As such, it doesn’t take long to realize the nonstop action here at “the compound,” as Jona calls it, is par for the course. And with Paris Fashion Week looming in the distance, there’s little to suggest things will be slowing down any time soon.
      The conversation begins with how the leap was made from initially making clothes just for himself to launching a label which manages to speak equally as loud to both men and women. “Equally”, as it turns out, was more by fortuitous accident than planned attack. “I actually make clothing for men,” Jona explains, “but I discovered that women buy much of it.” A closer examination of what it is, exactly, that blurs down the gender line with InAisce reveals more at play than just clever sizing and a neutral-leaning color palette. Slim-to-the-body silhouettes (no matter how many pieces you layer); materials deliberately chosen for their raw sensory appeal, like deeply-grained leathers and rough-hewn woolens; details which manage to be playful and expressive without being frilly . . . it’s not one thing –– it’s everything –– specifically chosen and deliberately done or left undone. And the sharper that collective visceral impact, the more hearts it will manage to steal.
      The road leading up to InAisce began its pavement nearly eight years ago, with the decision to leave his native Colorado for New York. After a stint in the retail industry, an invitation by a friend took the would-be designer to Italy. A year in and feeling uninspired, Jona realized what he required most was full immersion into a culture that would challenge his comfort zone – rather than cater to it. That perfect assault to his modus operandi would be found in Japan.