In 2019 Nasrin Jafari was a middle school teacher in New York City. She had no ecommerce experience but was drawn to creating and building, which led her to sew and sell face masks during Covid.
Fast forward to 2026, and Mixed, her direct-to-consumer fashion brand, designs and produces female apparel and accessories. Referring to the company’s launch, she told me, “I had no idea how to make clothes.”
She does now, impressively, with multiple manufacturers, a thriving community, staff, and eager customers. She shared her story in our recent conversation.
Our entire audio is embedded below. The transcript is edited for length and clarity.
Eric Bandholz: What do you do?
Nasrin Jafari: I’m the founder and designer of Mixed, a fashion brand based in Brooklyn. Before Mixed, I was a middle school history and English teacher with no background in ecommerce. During the pandemic, I began sewing face masks by hand and posting them on Instagram. That was the first physical product I had sold. That experiment evolved into a full apparel brand.
It all began with Instagram posts, not Etsy or marketplaces. I didn’t understand Meta ads or ecommerce marketing. I’ve learned those pieces as the business grew.
Creativity has always been part of my life. I painted and took art electives growing up, and I was a competitive dancer in high school. Yet I’ve always been drawn to business and building things. In college, those interests merged into a desire to build something meaningful. I thought that might be as a school teacher.
In many ways, building a brand is similar to teaching. You’re creating a vision, culture, and community around shared values. Mixed reflects my identity — I’m Japanese, Iranian, and American. The brand name captures that blend of influences and the balance between creativity and operating a business.
Bandholz: Fashion seems highly competitive.
Jafari: I started the business out of curiosity. I had no idea what I was getting into. Would I choose to go into apparel again? Probably not, although there’s a side of it I love.
I learned by doing. Inventory is really tricky. I was afraid of overordering inventory and ending up with dead stock. That’s why we launched a pre-order model. We now do a lot of pre-orders, which helps our cash flow, but I didn’t start it for that reason. It was because I was out of stock. Then I realized that the model is great for business.
Another thing is returns, which are a big part of online apparel. We have to acquire customers in a way that accounts for returns. I didn’t understand that initially. Again, it comes down to learning by doing.
Bandholz: You design your apparel. Where is it manufactured?
Jafari: I was looking for factories during Covid. Many of them had excess capacity. I found a factory in India whose owner was based here in New York. So that was an in-person element to build trust and a relationship. He was willing to work with us with no minimum order quantities.
His cost was higher than, say, Los Angeles-based manufacturers, but we still maintained a 75% margin. Our average order is about $228.
We’ve since scaled and can order larger quantities. We’ve added factories with lower costs.
I found the India factory by googling. After that, it was recommendations from friends in the industry, which I prefer. They worked with them, vetted them, and liked them.
Bandholz: What is your production and design process?
Jafari: I had no idea how to make clothes. I literally went to JoAnn Fabrics and tried to follow the pattern. I realized quickly I wasn’t good at it, and it was going to take time. I had connected with a home sewer on Instagram. She seemed to love our brand but had not worked in a commercial capacity. I asked her to make our initial samples. She was thrilled. She made the initial samples, one of which remains our best-selling product.
Now I’m at a point where the factory does a lot of that. I send sketches with very minimal specs, and they can figure it out.
Selling true bespoke garments requires a dedicated designer, either in-house or outsourced. But factories with extensive garment experience can usually handle simpler items.
I design on an iPad with a stylus using Procreate.
Bandholz: I’ve seen your new-arrival ads on Instagram and Facebook. You seem to have a blueprint that is working.
Jafari: Yes, all our advertising has been on Meta. No Google or TikTok.
We have a couple of ad formats. It’s like a flywheel, as we continue to scale. We find the models, then shoot the videos in-house. Then we edit in the Philippines, and create and upload new ads to Meta.
My first successful ad came from an outing with a girlfriend. I was wearing one of my jumpsuits. I asked her to shoot me with a couple of angles, nothing fancy. It showed my outfit in an urban setting. The ad worked. We repeated the concept.
Bandholz: Are you handling your own fulfillment?
Jafari: Yes. Part of the initial rationale was returns, and part was our low volume. Plus, our pre-order model meant we were receiving inventory constantly. Getting it to an outsourced fulfillment provider added an extra step and delayed delivery to our customer.
Bandholz: How do you ensure your products resonate with would-be customers?
Jafari: When we design a piece, I’m always thinking about the customer — who she is, what she wants, and what we’ve already given her. The goal is to create what she needs next. My personal taste influences the brand, but I try not to be overly subjective about design decisions. Ultimately, customer response and sales tell us what works.
We also gather feedback from our community. We host discussions in our Circle community platform where customers comment on fabric designs, share preferences, and discuss products. That feedback, along with replies to my weekly newsletter and in-person events, provides valuable qualitative insight.
Our target customer is a 35- to 65-year-old woman who values creativity, independence, and self-expression— and wants clothing to reflect that.
Bandholz: Where can people buy your clothes, support you, follow you?
Jafari: Our site is MixedByNasrin.com. I’m on LinkedIn.
