THE DIARY 18: Able & Ready - Able Made

FashionWellness

Aug 14

Suzanne McKenzie, Founder/Chief Creative Officer - Able Made
Photo: Amy Lombard

Bold, eager and always ready for adventure, Suzanne McKenzie, Founder and COO of Able Made, the “Original Off Pitch Soccer Style” fashion brand and the Founder/Executive Director of the Ucal Breakaway Foundation (UMBF) has earned her rightful spot smack in the middle of the whirlwind of fresh interest in the world’s favorite game – soccer – here in the U.S.

McKenzie launched the Able Made brand in 2013, driven by a fearless entrepreneurial spirit and passion to use her design chops to give back. Able Made combines soccer-inspired apparel and accessories with responsible sourcing/manufacturing – giving back both through its commitment to sustainable practices while supporting her non-profit foundation, UMBF. Able Made strikes the perfect trifecta of soccer + purpose + high style – hitting a sweet spot for luxury brands “looking to play” in the global sports arena in sync with a growing audience of soccer enthusiasts.

————

“With every World Cup, soccer becomes more visible in the U.S., and now it’s finally O.K. for Americans to like it.

This isn’t only about us. The U.S. playing and caring about soccer matters to the rest of the world a lot more than we think. It is, of course, the world’s game, the sport of the poor in most countries. In many places, it’s the only sport that matters.”

Adam Elder, for The New Yorker

————

I have been excited to watch both Able Made and UMBF evolve and flourish over the years. Each of these efforts is not for the faint of heart, nonetheless she has been tackling both in parallel. I got curious to see how Suzanne was doing and how it was all going when I came across an Able Made pop-up shop at the 1 Hotel in Brooklyn – the snappy and happy socks caught my attention!

I made a visit to see Suzanne at the Able Made SOHO pop-up shop in lower Manhattan, November of 2021, just as the world was slowly re-emerging from the pandemic. She was doing great and greeted me with a big smile.

*At the Able Made Pop-Up Shop, SOHO/NYC 2021*

*Able Made - from the Limited Edition Made2.0 Collection / Photo: Christopher Schoonover*

————

ABLE MADE x Burberry Blake Short

Arriving just in time to commemorate the beginning of the 2023 Women's World Cup, Able Made — a sustainable and sporty US-made clothing brand — has partnered with Burberry on a limited-edition collection that uses upcycled fabrics from the brand to create luxurious, long-lasting pieces, all of which are designed with style and movement in mind. We love the elevated look of these bermuda-like shorts, which even feature a cool soccer-inspired design on the front. Plus, in an effort to continue supporting the next generation of soccer stars, Able Made also donates a portion of all profits to initiatives that champion healthy lifestyles for youth athletes.

Kyley Warren, for Popsugar

————

When my curiosity brought this to the top of my list earlier this year, I had originally thought this would be an interdisciplinary design story married with entrepreneurship. I have been fascinated with the mash-ups of nearly everything we know – loving the mixing and matching in new and exciting ways in the hands of designers, makers, and artists. There is much to be said about that topic here, and in Suzanne’s world - more on that later - but as I spent more time catching up with Suzanne and hearing about the Able Made trajectory, I realized that this is really a story about resilience and love.

*UCal Breakaway Foundation - Summer Camp / Photo: Kim Lowe*

Suzanne was a young and hungry designer and an engaged activist when we first met in Boston back in the late 90’s. She was studying advertising and graphic design at Suffolk University (where I learned she had met her husband Ucal McKenzie) and NE School of Art & Design. She was involved in the AIGA Boston Chapter, taking on various leadership roles and eventually serving as Chapter President. While she pursued her design career in advertising, product design, branding, apparel design and beyond, she always kept one foot firmly rooted in community.

Suzanne McKenzie, founder of the Ucal McKenzie Breakaway Foundation (left), Denise Korn (center) and Fritz Klaetke, Visual Dialogue (right) at the Boston's Department of Parks and Recreation, reveal of a new AED at Moakley Park in Boston, Mass. on July 26, 2023.

Soccer brought Ucal into Suzanne’s life when she started the first women’s club at Suffolk University and brought in Ucal to help coach. Ucal was a dedicated high school counselor, varsity soccer coach and city youth mentor. In 2009, Ucal passed away suddenly after suffering cardiac arrest playing a semi-pro soccer game in Boston. Suzanne turned this tragedy into a celebration of his life by creating the Ucal Breakaway Foundation (UMBF) – bringing leading soccer, art and health education to young people, including hands-only cpr and AED awareness, is dedicated to his memory.

Fourteen years after Ucal died from sudden cardiac arrest while playing soccer at Moakley Park in Boston, Suzanne McKenzie returned for the first time. Now, she hopes to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else. Through the Ucal McKenzie Breakaway Foundation, named after Suzanne’s late husband, Boston will have an automated external defibrillator (AED) located at Moakley Park, available for anyone to use. Jackson Tolliver,Via Boston Globe

As for the Able Made ‘mash-up’ story, this award-winning entrepreneur lets her creativity inspire multi-dimensional partnerships, distinctive collabs and a layered approach to inventing a new niche in athletic style that is both beautiful inside and out.

The key tenets of the Able Made philosophy:

Great Design that Does Good
Responsible Manufacturing
Sustainability:
- MADE2 FABRICS: Partnering with others to repurpose materials and minimize waste
- Working with production partners who meet Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and Bluesign criteria and promote safe and equitable working conditions for their teams.
- Able Made is made in the U.S.A.
  Learn more about Able Made x Sustainability here.

OFF PITCH SOCCER STYLE, yes. ON POINT, certainly.

A perfect storm, with a strong magnetic pull has connected the dots, putting Able Made, UMBF, and Suzanne’s big heart in the heart of it all.