Sofia Samrad has more than her upcoming graduation on her mind — the senior business and theater major is promoting a new clothing line of her own creation that aims to provide college-age women with formal attire.
She launched her company, Digitalebas, two months ago, and Samrad said she was inspired by sorority members who dress up for formals and other occasions on a regular basis. In the coming months, Samrad is working on unveiling her fall collection, which, unlike the dresses featured this spring, will have custom-fitting options and are meant to be more eco-friendly.
“We understand that especially sorority girls need at least three dresses for different formal occasions each year, so right now we are trying to promote our lines in all the sororities across campuses,” Samrad said.
The line premiered at last month’s “Beauty is Skin Deep” fashion benefit for the Skin Cancer Foundation, hosted by Miss Sinergy. Samrad described the line as a blend of the two cultures she was brought up in.
“My mom is Persian, and my dad is British,” she said. “I’ve lived in Britain for most of my life, so it is British fashion with a Persian twist.”
According to Digitalebas’ website, “The concept behind the name was the blending of a digital modern London society with clothing (“Lebas” in Farsi).”
On Friday, Samrad sold the remaining clothes from her spring collection. Among the available dresses was a pink-tinged silk sequin dress that she said was inspired by nature.
“That dress was based off of fishes’ scales,” Samrad said. “I wanted to get that translucent look with a more digital and modern style.”
After graduation, Samrad plans on moving to New York to further promote her line on different college campuses. Her chief operating officer, Chloë Troia, will be going with her to set up different meetings with bloggers and multimedia promotions for the line.
“Sofia and I are able to bounce ideas off of each other,” said Troia, a junior business and marketing major at American University. “Right now we are trying to make as many connections as possible so that the line gets noticed and hopefully someone will invest.”
Samrad spends a few nights a week going to networking events or promotional parties to gain connections with new people around the Washington area.
“My life has just been crazy since I started this clothes line,” she said. “People are starting to know my face, and I am really enjoying the social aspect.”
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