Isle designer reboots denim for petites

A denim line aimed at petites in a market full of petite women seemed a no-brainer in 2008, when Hawaii designer Allison Izu Song launched her denim brand. But after numerous manufacturing nightmares and branding issues, Song is getting a reboot this spring, starting with a trunk show at Nordstrom on Saturday.

“A lot of times I felt like giving up, but I would go through the whole process of thinking, ‘What else could I do?’ and how much I had invested in the business already,” she said. “That’s the hardest thing about owning a business, you get stuck in a difficult part and can’t see past it.

“Every business person I’ve talked to has the same kind of stories. It’s like an initiation you have to go through.”

She found some clarity and rediscovered her purpose when she was invited to tell her own story in Kimber Lim’s inspirational book, “Get Your Woman On: Embracing Beauty, Grace and the Power of Women,” released last fall.

In the chapter “Be Your Own Hero,” Song reflects on the reasons she wanted to become a designer focusing on petites, women 5 foot 6 and shorter, starting, “I’m short, and I’m Asian. … When you feel small compared to everybody else, it rips away at your self-esteem, making you feel less powerful, even invisible. … But when I became a designer and found my own niche, designing clothes for petite women, I finally really started to come into my own.”

After suffering through production mistakes overseas that led her to scrap her initial collection, and going through manufacturing trials in Los Angeles as well, she didn’t want to talk about her line anymore.

But once she put her story down on paper, she said, “It was a great process. It was on paper. It was done. The mistakes didn’t control me any more.”

She was also re-energized when O, The Oprah Magazine came calling. Allison Izu’s Chinatown trouser was featured in last month’s issue, in a cover article that promised “Jeans that make you look 10 pounds thinner and other denim miracles.”

With the article, she received numerous orders for the featured jean, as well as her other styles, now manufactured in Hawaii, where she can make corrections on the spot and quickly add to her collection.

In working with Nordstrom, for instance, she’ll be adding a pencil skirt and walking shorts, styles that do well at the store, as well as offering sizes up to 14P, where before she went up to 10P.

As a new mom, she’s also considering adding maternity jeans due to demand from other moms-to-be she’s gotten to know.

Her main collection continues to comprise flattering basics, priced from $138 to $142, including trousers popular with professional women who work in casual offices, wide-leg trousers, boot-cut jeans and skinny jeans. All styles are designed specifically for a shorter woman’s proportions, when simply hemming won’t do.

Among her fixes are a shorter inseam for women 5-foot-4 and under, higher placement of smaller back pockets to create the illusion of a raised and toned bottom, and a curved waistband to deal with small-waist/wide-hip syndrome.

She plans to take her denim line to Japan, and with expansion comes the prospect of adding tops for a fuller collection.

“I’ve been doing pants for so long, to think of tops is a whole other world to me,” she said.

But perhaps the most difficult part of her fashion journey is behind her. She said motherhood has a lot to do with it.

“My daughter helps me focus and not sweat the small stuff. At the end of the day, I have to be happy for her and not stress out. And I don’t.”