When I first met Elle Wang in June 2021, she had just started her maternity wear company, Emilia George, in her family’s loft on Broadway and was simultaneously running a partnerships program at the UN. Now she has her first brick-and-mortar on Greenwich and Duane and is selling wholesale to retailers such as Saks, Neiman Marcus and Rent the Runway. She quite her day job in March.

“It was just not possible as a side hustle anymore,” Elle said.

The new store carries her own line of maternity clothing — sophisticated and simple designs for work and play that are also designed for those transition months after birth. But she also now carries anything for a mother’s daily life, including clothing and accessories for women and children, home and health products.

She has her “curated mom boxes,” a collection of items designed and boxed as a gift; Hawkins home goods; Ora teas; headbands, sunglasses, candles, products from independent designers she has met in her travels — and she keeps the fridge stocked with water, CBD drinks and baby food for customer emergencies. Her hope is people come in to browse, check the products, feel and touch things IRL.

“I’ve always been big on in-person shopping,” she said. “There’s something irreplaceable for people to come and be in a different environment than their desk at home. A mom came by and had 20 minutes and that’s the perfect experience.”

Elle has kept her office in Tribeca on West Broadway (and most of the shoots for her line are done on our streets here). Her kids are now enrolled at Avenues so the family moved their home to Chelsea. For now she’s still bootstrapping and keeping costs low, but growth has been tracking at about 10 percent a month. The eventual goal is to get investors to expand the retail.

“My ambition is to take this motherhood concept nationwide,” she said. “I think we definitely stand out in the products and the aesthetic compared to other maternity brands. We’re more modern.”

She’s also planning a boys-specific line of clothing that is not so staid as what’s out there, where little boys get dressed as mini men — adding patterns, colors, fun details, “spice it up a bit.”

“My friends at the UN are like, what happened to you?” she said. “And I say, ‘Everything.’ People come in and say, ‘we are so glad you are here’ and that’s music to my ears.”

Emilia George
325 Greenwich at Duane
Monday – Sunday: 9:30a to 6:30p
tribeca@emiliageorgeofficial.com
646-422-7678