As a preteen, Zina Worley worked as an apprentice alongside her mother, a fashion designer. At first she was only allowed to cut the pattern pieces, but by the third year she was assembling them (like a puzzle) and making her own clothes. “Did I mention I like to put puzzles together?” asks Worley. She made her first skirt in an hour. When Calvin Klein introduced his jeans, Worley — still in high school — introduced hers, too, stitching a large Z and a W on each of the back pockets. Friends and classmates began placing orders for her clothes.
“I realize that I’ve always had the creative juice running through my veins. Most of my summers were spent at camp and I could be found in the arts and crafts cabin making something —everything from macramé, stamp making, and leather belt making.”
During the ’80s Worley designed for fashion shows at various hotels in Boston’s Back Bay, focusing on wool and linen. Her brand grew to include coats for men and women, as well as handbags, hats, scarves, mittens, wraps, and ponchos. Next, she sewed and sold outerwear for infants and toddlers. Currently, Worley works on a leather-sewing machine creating handbags, totes, and wallets.
“I enjoy taking a piece of fabric or leather that’s like a blank slate, looking at it, and turning it into something that someone will carry, use, or wear that will last a lifetime. The best part of that item [it’s that it’s] created from my mind and hands, [so] there is only one.”