FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 29, 2010

Profile Public Relations

CONTACT: Jennie Hatton or Clare Pelino

(215) 985-2106 / www.profilepr.com

Designer Sarah Van Aken brings her

Locally Made/Globally Inspired/Socially Conscious/Community Based

Fashion Label SA VA^™

nation-wide with online store launch www.savafashion.com

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Pioneering fashion entrepreneur Sarah Van Aken has launched www.savafashion.com to bring the same socially conscious retail choices from her successful flagship boutique SA VA (1700 Sansom Street, 215-587-0004) to the rest of the nation.  Like in her store, the interactive web site allows women to shop for fashion-forward garments by selecting seven different sustainable categories including:  Local Made; Fair Trade; Hand Made; Organic; All Natural; Made in the U.S.A.; and Recycled.

“Every SA VA garment carries a label that lets the buyer know which practices were engaged in for the production of the piece.  This way our customers can make apparel choices, both in the store and online, that make them feel good about purchasing attractive items that are ethically made,” said Van Aken, who’s SA VA was just named Best New Boutique by Philadelphia Magazine (August issue).

90 percent of SA VA’s designs are beautifully crafted in Van Aken’s garment center located adjacent to the boutique in downtown Philadelphia.  Van Aken only uses materials that fall into the sustainability categories and low-impact production methods to reduce SA VA’s carbon footprint. For other merchandise, she hand-selects each item to ensure it fits into SA VA’s mission of environmentally sound fashion.  Online shoppers can go to www.savafashion.com, click on “Shop By” and select from a variety of sustainable fashion practices.

Leanne Krueger-Braneky, Executive Director of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia, a business organization that promotes companies that have a positive social and environmental impact is a SA VA customer. “My favorite part of the SA VA shopping experience is checking the tags on each garment,” said Brankey.  “I can tell right away which garments are made locally, which use organic materials, and which use fair trade labor.  Shopping for clothing that is in line with my values has never been so easy.”

Van Aken’s line highlights warm, strong colors that evoke all that inspires the SA VA woman:  the arts, distant cultures, urban living, politics and different time periods.  Sizes range from 2 to 16, and prices range from $40 for a shirt to $350 for a hand-printed, hand-sewn coat or dress.

“Our clientele is sensual, self-made and one part activist,” says Van Aken.  “They are women who reinvent themselves every day, and their fashion choices are extensions of who they are.”

Sarah Van Aken comes from a tradition of clothing design; her mother and grandmother used to hand-craft all the family’s clothing when she was young and have worked with her to envision SA VA.  After graduating with a B.A. in Fine Art from the University of Delaware, she worked in garment production at an apparel wholesaler in New York City.  Her first foray into owning her own business came in 2005, when she launched Van Aken Custom, a line of meticulously measured and tailored men’s dress shirts based in Philadelphia.  Since then, she has launched Van Aken Signature, a line of custom-designed uniforms for the hospitality industry, as well as SA VA, her line of effortlessly stylish, women’s high fashion garments at affordable prices.

For more information about Sarah Van Aken, SA VA or her other lines, please call (215) 587-0004 or visit www.savafashion.com.

About SA VA

SA VA is a trademark of the S.V.A. Holdings Corporation, a vertically integrated private label apparel business located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  S.V.A Holdings Company is comprised of four private apparel brands; Van Aken Custom, made to measure tailored dress shirts; Van Aken Signature, custom hospitality uniforms; VA Private Label, garment manufacturing services; and SA VA, women’s ready-to-wear apparel.  Each of the company’s brands integrates high design aesthetics, quality construction and socially consciousness business practices and community building through; local job creation, the incorporation of sustainable and recycled raw materials, community partnerships and local production in our Philadelphia Garment Center.