Our Story

Designed with intention. Made to last.

Nina Kharey, Founder/CEO

Founded with Resilience

I grew up around textiles. My father managed a knitting factory, and my mother was a menswear seamstress. Fabric and construction were part of everyday life. I was always interested in how an idea moves from a sketch into something real, something worn, lived in, and felt on the body.

I trained in fashion and in engineering. Those two worlds shaped how I think: creativity grounded in problem-solving, beauty paired with precision. After a personal loss that changed the course of my life, I founded my fashion label, NONIE, as a way to find balance and meaning through design. The brand became known for relaxed silhouettes, refined essentials, and a quiet approach to style. Work that eventually reached an international audience.

In 2018, one of my designs was worn by Meghan Markle shortly after her marriage to Prince Harry. The moment brought international attention to my work and marked a turning point in my career. We went on to show at New York Fashion Week multiple times, and I experienced firsthand the scale, speed, and appetite of the global fashion system.

While the exposure was transformative, it also made the industry’s excess impossible to ignore. The pressure to produce more, faster, often without regard for longevity or waste, pushed me to question whether the traditional fashion model aligned with the values I was developing as a designer. I began exploring alternatives, including shifting the business toward rental and more circular models.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, those questions became urgent. Luxury fashion felt disconnected from what the world needed, so I shifted my work toward producing medical masks for frontline workers. That experience brought me into closer contact with healthcare professionals and with the realities of what they wear every day.

It was during this time that I noticed their scrubs.

They were functional, but often uncomfortable. Designed for utility, but not for the body inside them. I saw an opportunity to apply what I knew about fabric, construction, and restraint to a category that had been overlooked.

FOLDS was created to bring a fashion perspective to medical uniforms. Not to make them trend-driven, but to make them considered. Every piece is developed with attention to drape, proportion, and movement, using materials engineered to be skin-safe and durable over long hours. Our garments are cut and sewn in North America and released in limited editions, with intention rather than excess.

Responsibility is part of the process, not a marketing message. From material choices to production methods, FOLDS is designed to reduce waste by focusing on longevity, care, and quality.

FOLDS is for those who lead quietly, for people who care how they feel in what they wear, and who believe that confidence doesn’t need to announce itself.

This is workwear, considered.

Nina
@ninakharey