Behind the Seams
Entireworld x Maisonette
Scott Sternberg launched his new color-fueled basics brand, Entireworld, in 2018 with a youTube video and a crystal clear vision. He wanted to focus on putting the love into the simple stuff. Now, his transcendent monochrome sweatsuits—with their covetable colors and perfectly soft terry—are available for the littlest loungers, exclusively at Maisonette. Here, we caught up with Scott on how the collaboration came to be, why it was so important to him to get back to basics and where that dreamy, made for Instagram color palette comes from.
It seems logical that the Entireworld would extend to kids, but how exactly did the collaboration with Maisonette come to be? Did you know when you launched the company that you wanted to do something for kids?
It really started with Nicole Cari who is the Brand Director here and has worked with me for probably fifteen years. She is a mother and brings that perspective to the design process and the messaging and all that stuff. We didn’t know this when we launched, but our most popular products are these colorful sweatsuits so it just felt like a very natural segue to make little tiny ones.
Can you speak to why it was important to you to focus on the basics?
I was just thinking of where there was an opportunity to add value to something. I wasn’t really interested in being a part of sort of the main line fashion conversation. So I just thought that trying to make the stuff we wear everyday really covetable was a great design challenge and it really defined how I live in L.A. and what I want to wear. I was just thinking of how to make that stuff really special.
It really started with Nicole Cari who is the Brand Director here and has worked with me for probably fifteen years. She is a mother and brings that perspective to the design process and the messaging and all that stuff. We didn’t know this when we launched, but our most popular products are these colorful sweatsuits so it just felt like a very natural segue to make little tiny ones.
Can you speak to why it was important to you to focus on the basics?
I was just thinking of where there was an opportunity to add value to something. I wasn’t really interested in being a part of sort of the main line fashion conversation. So I just thought that trying to make the stuff we wear everyday really covetable was a great design challenge and it really defined how I live in L.A. and what I want to wear. I was just thinking of how to make that stuff really special.
I loved what you have about “putting the love into the simple stuff,” which also seems to beautifully sums up life with children. But can you speak to that as a designer and to these pieces in particular?
I worked on Entireworld for about three years before we launched. Other than all of the business stuff, I was developing fabric from sustainable yarns from Japan and Korea and China and working with mills and factories to do the invisible stuff and through that process of design and the iterations of all the stuff we made in the beginning, it really became clear that color was at least for now the most important design element and if you could strip off enough other bells and whistles then it could become really transformative and exciting, alluring and sensual and all of those things you want.
To your point about color being so important, the colors are amazing and perfect for little ones! What was your inspiration for the color palette?
I watch a lot of old movies. I’ve always gotten a lot of inspiration from that sort of feeling and vibe and there’s great colors. French New Wave and Italian cinema in the 70’s and all of that stuff, so I was inspired by that. But I just have a ton of fabric references around that I’ve gathered for the past fifteen plus years of doing this and really just going with an instinct that feels right, starting with something and building it out. It’s very free form, it’s not a seasonal or collection business. We’re just sort of broadening the palette as we go.
Can you tell us more about the fabric, which is the same for the women and children’s sweatsuits?
Part of the iteration process from doing this stuff is you get a lot of feedback from customers, so last fall, we used a really cool yarn that was really expensive, it was three different yarns, it was a little heavy for women, so we tried to do a lighter more gauzy version this time that was closer to our spring weight. So the kids stuff is the same exact 100% organic cotton, brushed Terry that the adult stuff is.
Simplicity is such an attractive concept when it comes to kids! Can you speak a bit to how you imagine these pieces for children living out in the world?
Well, there’s something kind of transformative as an adult wearing a monochrome color sweatsuit.. It’s very strange. People look, in a cool way. In a weird way, it’s probably more natural for kids. It’s just a clever, smart uniform.
And as a design object, the little tiny sweatsuits are so ridiculously cute. That’s my favorite part of it!
I worked on Entireworld for about three years before we launched. Other than all of the business stuff, I was developing fabric from sustainable yarns from Japan and Korea and China and working with mills and factories to do the invisible stuff and through that process of design and the iterations of all the stuff we made in the beginning, it really became clear that color was at least for now the most important design element and if you could strip off enough other bells and whistles then it could become really transformative and exciting, alluring and sensual and all of those things you want.
To your point about color being so important, the colors are amazing and perfect for little ones! What was your inspiration for the color palette?
I watch a lot of old movies. I’ve always gotten a lot of inspiration from that sort of feeling and vibe and there’s great colors. French New Wave and Italian cinema in the 70’s and all of that stuff, so I was inspired by that. But I just have a ton of fabric references around that I’ve gathered for the past fifteen plus years of doing this and really just going with an instinct that feels right, starting with something and building it out. It’s very free form, it’s not a seasonal or collection business. We’re just sort of broadening the palette as we go.
Can you tell us more about the fabric, which is the same for the women and children’s sweatsuits?
Part of the iteration process from doing this stuff is you get a lot of feedback from customers, so last fall, we used a really cool yarn that was really expensive, it was three different yarns, it was a little heavy for women, so we tried to do a lighter more gauzy version this time that was closer to our spring weight. So the kids stuff is the same exact 100% organic cotton, brushed Terry that the adult stuff is.
Simplicity is such an attractive concept when it comes to kids! Can you speak a bit to how you imagine these pieces for children living out in the world?
Well, there’s something kind of transformative as an adult wearing a monochrome color sweatsuit.. It’s very strange. People look, in a cool way. In a weird way, it’s probably more natural for kids. It’s just a clever, smart uniform.
And as a design object, the little tiny sweatsuits are so ridiculously cute. That’s my favorite part of it!