Making Their Dream a Reality

Two Pali High Sophomores Launch Inception Clothing Brand

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Sadie Sabin and Abby Tarashandegan are like two peas in a pod—always together. Only now they are not just best friends, they are business partners.

The 15-year-olds are sophomores at Palisades Charter High School and in the fall, they started an online clothing company called Inception—a fitting name because owning their own clothing line has been a goal of theirs since they were sixth-graders at Paul Revere Charter Middle School.

“For years, we’ve dreamed of designing a clothing line, and now we’ve finally made our dream a reality,” Sabin said. “Inception is our brand, made for teens and young adults looking for affordable clothes that are comfortable, easy to wear and incredibly stylish. We take pride in designing select pieces of various styles with the intention of creating something for everyone.”

Both girls are in the same Spanish and history class at Pali High, and both are on the cross country and track teams (Sabin runs the mile, Tarashandegan runs the 400, and they both run the relays), although they have not been able to compete this year due to the pandemic.

“We both came up with the idea,” Tarashandegan shared. “Initially, the website was one of the hardest things about it. Then it took six months to produce samples of drawings with our ideas. My dad works in the textile industry, so he has a lot of connections with people who make clothes. One of his friends asked us to pick out fabrics and measurements. We did 10 samples, and when they arrived, we picked the ones that stood out to us.”

Sabin lives above campus and has two older siblings. Her dad used to own the yogurt shoppe on Swarthmore, while her mom is the founder and president of Working With Autism in Sherman Oaks.

Tarashandegan lives in the Riviera, not far from the golf course, and has two sisters. The family moved from the San Fernando Valley to the Palisades when Abby was 10, and as fate would have it, she wound up in Sabin’s class at Canyon Charter Elementary School.

Like most new businesses, Inception has had its ups and downs, but the girls have combined their creative talents and keen fashion sense to offer clothes for teenage girls and young women. They have quickly come to realize their new endeavor is a full-time job.

When asked how much of their time it takes they shout in unison: “It’s an everyday thing!”

“Yes, it’s been kind of a rocky start,” Sabin admitted. “It’s hard to get the word out, we tell our friends, but we’ll definitely be able to do more in the summertime. The main reason we started it is because we always wanted to. Now, we want to keep this going and grow it further. Our purpose was just to have versatile pieces.”

“We have three sizes—small, medium and large,” Tarashandegan elaborated. “We have about six items, including different colors. We launched November 30 when we were still in lockdown, so restaurants weren’t open yet. Now that they are, we’ll put up flyers and also send some products to people on Instagram and TikTok.”

In addition to drawing up designs customers their age will like, they also try to make their line affordable.

“We thought about whether this or that style is something we’d wear ourselves,” Sabin said. “Then we looked at similar designs on higher-end websites and lowered our cost a lot. We want all of our prices to be reasonable for girls our age.”

Sabin and Tarashandegan do the packaging themselves and ship in five to seven days.

In addition, one dollar from each purchase goes to a different charity every month. They donated their first proceeds to Working With Autism, a private behavior agency that specializes in the treatment of autism and related developmental disorders.

In the future they hope to give a percentage of their profits to veterans and to prevent ocean pollution. They also want to expand their clothing and accessories to include unisex items.

Inception has been a learning experience, but it has strengthened their bond. In their free time they like to surf at Will Rogers State Beach, play tennis at Palisades Recreation Center, hike in Temescal Gateway Park or up Bienveneda, run together (they even listen to the same music), and hang out in the Village or at Third Street Promenade.

Not surprisingly, they both aspire to go to college in New York, possibly at Columbia. If they end up at the same school pursuing the same major … hey, that is fine by them.

“Our goal is what makes Inception different—when you’re wearing our brand, we want you to feel unique, confident and empowered to take on the day,” Tarashandegan said. “You can feel even better knowing that Inception will donate one dollar with each purchase to a different charity every month.

“We’re thrilled to present to you the results of our hard work and passion. We hope you enjoy Inception.”

To browse or place an order, visit inceptionclothing.com, email info@inceptionclothing.com or follow the brand on Instagram @inceptionclothing.