is closing her eponymous label after 24 years. In an exclusive interview with the designer revealed that her spring 2024 collection will be her last. The news comes just six months after she received the for her decade of work in the space.
Hoffman has never shied away from making difficult decisions, but shuttering her brand, she says, “is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.” While it took several years of consideration for her to feel like she was ready to let go, it was in January that she made the choice. “I didn’t want other people’s ideas of solutions and how they thought it could be fixed or where I could have done things differently,” she says.
“Once that had been decided, it was between me and my team.” The designer, who was raised in Buffalo, New York, started the brand in 1999 after graduating from Parsons in New York City. She quickly gained popularity after Patricia Field took an interest in her work and began selling the pieces at her iconic store in the East Village.
Over the next decade, Hoffman’s brightly patterned swim and resort wear became a staple for young, popular celebrities of the time. She was further embedded into the cultural zeitgeist through appearances on reality shows like MTV’s and her relationship with publicist Kelly Cutrone. In 2014, she made a massive pivot to prioritize ethics and sustainability.
At that time, she halted everything she had been doing and completely restructured her supply chain t.