Suzie Kondi Is Redefining Casual Comfort
Suzie Kondi’s casual luxury brand provides a modern twist on the colorful tracksuits that dominated the early 21st century.
Dimes Square—a microneighborhood at the very bottom of New York’s Lower East Side—has become the place to be for a certain 20-something, downtown crowd dressed in Bode button-downs or vintage tees, sipping pét-nats on a Friday night. Just off the square on Orchard Street sits the Suzie Kondi store. Its clean white exterior and wide windows house a rack of rainbow-hued, terry cloth sweatsuits, the type that represents a look of an era when many Dimes Square inhabitants were still in diapers.
During the early aughts, the tracksuit—pioneered by Los Angeles label Juicy Couture—became the de facto uniform of celebrities like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. But the bright bell-bottoms and zip-up sweatshirts eventually faded in popularity, replaced with more streamlined, minimal athleisure looks: Lululemon leggings and fitted black matching sets. And yet, when Kondi—a mom, designer, and Brooklyn resident—needed an outfit to wear to pilates and school pickups, the first thing that came to mind was the iconic Juicy tracksuit. “I made one tracksuit,” she says. “I researched Juicy, I went to their factory in L.A. where the very original Juicy was made, and I thought, let's make a silhouette that suits my lifestyle.” Wearing her custom tracksuit out in the world, she started fielding queries from curious moms. In 2018, she turned the personal passion project into a full-fledged label. While the starting place for Kondi was the iconic Juicy-inspired set, her designs are neither campy nor nostalgic. Instead, she’s made the silhouette her own—relaxed, and with a preppy touch.
" I was the 11-year-old who would sew her own hot shorts."
It shouldn’t be all too surprising that on the day Kondi signs on to Zoom for a chat, she’s wearing one of her signature ensembles: an emerald-green terry cloth muscle tee and a matching pair of flared sweatpants. She’s dressed up the comfy combo with a rainbow-stone necklace and a pair of yellow-lens sunglasses (color averse she is not). Australian by birth, but now a longtime New Yorker, Kondi is relaxed and bubbly, one leg tucked up on her chair as she discusses building her fashion brand.
While many brands hire consultants and build powerpoints to pinpoint exactly who their clothing’s target audience will be, Suzie Kondi the brand is a reflection of the designer’s own wants and needs, from practical to whimsical (the brand sells a $3,500 rattan backgammon table). But it’s that playful, self-assured point of view that has managed to attract the Dimes Square crowd and Martha Stewart alike. Kondi is her own first and best customer, and those who walk into the store have the chance to buy into her colorful point of view.
A knack for fashion and a can-do attitude are two things that happen to run in the family for Kondi. Her mother owned a fabric store in Queensland, and whenever a young Kondi asked for something new, her mother would instead make it for her, where she acquired her sewing skills. “I was the 11-year-old who would sew her own hot shorts,” she explains. “Then I'd get on my bike and ride down to the beach.” When Kondi first arrived in the U.S. after sailing for 13 months on a ‘46 sailboat from Australia, she would unexpectedly lay down roots in her final destination of New York, where she had a wholesale bag line, Toast, launched in 2001. Years later, after having a baby and renovating a Brooklyn home, Kondi found that the itch to design had returned.
The brand has expanded beyond the signature tracksuit to include a range of casual luxury pieces, from hand-knit cashmere sweaters to crochet dresses and cotton poplin skirts. They are the easy, summery staples you might want to pack on vacation to Sicily or the Hamptons. This is all reflective of Kondi’s own life: “I've been spending time [in the Hamptons] and it felt like the closest thing to Australia to me,” she says. Her first store, which opened in Amagansett [in East Hampton, New York], attracts a more uptown clientele, while the Lower East Side store is more aligned with Kondi’s life in the city (she spent 15 years in the East Village). “In Amagansett, it's travel-related; there's a luxury element,” Kondi explains of the clientele. “People buy one tracksuit and then they'll buy another four, and then they'll try the cashmere. There's a Hamptons client who can do that for each of their homes.” The Lower East Side, in contrast, tends to be a little more casual. It’s the ability to move between both spaces—out east and downtown, dressed up and casual—that makes the brand a success. Fans of the brand, from Martha Stewart to Sofia Coppola to Jemima Kirke, reflect the fluidity of the design choices.
Before the pandemic, the idea of wearing a pair of sweats to work may have seemed an impossibility. To Kondi, the tracksuit’s potential extends far beyond after-school pickup or even vacation. It embodies an entire lifestyle. She says customers send photos wearing her clothing to the ballet, or with a blazer to the office. “If you can't bring yourself to wherever you are, what's the point? You know, let's get comfortable.”
