Dana Davis & Women’s Bravery to Build Back Better
Dana Davis was a part of the sustainable fashion conversation before it ever really existed, and brings that expertise to Custom Collaborative as our board co-chair.
In a field often driven by ego, speed, and scale, Dana and the career she’s built represent a different approach: women coming together to create new systems rooted in purpose and collaboration.
From age 12, Dana had her sights set on New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. While studying there, she launched a business reconstructing secondhand clothing and grew it into a Williamsburg storefront with global retail accounts after graduating in 2003.
Alongside running her brand, she freelanced in product development. When she closed the business after six years, a client hired her to oversee production. Dana realized the puzzle of turning a creative vision into something commercially viable was one she enjoyed solving, and spent the next several years expanding her skills at companies both large and small.
In 2010, just as Dana was considering stepping away from production, a friend called: Mara Hoffman was looking for someone to scale her brand’s operations. Dana was already a fan (the two used to sell at the same boutiques), and she quickly felt this was the right opportunity for her.
“It was taking all of the pieces of all of the places I had been and putting them into one full package.”
Dana joined the small but mighty team and spent the next five years overseeing production logistics and onboarding new partners, with particular success moving the brand’s swimwear production to Los Angeles.
By 2012, Dana and Mara both became mothers! Such a massive life transition deepened their shared sense of responsibility and sparked an increased awareness of the impact everyday products have on their bodies
It all got them thinking about how they could do better.
“At the time, we weren’t even using the word sustainability. We were using the word mindfulness.”
Dana and Mara were doing their own digging to learn about the environmental and human rights issues common in fashion supply chains, long before sustainability was the industry buzzword it is today.
What they found became impossible to ignore.
Dana recalls Mara approaching her in January 2015, with tears in her eyes and an ultimatum: they either shut down the Mara Hoffman brand or figure out how to do things differently. She didn't want to keep contributing to a system that wasn’t working for people or the planet.
“I knew this was the greatest opportunity that was ever given to me,” Dana recalls, “How amazing in the sense of this woman saying, this is calling me from an emotional perspective versus the business case behind it.”
When Dana returned from maternity leave, her role shifted entirely, and she jumped right into educating herself on this Wild West of sustainable production. Fortunately, she didn’t have to navigate it alone. The brands already working in this space were eager to share their learnings — a delightful surprise in an industry marked by exclusivity and proprietary secrets.
Dana would go on to become Mara Hoffman’s VP of Sustainability, transforming the brand’s supply chain and helping normalize conversation around sustainability in fashion.
Years later, after significant supply chain progress overseas, the team recognized a missing piece: deeper local community engagement.
That’s when Custom Collaborative CEO Ngozi Okaro crossed paths with Celine DeCarlo, a colleague of Dana’s at Mara Hoffman who immediately connected the two. What began as a conversation quickly evolved into action.
From the start, the partnership centered on access. The Mara Hoffman office became a common stop for participants in the Custom Collaborative Training Institute, meeting with teams across design and production, and hearing directly from leadership about how a values-driven brand operates.
L-R: Ngozi Okaro, Dana Davis, Mara Hoffman & Abrima Erwiah, 2022 Fashion Act Panel
The collaboration only deepened from there with the launch of what would become the New York Workforce Development Coalition, and later building the framework for a formal apprenticeship program for Custom Collaborative graduates to gain paid, hands-on experience.
After years of working with Ngozi and Custom Collaborative, Dana said joining the board felt like a natural next step.
She now serves as our board co-chair, continuing to shape the future of a more equitable and sustainable fashion industry just like she did at Mara Hoffman.
In 2024, she founded her eponymous firm, Dana Davis Consulting, working as a strategic advisor to help companies align sustainability, profitability, and long-term resilience.
That commitment to building better systems (and bringing others along in the process) has defined Dana’s career. Her journey reflects what’s possible when women trust their intuition when something feels misaligned, share knowledge generously, and build toward something better — together.
This Women’s History Month, we’re reflecting on the generations of women who have fought for a brighter tomorrow, even without recognition, resources, or equitable access to opportunity.
Today, we can carry that legacy forward by coming together to close the gap between talent and access. Your donation helps provide the hands-on training, business education, and community support women need to transform their skills into sustainable careers.
Help us invest in a more equitable future — one that is designed and built by her — with a one-time or monthly gift. Every dollar has an impact!