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Mom making science-themed clothing for little girls, expands fashion line to adults

Svaha CEO Jaya Iyer launched her company in D.C. in 2015, after she was unable to find rocket scientist clothes for her young daughter, who wants to be an astronaut.

WASHINGTON D.C., DC — Taking ordinary cotton and canvas fabrics and putting on them extraordinary science-based designs, SVAHA USA clothing company was born.

CEO Jaya Iyer started creating "STEAM Themed," or Science, Tech, Engineering, Arts and Math clothing in 2015 near Washington D.C. when she noticed there weren't any aeroscience options for little girls like her daughter, who she named the company SVAHA after.

"She is the one who inspired me to start this company, but it also means so be it. I feel like it goes really well with what my company stands for,so that if there is something missing in the market, then we are bringing it and that is how it is going to be,” said Iyer, who used to teach Fashion buying and wrote a textbook on Fashion in Emerging Markets.

Credit: Mayim Bialik
Actress and Scientist Miayim Bialik models her koala clothing made by Svaha USA

Putting her Ph.D. in Fashion Merchandising to work, Iyer creates children's clothes with dinosaurs, constellations and the periodic table of elements, which has been a great conversation starter for the playground.

"Most people would ask, hey who is your favorite Disney princess? Or things like that but instead they started asking, oh so what do you love about science?” Iyer said.

She says sales for the science-centered clothes skyrocketed that she expanded the line to adults.

“I got so much of a demand from adults that I have started making adult clothing, and that is actually a bigger part of my business now,” said Iyer, the mother of two.

Her biggest customers are schoolteachers, who love that all the dresses are made with pockets.

Iyer is even designing dresses based on NASA's new James Webb space telescope images.

Growing her company to creating handbags, polo shirts, pajamas, hoodies and scarves, Iyer hopes her clothing breaks gender stereotypes in any industry.

"They are feminine women and yet they can be really good in STEM fields,” Iyer said.

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