Ilana's apparel design history began when her grandmother entrusted her with a vintage Singer sewing machine at the age of five. Her first projects began in home goods and graduated to cool, hip clothing for her dolls. Eventually Ilana got a bit more brave and began making clothing for herself, picking wild textiles, sometimes even painting her own fabric.

While attending high school in Montana, Ilana became highly involved in sewing when her school offered the elective. Growing up in a small town she realized she would have to sew her own formalwear so as to ensure she would never be caught wearing the same dress as her female peers. She quickly became skilled at creating her own prom gowns, and even wore one of her own dresses when she won Miss Teen of Montana just before her senior year. 

Her parents urged her to attend art school to further her career in design, but Ilana, being the practical gal she is, chose to attend a private women's college in Atlanta, GA. While at Agnes Scott College Ilana worked hard on her Psychology and Music classes, and turned to pattern-making and sewing whenever she needed to clear her head. 

After graduation Ilana spent a few years back in Montana to try her hand in law. While working for a fantastic Missoula, MT law firm, she again found herself designing and sewing as her outlet. Her mother urged her to enroll in a local level competition where she could showcase her designs and have a good time with her so-called hobby. By the end of the three month competition, Ilana found herself on the cover of the Missoulian Newspaper, winning multiple competitions for her work, and landing the runner up title in the finale. At that point she had a comprehensive enough portfolio to leave law and to begin her Graduate studies in Fashion Design at the Academy of Art University. 

While attending graduate school, Ilana focused her attention on acquiring skills to fully engage in the Outdoor industry. She worked for a family owned and operated retail establishment (Lombardi Sports) as the Creative Director for 30+ hours per week.

Not only was she a full-time graduate student, she was also working on design, event planning, community outreach, marketing strategy, assistant buying and even helping out on the retail floor when necessary. Her goal was to land a job at one of the many Outdoor labels in the Bay Area by the end of graduate school. 

In her last semester, just as Ilana landed an internship in the Outerwear Design Department of The North Face, she was selected to show at the September 2011 Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York's Lincoln Park. Her collaborative project, sponsored by the Italian Trade Commission was a go! The North Face allowed her the week off to head to New York and showcase her designs.

What was just a three month internship at TNF quickly turned into a two-year stint designing outerwear for men and women. In her first six months she was given the task of designing and redesigning for the European and Asian markets, as well as supporting the global outerwear and sportswear teams on an ad-hoc basis.

At the beginning of her second year at The North Face, Ilana decided it was time to put her own voice out into the world. She realized that if she could have her side projects she could be even more inspired at her job. She began to design for her own product line: Iladora Apparel, which later launched with the help of one of her best friends, followed by a successful crowdfunding campaign in October of 2013. 

With a restructure at The North Face in May 2013, Ilana transitioned full-time to work on her own brand. The launch took place in October. The then local San Francisco company, Chrome Industries, graciously offered a product launch party at their headquarters for the Iladora product line. Upon seeing the apparel, Chrome's product line Director enlisted Ilana's expertise to help redesign and refit their men's and women's apparel. 

By the beginning of 2014 Ilana was able to make the time and began freelancing for Chrome. Pretty soon Chrome was flying her out to represent the brand at the Interbike Tradeshow in Vegas and naming her Lead Technical Designer for their performance outerwear and sportswear. It was at Chrome where she received a patent for one of her design features, naming her as the Inventor. 

Since her Chrome days, Ilana has worked for the mountain biking brand, Kitsbow, as their production and sewing manager, and then transitioned to a design position with Marmot to design women's pinnacle outerwear, as well as partnering with Exofficio for their women's travel line and underwear.

Now at Burton Snowboards, Ilana has quickly moved from senior designer to a lead designer position, managing other designers, mentoring and focusing her energy on the AK Burton product line - again, the most pinnacle outerwear the brand has to offer.

Contact: ilanadorallc@gmail.com