【WE ARE BORDERLESS】Melody & Taysia

Through changing times
New ways of work style appear
We have more lifestyle choices than ever before

Not bound by existing frameworks
Everyone can be themselves
Embracing freedom and flexibility

This series aims to explore the stories of individuals who lead a life without boundaries.
Through interviews and encounters, we hope to reveal new values and perspectives on life.

Each person's story will be unique, showcasing their journey toward a more fulfilling and authentic life.
By sharing these stories, we hope to inspire others to pursue their dreams and live a life that uniquely represents themselves.

The 10th edition features the founders of MxT 2510, a Los Angeles-based sustainable clothing company that was founded by a mother and daughter duo, Melody Stein and Taysia Stein.

As a Deaf & CODA owned, and Asian owned business, how did they start a clothing brand, what’s their passion and aspirations?

During the height of COVID-19, Taysia got to graduate early from Arizona State University and she realized finding jobs might be challenging. So Melody asked Taysia if she would like to start a sustainable clothing brand.We started working on our business concept and we finally launched MxT 2510 in November 2021.

Second collection is “Los Angeles”, our current hometown.
The city is known for warmer weather, so we featured casualwear like our boatneck t-shirt, denim wide leg pants, and tank midi dress.. Within the collection, we also have a genderless collection featuring oversized hoodies, sweatpants and over sized T-shirts. For our sweatsets, we have beautiful Matcha green and Chai brown colors which you can win with our giveaway campaign!

Los Angeles collection is also featured in The 1 Hotel boutique shop, Conscious Market Co-Op, a Global eco-friendly sustainable hotel. As we share a similar concept, the Matcha Green and Chai Brown colors match the hotel decor perfectly which is light and wooden.

San Francisco is one of the most progressive cities for sustainability. For example, many restaurants use compostable plates and in order to minimize waste, everything is made to order. Doing business in the restaurant industry and growing up in the city, we learned how to operate sustainably.
We contributed to the planet by taking actions. So it was natural for us to reflect that policy on our brand.

We do not own excess stocks, also all of our items have timeless design and seasonless, which means you can wear it all year around.

Since we started the brand during COVID time, we faced a lot of difficulty. First of all, many factories closed down due to COVID, impacts and delays on the supply chain with unforeseen circumstances.

Through our research, we found out that compared to Los Angeles, Asia has a lot more options for sustainable factories, around 60% of GOTS* certified factories are in Asia and only 5-10% are in the US.

*GOTS certification = The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) was developed by leading standard setters to define world-wide recognised requirements for organic textiles.

Luckily, we were able to find a company with similar values in Los Angeles, with ethical and sustainable production so we ordered fabric with 100% organic cotton which we used for our first collection.

While applying for the jobs, I experienced rejection because I was deaf or/and Asian. I knew I wanted to start my business because I was able to give myself a job and create job opportunities for those who have gone through the same experience of being rejected.

So I knew that when we moved back to San Franciscoco, I wanted to start my own restaurant. Inspired by entrepreneur parents, growing my dream was to start a restaurant.
My husband I decided to give it a try and opened a Napolitan pizza shop with Asian influence until we sold to NGO in 2017..

It was a place to connect hearing and deaf community, we created job opportunities for deaf people and we connected my culture through food. Pizza was my art, my masterpiece.

We’d like to open a storefront with a cafe.

That would allow us to create job opportunities for Deaf and American Sign Language (ASL) signers. We want to have a communication barrier-free workplace. We’d like to show that we can bridge communities and cultures by working together.

With the store and cafe’s presence, we would be able to grow our customer base and appeal to a wider audience! In fact, we just opened a pizzeria in August 2023. So now we are focusing on building our brand!

We are currently holding our international collection due to COVID surges. But we already have a plan! Since one of our favorite travels was in Santorini, we would like to feature flowy linen skirts and dresses that match the beautiful vacay vibes of Greece.

Through changing times
New ways of work style appear
We have more lifestyle choices than ever before

Not bound by existing frameworks
Everyone can be themselves
Embracing freedom and flexibility

This series aims to explore the stories of individuals who lead a life without boundaries.
Through interviews and encounters, we hope to reveal new values and perspectives on life.

Each person's story will be unique, showcasing their journey toward a more fulfilling and authentic life.
By sharing these stories, we hope to inspire others to pursue their dreams and live a life that uniquely represents themselves.

