Zinke: Young, Fun, Playful, Luxury
What started as a side project of bridal accessories snowballed into a new joint-venture lingerie label for sisters Arin Robinson and Jessie Zinke.
Since 2004, Robinson has operated an event design and production company under her maiden name, Zinke. To enhance her event business, Robinson started making wedding garters, eyemask accessories and silk pajama sets that she sold to her clients and at wedding and gift shows. The silk sleepwear became a hit, so Robinson teamed up with her sister to launch a full innerwear collection under the Zinke label for Spring 2010. The siblings are based in their hometown of Tulsa, Okla., and produce the silk innerwear in Oakland, Calif.
Though neither sister is formally trained in innerwear design, Zinke employs her degree in visual communication from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, and Robinson applies her event-design experience of synchronizing several things and ideas into a cohesive unit.
“The whole idea is to make sure that whatever story you’re telling is carried through the whole process and that your end result tells that story,” Robinson said of both event planning and lingerie design.
The sophomore Fall 2010 collection, titled “Love Letters,” has a dramatic, moody cast in a slate, indigo, foggy lavender, black and dust color palette and comes in different silk fabrications.
“Everything looks luxurious, but it’s fun and young at the same time. This particular Fall collection has a theme throughout that’s supposed to conjure up emotions of mystery and drama and a dreamlike state,” Zinke said. Soft-cup bras have a structured look through pattern detail, and a halter jumper in hammered silk is sophisticated in its color and fabric choice but playful in its ruffled trim.
Zinke has been sold to retailers such as American Rag in California; A La Folie in Berkeley, Calif.; and Purrmission Lingerie in Santa Barbara, Calif. Wholesale prices range from $35 to $175. For more information, call (918) 794-3856.— Rhea Cortado
