While the temperatures dip in the northeast, Daniella Faye is at home in Israel designing her summer collection. She has been designing flattering, modest and comfortable clothing for women since 2015. Today her brand is sold all over the world. Women in Israel, America, Mexico, London and Panama are all buying Daniella Faye designs. Scroll through her website and be greeted by lovely dresses, smart sets, tops and skirts in rich, solid colors and vibrant prints. Locally, Daniella Faye designs have a home at The Address in the American Dream Mall in Rutherford.
Faye said she doesn’t follow fashion and makes what she likes to wear and what’s comfortable. “I love jewel-tone colors and very soft fabrics that feel like butter,” she said in an interview from her home in Israel. “I inspire women to feel good about themselves. You can dress in a modest way that’s flattering, not frumpy. My clothes are about style, comfort and inclusive sizing. I also make maternity clothes and fashions that allow mothers who work to nurse.” Faye has relationships with factories all over the world, including China, but this year she is going to produce her line exclusively in Israel.
It’s hard for designers in Israel now to focus, when their minds are really on the soldiers fighting for their country and their families trying to get by without them, the families who have been displaced from their communities near Gaza and the ones who have been relocated from the border with Lebanon. Many, like Faye, are using their time and talents to raise money for the families of chayalim (soldiers) and miluim (reservists), and bring some happiness into their lives.
Faye has been involved in many activities in the Efrat community where she lives. She held a spa day at her house for kids with hairstyling and face painting. She invited their moms to “shop” in her store for free. She orders heart rings for her customers as special promotions, but she gave them out to the moms as gifts. She is selling the rings now to raise more money for the families. Other designers Faye knows are raising money as well. PKHart Fine Jewelry, which is also selling Jewish stars to benefit the Chayal Family Fund, and Elisheva Reiss from Reiss Diamonds have collaborated on designing a necklace and bracelet to raise funds for the chayalim and milium families.
Faye worked with Dana Newman from the Dagan community, who planned an arts and crafts day, where kids got hair wraps, painted with watercolors and made beads and mosaics. “The kids got their minds off the war and their parents got a break,” Faye said. There was a toddler section and a hot coffee station for the moms. She also gave a shoutout to Yael Hirt, along with Mira Kestenbaum, who sponsored an ice cream day at a local ice cream shop from funds raised from family and friends. Funds were also raised for each family to get dinner from a new falafel truck in the neighborhood, and for teens to deliver pizza to families in the Zayit neighborhood in Efrat.
Another project Faye was involved with was a sale for refugees from the south. It was the brainchild of Malky Elinson from Touch Fashion, run by the group Standing Together, founded by a son of Israeli musician Dedi. With funds they raised, they gave the families Monopoly money to shop at booths for shoes, head coverings and clothing. Someone from the south was selling 4D Chanukah coloring books and Faye and her group raised money to purchase them as gifts for the kids of miluim families.
“The music, food and beautiful clothing lifted their spirits,” Faye said. “It was a dignified way of shopping; it wasn’t throwing old clothes at them.”
The designer recounted some of the incredible stories she has heard. One woman told of a rocket that flew into her kitchen, breaking all the windows, but leaving a glass photo of a rebbe untouched. Neither the woman nor her husband, who was downstairs, were hurt. Another woman said she couldn’t donate money to the chayalim—she was the mother of 14 children—but she picked up the laundry from a base and brought it back to the soldiers fresh and clean.
While it’s hard to get back to work as usual, Faye loves being a designer. “I knew I would be a designer since I was 10 years old,” she said. Someone advised her mom to take her to the bead store and the youngster began making jewelry, which she sold in schools and boutiques. She learned how to crochet and sew and sold hats with her older sister Tanya.
Faye, born Daniella Faye Farin in Chicago, developed her love for Israel at a six-week program she attended during high school at Kfar Saba. She never came back to America After finishing high school, she became a madricha for the high school abroad program and then attended seminary. She met her husband-to-be at a museum. He later told her that when he saw her, he told his friend he was going to marry her. A musician, he played for her group and continues to play and inspire groups with his music. They now have five children.
When Faye first got married, she made her own head coverings. People would stop her and ask where she got them. She began selling them first at pop-ups in people’s houses and then after growing rapidly, she opened a store in 2015. She made three dresses—and two are still her bestsellers. Today she has many more designs, customers all over the world and over 20,000 Instagram followers.
Faye has encountered difficulties on her road to success. She was a designer but had to learn business and deal with all kinds of emergencies. Once, all her dresses came from the factory with broken zippers. Another time the fabric wasn’t stretchy enough and you couldn’t lift your arms in it. One collection almost didn’t make it to the stores—the factory wouldn’t release her goods because someone else hadn’t paid for theirs.
This year she is only working with the factories in Israel she started out with, which are more expensive, but she feels it is worth the extra cost to help the Israeli economy. She comes to the U.S. twice a year to meet store owners and in the summer to visit family in Skokie, Illinois. She went once to American Dream just to see what an amazing place it is.
I asked about how many employees she has for her growing brand. It’s just her and her husband. She hopes to expand and start a children’s line. But for now, her efforts are geared towards her new collection, and helping the families of the chayalim and miluim.
View the Daniella Faye collection at the American Dream Mall or visit www.daniellafayeusa.com. Follow Daniella.Faye on Instagram.
