korea.
During the pandemic in 2021 when the world shut down, I started Circle Ahead, a periodical print magazine which is focused on highlighting people who incorporate sustainability into their lives. Through the publication, we try to provoke deeper thought and consideration around simple daily acts we can all be a part of. Buying less. Cherishing more. Sharing, repairing, reusing, loving and caring for one another, more than caring about accumulating “things”. The magazine has gone from strength to strength.
In April 2024 a good friend Mary Lynn Fitton and I threw our first swap meet. Mary Lynn adores vintage and secondhand clothing and has thrifted and organized swaps her entire adult life. We by no means invented the clothing swap of course, but quickly realized there was a genuine interest in our immediate community. Participants were inspired and delighted to donate and then find clothes, shoes and accessories that were secondhand, but “new” to them. Shoppers were able to participate in a small-scale “radical act” that did not require the spending of money, where they were able to source things they needed from their own neighborhood coterie. A project of Circle Ahead magazine, SWAP CIRCLE was born, and we proudly describe it as “a community-driven initiative that promotes mindful consumption through curated clothing swaps and resource-sharing events.”
