NOAH first began on a quiet afternoon in downtown Los Angeles. I was helping a client get a better yield on a stretch leather contrast sleeve. After trimming the pattern and slicing it in a unique way, I asked for the fabric. An assistant handed me the tiniest leather skin I've ever seen. I thought about the dairy industry and how, when a calf is born, it is taken from his or her mother immediately so the diary industry can take the milk meant for the calf. The lucky calves are born female; they get formula of some kind. The unlucky calves are born male and are taken immediately to prep for slaughter. The skin I was looking at had to have come from one of those male calves, no more than three days old. He most likely lived and died horribly,  starving and scared before his slaughter. Worse, I thought of accounts from slaughterhouses alleging the animals are still technically alive when they're skinned. I looked up and realized I'd been thinking these things out loud. The designer and assistant were looking at me as though I were insane. Maybe they didn't care. Maybe they thought I was being dramatic. Maybe they felt horrified and powerless (I’d like to think it was the latter).

But for me, the moment was an epiphany. I realized animal lovers deserved a fashion line that didn’t violate their values or sensibilities. 

NOAH ROPA was birthed from a desire to make the fashion industry more animal-friendly. You will find no leather here, nor will you find fur, silk, wool, cashmere, alpaca, etc.