The 10th edition features the founders of MxT 2510, a Los Angeles-based sustainable clothing company that was founded by a mother and daughter duo, Melody Stein and Taysia Stein.

As a Deaf & CODA owned, and Asian owned business, how did they start a clothing brand, what’s their passion and aspirations?

Melody:

I was born in Hong Kong and my parents found out that I was deaf when I was 2 years old. At the time, my mom was pregnant with my younger brother and he was also born deaf. My parents looked for deaf schools and during that time I got a taste of traveling as we attended different schools in different countries such as Philippines and Singapore. In the end, those schools didn’t work out well for us and we decided to move to the United States.

I went to Gallaudet University, the only deaf university in the world. That’s where I met my husband! As my parents were entrepreneurs and I was always inspired by them, my husband and I decided to start our own business - a restaurant in San Francisco.
The restaurant was sold to an NGO.
In 2021, Taysia and I started MxT 2510 - a sustainable clothing brand.

Taysia:

Since my parents traveled, I grew up traveling so I love travel and fashion. I studied Marketing at Arizona State University to expand my business options. While I was attending the university, I had a chance to study abroad so I spent one semester in Rome and another semester in Gold Coast, although I had to return to the US after one month in Gold Coast, due to the pandemic. After graduating from university, we started MxT 2510.

During the height of COVID-19, Taysia got to graduate early from Arizona State University and she realized finding jobs might be challenging. So Melody asked Taysia if she would like to start a sustainable clothing brand.We started working on our business concept and we finally launched MxT 2510 in November 2021.

Yes, we are basing each collection on a place we have traveled! Our whole family enjoys exploring and experiencing new cultures, especially the food, so we had to incorporate travel into our brand.

Our first collection was "San Francisco" inspired by the city where we both grew up..
Casual collection with cropped sweatshirts, wide leg pants, and sweat shorts. We featured Fog Grey as a color in the collection since San Francisco is always foggy.

Second collection is “Los Angeles”, our current hometown.
The city is known for warmer weather, so we featured casualwear like our boatneck t-shirt, denim wide leg pants, and tank midi dress.. Within the collection, we also have a genderless collection featuring oversized hoodies, sweatpants and over sized T-shirts. For our sweatsets, we have beautiful Matcha green and Chai brown colors which you can win with our giveaway campaign!

Los Angeles collection is also featured in The 1 Hotel boutique shop, Conscious Market Co-Op, a Global eco-friendly sustainable hotel. As we share a similar concept, the Matcha Green and Chai Brown colors match the hotel decor perfectly which is light and wooden.

San Francisco is one of the most progressive cities for sustainability. For example, many restaurants use compostable plates and in order to minimize waste, everything is made to order. Doing business in the restaurant industry and growing up in the city, we learned how to operate sustainably.
We contributed to the planet by taking actions. So it was natural for us to reflect that policy on our brand.

We do not own excess stocks, also all of our items have timeless design and seasonless, which means you can wear it all year around.

Since we started the brand during COVID time, we faced a lot of difficulty. First of all, many factories closed down due to COVID, impacts and delays on the supply chain with unforeseen circumstances.

Through our research, we found out that compared to Los Angeles, Asia has a lot more options for sustainable factories, around 60% of GOTS* certified factories are in Asia and only 5-10% are in the US.

*GOTS certification = The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) was developed by leading standard setters to define world-wide recognised requirements for organic textiles.

Luckily, we were able to find a company with similar values in Los Angeles, with ethical and sustainable production so we ordered fabric with 100% organic cotton which we used for our first collection.

While applying for the jobs, I experienced rejection because I was deaf or/and Asian. I knew I wanted to start my business because I was able to give myself a job and create job opportunities for those who have gone through the same experience of being rejected.

So I knew that when we moved back to San Franciscoco, I wanted to start my own restaurant. Inspired by entrepreneur parents, growing my dream was to start a restaurant.
My husband I decided to give it a try and opened a Napolitan pizza shop with Asian influence until we sold to NGO in 2017..

It was a place to connect hearing and deaf community, we created job opportunities for deaf people and we connected my culture through food. Pizza was my art, my masterpiece.

We’d like to open a storefront with a cafe.

That would allow us to create job opportunities for Deaf and American Sign Language (ASL) signers. We want to have a communication barrier-free workplace. We’d like to show that we can bridge communities and cultures by working together.

