About The Artist

Rachael Levine is a textiles artist and fashion designer with a focus on Shibori fabric dyeing and textile manipulation. Rachael has been a working artist since 2014, after graduating with her BFA in Fashion Design from Columbia College Chicago. Her love of clothing construction and manipulating textiles has blossomed into an ever changing art-to-wear collection. 

The brand name ARAE is a play on words, deriving from Rachael's nickname, Rae, and the word 'array' - an impressive display of things. Under her brand, she prioritizes zero waste design, and works with different kinds of silk and wool. 

Levine has honed her skills constructing garments out of the fine cloth she carefully designs. Her first collection of winter accessories launched in 2014 and has been sold in countless independent boutiques and museum stores across the United States and Australia. 

She also takes her brand across the country to prestigious handmade shows, and has sold online with large retailers such as Free People, Artful Home, and Uncommon Goods. Rachael loves creating pieces of wearable art that allow her customers to express their own creative styles.

 

Sustainability Practices Include:

Keeping it local: Rachael creates each garment and accessory in her studio, she hand dyes, cuts, and sews all One of a Kind pieces, and the vast majority of the Made To Order collections. She has a small team of in-studio help for large production orders.

Patterning Smart: ARAE patterns are designed with the fabric dimensions in mind. Sizing the pattern pieces to the exact width of the fabric, results in less waste.

Zero Waste: The fabric that is not used in our collection (scraps from cutting) is kept and separated by size and color for limited art-to-wear garments. These include our Juju Collection, and Braided styles. Pieces too small to incorporate are sometimes used as stuffing for pillows, given away to other artists, or properly recycled with other textiles using Ridwell.

Dye Process: Being based in the high desert means taking advantage of the dry air and hot sun all year round. All of our silk and wool is hang dried outside, using the natural sun and air.

Packaging and Promo: Hangtags, stickers, tape, packing materials, post cards, mailers, poly bags are all either compostable, or recycled material, using soy based inks.