Sainabou "Sai" Lowe started SAIbysai by painting a pair of thrifted pants in her college dorm and selling copies to classmates for $20. Now her hand-painted wearable art has been on a SoHo billboard through a Gushers x Hypebeast collab, and she still runs the whole brand herself.

Sai tells us how she went from Pace to LIM College and graduated into COVID. She talks about the Hypebeast call she thought was a scam, vetting 20 manufacturers, and the five-color wool sweater that became her first manufactured piece. She also covers the origin of the Sai face, producing a runway show nearly solo, why pop-ups outsell Instagram, pushing to be heard as a woman of color in streetwear, and her plan to hire her first core team member.

The inaugural Womansplain Summit is October 16 at The Malin Chelsea, NYC, keynoted by Robinhood CIO Stephanie Gui ...