Meet the Helmut Lang and Rodarte Alum Who Is Making Conscious Streetwear in Chicago  

Anna Slevin has spent time living in New York and L.A., but Chicago will always be home. She grew up on the outskirts of the city and currently works out of a studio space in Wicker Park. There, Slevin is busy building her streetwear label ASc with a small team of local producers and fabric suppliers. She launched in 2014, and it’s been a slow but steady climb, building a full range of ready-to-wear.

Her collection includes functional, cool oversized hoodies, fiery orange tie-dyed long-sleeve tops, python-print mock-neck bodysuits, and blue psychedelic-pattern tabi tights. Her clothes might appeal to fans of Marine Serre or maybe Off-White: sporty fashion lovers who are hip to the importance of sustainability. Slevin’s clothes aren’t trend-driven; instead, they’re comfortable, versatile styling pieces that can be incorporated into almost any wardrobe. Plus, the prices are much more appealing to the masses than a luxury-level athleisure-focused brand: Everything is under $200, save for a jacket priced at $340. Slevin often uses deadstock fabric for her small-batch collections, and her minimal packaging is all recycled and recyclable. Her hangtags, too, are made using paper sourced from trees in sustainable forests and printed with the care instructions in order to minimize the production of sew-in labels.

Slevin learned a lot about the impacts of production and manufacturing from a number of former jobs. Right out of college, she worked as an intern at Helmut Lang. That was followed by a gig as an assistant at Rodarte: “It really prepared me for starting my own line because it gave me an idea of the ad hoc things that actually need to be done at a brand, day-to-day. I did everything from shipment coordination to sample maintenance and photo shoot assistance. Laura and Kate Mulleavy are such artists to the core, and it was really cool to watch them work.”

Slevin went on to do merchandising at DVF but eventually found herself back home in Chicago with thoughts of pursuing her own path in fashion: “Designing in Chicago has made it a bit easier for me to be really authentic to my own aesthetic.” Slevin also says that “Chicago is such a welcoming place to foster creativity. There are so many talented creatives here, and the other designers and artists I know locally are so generous with sharing information, which is pretty unique in this business…. I believe that you can get inspiration anywhere, so for me having the creative community is really a big draw.”

This holiday season, Slevin is giving a percentage of her sales to St. Jude’s as well as to the charity No Kid Hungry. As Slevin says, “Investing in the future is a big deal to us.”