Meet
The Educator
Real design.
Real skills.
Real kids.
Where it started.
Sewing ran in my family for generations — but nobody taught me. I watched, I copied, I worked it out myself. Two decades of stitching and a Fashion Design degree later, I turned it into a business.
In 2004 I launched Shortstak Childrenswear — recognised for its innovation and creativity, and sold through four sales reps to boutiques across North America.
Children's clothing was my beginning. Two decades later I'm back where I started, except now the children are the designers.
The wake-up call.
In 2008 I was working inside New York's corporate fashion machine when the environmental math stopped adding up — the water, the waste, the speed. I left and built Pure Blankz Organic Fashion, one of the first organic apparel labels in North America, developing sustainable manufacturing standards at a time when almost nobody was asking for them. Apparel Magazine named us a Top 40 Innovator.
I built the bridge.
In 2014, I founded Source My Garment to connect fashion brands with ethical manufacturing partners — and to give designers the knowledge to produce responsibly, through workshops, coaching, and courses.
I spent those years inside factories and supply chains, negotiating, sampling, and solving problems in real time. The work led to features in Women's Wear Daily, Sourcing Journal, and Just-Style, and to speaking engagements and podcasts advocating for fair trade and supply chain transparency.
"There's a huge misconception that all factories are unethical." -Adila Cokar
I wrote the book.
In 2019 I published Source My Garment: The Insider's Guide to Responsible Offshore Manufacturing — the guide I wished existed when I started, taking brands step by step through ethical production instead of leaving them to learn it the hard way. It's carried in libraries worldwide, taught at LaSalle College Vancouver, and was covered by Women's Wear Daily, Forbes, and Elle.
I Proved It Can Be Done.
In 2020 I launched The Good Tee to prove ethical apparel could be done properly at scale. I could name every factory that touched our t-shirt — Fairtrade certified through Fairtrade Canada, GOTS and OEKO-TEX organic cotton, full transparency from farm to finished garment. We earned B Corp certification and raised our impact score by 30% to 113 at recertification. Forbes, Elle, and BuzzFeed covered the work.
"Clothing is made by people, not machines." - Adila Cokar
Transparency isn't paperwork. It's knowing whose hands made what you're wearing — and once you can name them, you design differently.
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Now I Teach Kids Fashion Design.
I moved to Dubai, lived next to a school, and asked on a whim whether they wanted a fashion programme. They said yes. That was Arbor, then Arcadia, then clubs filling term after term.
Now I hand children the process I use professionally, without watering it down. They lead their own project, make their own calls, solve their own problems, and present the result. Children who started with me are on their third round — I'm writing new courses because they've outgrown the old ones.
Because a child who has planned something, solved the problems in it, and stood up to present it carries that confidence into everything else. Fashion is just where they discover it.
⭐Leadership — owning a project and taking the room when they present
⭐Problem-solving — working through it themselves, not being rescued
⭐Planning — idea to finished piece, with every step between
⭐Confidence — what happens after the other three
What Children Learn in My Fashion Design Classes
Try a session before you commit.
Kids fashion design classes in Dubai — term clubs, weekend workshops, holiday camps,
and fashion birthday parties. Small groups, screen-free, ages 8–15. Schools and educators welcome.