Meet The 13 Amazing AAPI-Owned or Led Brands On Oprah's Favorite Things List

In 1975 Clara Sunwoo moved from Seoul Korea to New York City where she started her career as a seamstress. After working for many years tailoring fashion for countless women, she realized there was a need for better-fitting women's clothing. So, she decided to take matters into her own hands. And in 1997, along with her daughter Roseann, Sunwoo started her eponymous line of timeless-meets-modern designs. "Our goal is to have women not just look but experience and feel edgy, empowered, and beautiful," she says.

Liquid Leather Signature Stretch Zip Jackets

Lezé's founders, Karen Lee and Tanya Lee believe, "workwear should match the comfort and freedom of your lifestyle." With that ethos in mind, the two ditched their uncomfortable and expensive work duds to create their own line of "workleisure" in 2018. Crafted from recycled materials, the clothing is as comfy as your most snug set of pjs yet still looks professional.

Athena Sweater and Kendal Pants

Co-founder and CEO of Bandolier Maggie Drake created this line of luxe crossbody smartphone cases out of necessity. The busy mom was always misplacing her phone—in her own house. That is, until she decided her phone needed to be attached to her body at all times. She patented Bandolier's crossbody phone cases that also feature wallets for credit cards.

Billie Utility Crossbody with Case

Founded by Phuong Thanh in 2004, Tourance specicalizes in soft, sumptuous faux-fur blankets, scarves, wraps, and ponchos made locally in San Francisco. The scarf, which was a Favorite Thing in 2015, "is so impossibly soft that Gayle couldn't stop petting it. You won't believe it's made of machine-washable faux fur," Oprah says.

Luxurious Surroundings Florence Long Scarves

This Tokyo-based glove brand has been crafting special titanium-infused knit yarn that allows for touchscreen capabilities since 2010. Their high-tech conductive yarn is made by mixing ionized copper oxide and titanium into cotton before the spinning process starts. Oprah particularly loves the striped iterations. 

Marsh Touch Screen Gloves

Los Angeles-based designer Kay Sides searched far and wide for a cool, cozy, affordable fashion shoe that she could wear from a workout to work. When she couldn't find it, she made her own. The result is ROAM, a line of vegan neoprene and memory foam slides that mold to your feet. The ROAM brand also partners with local L.A. high schools to bring students on hikes with the mission to immerse them in nature and allow them to “roam”.  

ROAM the Puffy Sandals

Busy wife and mother of two, Hardeep Melamed could never find anything in the recesses of her handbag. Fed up with all the time she was wasting digging through its contents, she decided to get creative. She designed a fashionable and functional handbag, which organzied and compartmentalized everything she needed while on the go. The PurseN LittBag was one of Oprah's Favorite Things in 2018, which Oprah loved for its LED interior lights that let you "keep tabs on out-and-about essentials like ChapStick and keys." This year, her Ultra Jewelry Case makes the list. 

PurseN the Ultra Jewelry Case

Raised in India, founder Shrankhla Holecek moved to Beverly Hills for business school and soon found herself surrounded by cultural misappropriations of the rituals and Ayurvedic practices she had grown up with. To honor her heritage, she created UMA, a line of organic oils made from botanicals grown in India and blended in the Ayurvedic tradition. Named after Holecek's aunt, the brand "celebrates the ability to find peace amidst chaos, to balance our complex ambitions with our most fundamental emotions, and to find contentment in the knowledge that everything we need is already within us," Holecek says.

Pure Calm Bath and Body Oils Wellness Gift Set

Bombay Hair was founded to offer hair extensions that were both affordable—and luxurious (a find that was missing from the market). Their product range features clip-in, tape-in, and permanent hair extensions made from human hair. They've now expanded the brand to include a line of multi-functional styling tools like the 5-in-1 Curling Wand Featured on this year's Favorite Things list. 

5-in-1 Curling Wand

Compendium, a line of cards meant to celebrate the little things in life and give people a daily dose of hope, was started by former school teacher Dan Zadra over 30 years ago. His little cards with messages of inspiration quickly made their way around the world, into space, and under the deep sea to submarine crews. They were given to first responders at Ground Zero and put in the brave hands of cancer patients and teachers. Now, the brand also produces books and other gifts.

Life Notes Kits

Food lovers and friends, Eunice Byun and Dave Nguyen started Material to savor the simple things like eating with family, a tradition carried from their Korean and Vietnamese heritages across the ocean and into their own homes and the homes of people everywhere. Their kitchenware combines superior engineering with elegance to elevate cooking to an everyday art form. 

Material Knife Trio and Stand






   

For Monica Sunny, chai was an important ritual each day while growing up in India. It was the time when her family would come together. Sunny learned the art of chai blending with her family's recipes at the age of 12. When she later came to the United States and had a family of her own, she kept the tradition alive by having her own chai ritual with her sons each day. After creating chai boxes for friends, she decided to turn it into a business. Sunny sources her ingredients from India and creates specialized blends inspired by different regions in the country. 

The Ultimate Chai Lovers Gift Set

After meeting at a trade show, designer Tony Dennis and fashion entrepreneur Tony Reyat joined forces to create snakeskin-pattered travel bags crafted from vegan leather. The brand expanded to include a variety of products from clutches and backpacks to wallets and laptop bags. The duffels on this year's Favorite Things list combine style and utility and add an eye-catching vibe while on the go.

Tote & Carry Apollo 1 XL Duffles, 22" x 14" x 10"