Meet Jen Sharbani | Creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jen Sharbani, founder of CVRGE, and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jen, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?

About 12 years ago, when my two girls were little, I was working for a European Luxury fashion house. At one point, I desperately needed a break from the pump and grind of the fashion industry to focus on their growing needs and my role as their mom.

At the time, I really saw a gaping hole within the modest women’s fashion market. I spent a lot of time at the tailor building up my existing designer wardrobe, making it more covered to my liking, and mourning over the cute prints and styles I couldn’t wear because they’re too revealing.

Back then, the modest fashion market was in the baby stages and generally lacking fun colors and trendy styles for modest women and was quite undesirable. I promised myself when I return, I’d bring some awesome fashion to modest women!

Being modest is a journey, and unlike anything else, comes with its own set of blessings and challenges. Fashion should never be a challenge!

Coming back to fashion over a decade later, I decided to do it on my modest terms! I saw many great clothing brands had emerged in the modest market and I came to realize that still a really challenging area for me (and presumably other women) is/ was being modest while at the beach or the pool. Aside from being constantly bombarded with messages normalizing body-bearing clothing at the beach, those messages are not in line with everyone’s values. It’s ok to keep your body private despite what society deems “normal”. I started to question why I should wear such body-revealing attire in public. Am I really comfortable wearing glorified undergarments in front of other people? What if women who want to cover themselves want to look cute, attractive, and maintain their style even while covered up?

So from that perspective, I began to create CVRGE. It’s a line of covered swimwear that is anything but basic, delivering a much needed fashion kiss to women like me, struggling with being modest and wearing cutting-edge fun fashion. The brand aims to include all fashionable ladies who are working on their modesty to those who need full coverage. The brand is also size inclusive up to 3x.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?

What sets CVRGE apart from any other business is that it’s brings being modest to the next level. Fun prints, colors and flattering styling will help modest women feel amazing when wearing  CVRGE!

I’m most proud of taking the first step in actually producing the collection and even more proud to be making everything in the heart of NYC. I know the people along the way: from the sample makers, to the graders, and staff in the factories. There are actual people who live near me helping making CVRGE a success. That’s important to me. My brand is slow fashion-it can be worn for many seasons and it’s built to last. I produce items as needed to avoid waste. Each CVRGE item gets packed in a reusable zip pouch, which is like a little gift with purchase. But really aims at minimizing all that packaging waste cluttering up our landfills.  Ladies who buy my product just love the packaging!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

I live in New York- so if a friend wanted to do something totally New York I would take them directly to Times Square to sit on the bleachers. There you can feel the vibration of the city and see the world from that one spot! It’s a melting pot of culture, fashion and energy!!

Next I would go for a walk along the high line and end up down in Nolita for some shopping.

We’d eat at Planta, a vegan spot in the east village, and later we’d go for a cocktail at a cute local watering hole.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I thank g-d for endowing me with unlimited creative energy a drive to constantly discover beauty in the world. I am thankful to my mother for encouraging me to go for it. I’m thankful to my father for giving me the tools to get started. I’m grateful for the women who believe in my brand and see my vision- they give me the energy and inspiration to keep going!

Website: www.cvrgeny.com

Instagram: @cvrgeny

Twitter: @cvrgeny

Facebook: @cvrgeny

Image Credits
Image credits: CVRGE LLC.