Why This Brand Launched Without Social Media and What They Did Instead with Maria Alejandra Alvarado of ZADIMA
How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fitsShow Notes
Changing algorithms, the constant time investment, and, with the rise of AI, even more content to compete with for customers’ attention make many of us want to avoid social media altogether. However, it can seem like a necessary evil. Isn’t every brand on social platforms? But what if staying off socials as a fashion brand isn’t just the right choice for your mental health as a founder, but also for your business strategy?
This is the choice that Maria Alejandra Alvarado has made for her luxury workwear brand ZADIMA. In episode 127, she shares how she’s connecting with people to market her brand instead of competing with algorithms. For Maria, it felt like a natural fit that aligns with her business.
María Alejandra Alvarado is a marketing leader with nearly 15 years of experience shaping brand and product launch strategies for global companies. For the past three years, she’s been building ZADIMA — a brand born from her desire to help modern professionals dress beautifully and intentionally, without adding more decisions to already full days.
Frustrated by the lack of color, personality, and quality in workwear, María set out to create pieces that combine great tailoring, elegant silhouettes, and luxurious Italian fabrics. Each garment is crafted from exquisite Italian deadstock textiles in a woman-owned atelier in Manhattan’s Garment District, designed to make women feel confident, polished, and effortlessly themselves.
This episode explores:
Fitting the customer
The smart questions Maria asked while gathering customer research
The ways that knowing her customer helped Maria make decisions about fabric, designs, and colors
Fitting the lifestyle
How the lifestyle of the Zadima customer shaped the marketing strategy
The practical ways Maria generates word-of-mouth referrals
How Maria represents her brand as the founder
How Maria prioritizes tasks in her business
Fitting the values
Why Maria decided to produce her collection in NY
How Maria uses AI tools in alignment with her relationships and quality-focused business values
People and resources mentioned in this episode:
ZADIMA website
ZADIMA email
Maria’s LinkedIn
Do you want fashion business tips and resources like this sent straight to your inbox? Sign up for the How Fitting newsletter to receive new podcast episodes plus daily content on creating fashion that fits your customer, lifestyle, and values.
More from How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits
If we’re talking about how values show up in the creation of specific clothing styles, you won’t find a better example of this than fair trade fashion. For fair trade fashion brands, the process is just as important as the product. Collections don’t begin with design inspiration, they stem from family-owned production partners, long-term boutique relationships, cross-cultural collaborations, and a commitment to each person involved.
A good product is not enough. As much as we’d like to pour our creative time and resources into creating the most beautiful design and exquisitely crafted product and then let it sell itself, it just doesn’t. In fashion business, the job doesn’t stop when the garment is produced. Marketing it is just as important. And that job actually starts before the product even exists.
If you run a slow fashion brand, you’ve probably experienced this. You saw how wasteful the fashion industry can be and vowed to run your brand differently. You want to pursue quality over quantity, sustainable materials and practices, fair labor, and avoid over-production. But how does this slow fashion intent meet the reality of factory MOQs, wash tests, and production costs for a new brand? Plus, as the brand grows, is there a scale where a slow fashion brand is no longer slow fashion?
As entrepreneurs, we didn’t start businesses to create a job that we hate. In fact, for most of us, it is quite the opposite. We want our work to be fulfilling. But we also want it to pay the bills and not burn us out. So how do we build a business that is both fun and financially stable? That offers both creative confidence and commercial control? Where the day-to-day process feels magical, but also manageable?
We’re told in fashion business that your brand’s patterns are your IP, don’t let anyone else have access to them. It is true that your patterns are one of the most legally protectable aspects of your brand’s unique fit and design aesthetic, but is gatekeeping patterns really necessary for fashion business success?