With the store and cafe’s presence, we would be able to grow our customer base and appeal to a wider audience! In fact, we just opened a pizzeria in August 2023. So now we are focusing on building our brand!

We are currently holding our international collection due to COVID surges. But we already have a plan! Since one of our favorite travels was in Santorini, we would like to feature flowy linen skirts and dresses that match the beautiful vacay vibes of Greece.

Melody:

Borderless travel, for me, is to take everything in and experience what the country offers to the fullest.

Taysia:

Not limiting yourself. “We are all living life for the first time”. Take it in, immerse, travel, try new things and explore freely.

Through changing times
New ways of work style appear
We have more lifestyle choices than ever before

Not bound by existing frameworks
Everyone can be themselves
Embracing freedom and flexibility

This series aims to explore the stories of individuals who lead a life without boundaries.
Through interviews and encounters, we hope to reveal new values and perspectives on life.

Each person's story will be unique, showcasing their journey toward a more fulfilling and authentic life.
By sharing these stories, we hope to inspire others to pursue their dreams and live a life that uniquely represents themselves.

The 10th edition features the founders of MxT 2510, a Los Angeles-based sustainable clothing company that was founded by a mother and daughter duo, Melody Stein and Taysia Stein.

As a Deaf & CODA owned, and Asian owned business, how did they start a clothing brand, what’s their passion and aspirations?

During the height of COVID-19, Taysia got to graduate early from Arizona State University and she realized finding jobs might be challenging. So Melody asked Taysia if she would like to start a sustainable clothing brand.We started working on our business concept and we finally launched MxT 2510 in November 2021.

Second collection is “Los Angeles”, our current hometown.
The city is known for warmer weather, so we featured casualwear like our boatneck t-shirt, denim wide leg pants, and tank midi dress.. Within the collection, we also have a genderless collection featuring oversized hoodies, sweatpants and over sized T-shirts. For our sweatsets, we have beautiful Matcha green and Chai brown colors which you can win with our giveaway campaign!

Los Angeles collection is also featured in The 1 Hotel boutique shop, Conscious Market Co-Op, a Global eco-friendly sustainable hotel. As we share a similar concept, the Matcha Green and Chai Brown colors match the hotel decor perfectly which is light and wooden.

San Francisco is one of the most progressive cities for sustainability. For example, many restaurants use compostable plates and in order to minimize waste, everything is made to order. Doing business in the restaurant industry and growing up in the city, we learned how to operate sustainably.
We contributed to the planet by taking actions. So it was natural for us to reflect that policy on our brand.

We do not own excess stocks, also all of our items have timeless design and seasonless, which means you can wear it all year around.

Since we started the brand during COVID time, we faced a lot of difficulty. First of all, many factories closed down due to COVID, impacts and delays on the supply chain with unforeseen circumstances.

Through our research, we found out that compared to Los Angeles, Asia has a lot more options for sustainable factories, around 60% of GOTS* certified factories are in Asia and only 5-10% are in the US.

*GOTS certification = The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) was developed by leading standard setters to define world-wide recognised requirements for organic textiles.

Luckily, we were able to find a company with similar values in Los Angeles, with ethical and sustainable production so we ordered fabric with 100% organic cotton which we used for our first collection.

While applying for the jobs, I experienced rejection because I was deaf or/and Asian. I knew I wanted to start my business because I was able to give myself a job and create job opportunities for those who have gone through the same experience of being rejected.

So I knew that when we moved back to San Franciscoco, I wanted to start my own restaurant. Inspired by entrepreneur parents, growing my dream was to start a restaurant.
My husband I decided to give it a try and opened a Napolitan pizza shop with Asian influence until we sold to NGO in 2017..

It was a place to connect hearing and deaf community, we created job opportunities for deaf people and we connected my culture through food. Pizza was my art, my masterpiece.

We’d like to open a storefront with a cafe.

That would allow us to create job opportunities for Deaf and American Sign Language (ASL) signers. We want to have a communication barrier-free workplace. We’d like to show that we can bridge communities and cultures by working together.

With the store and cafe’s presence, we would be able to grow our customer base and appeal to a wider audience! In fact, we just opened a pizzeria in August 2023. So now we are focusing on building our brand!

We are currently holding our international collection due to COVID surges. But we already have a plan! Since one of our favorite travels was in Santorini, we would like to feature flowy linen skirts and dresses that match the beautiful vacay vibes of Greece.