A second life for clothes: How Sofia Alilović turned sewing into a business

An old dress, a second-hand find, or a piece of clothing that no longer fits doesn’t have to be the end of the story. For Sofia Alilović, a second-year Global Business Management student, it can be the beginning of something completely new.

Through Sohki Studio, Sofia reworks pre-loved clothing, creates new pieces, and offers alterations and custom requests. Her approach is simple: instead of letting clothes go to waste, she looks for ways to give them a new purpose.

“I try to see the potential in pieces that may no longer be worn and transform them into something that someone will want to wear again,” she explains.

Giving pre-loved pieces a new purpose

Sofia’s journey into sewing started with a gift. After her first year of college, her father gave her a sewing machine to celebrate her academic achievements. She had always been interested in sewing but had never had the opportunity to try it. “I was always a creative person growing up; I was just struggling to find exactly what I was passionate about,” she says.

She saw an opportunity to develop her creative skills while building something of her own, and to bring together her interests in creativity, fashion, and business. Many of the pieces Sofia works with come from relatives’ old clothes, thrift stores, and Vinted. She also works with customers who want to give clothes they already own a new look or a better fit, including sentimental pieces they would like to continue wearing.

Whenever possible, Sofia finds ways to reuse leftover fabric, whether by incorporating it into another part of a piece or turning it into something small and useful. For her, the process is about more than changing how a piece looks. It is about helping people keep and enjoy clothing that might otherwise be forgotten or thrown away.

Once Sofia finds a piece to work with, the creative process begins. She looks for inspiration, often on Pinterest, develops her idea, maps out the design, cuts the pieces, and starts putting everything together. “I don’t use any sewing patterns. I just eyeball the shapes and cuts because I find it more effective and flattering,” she says. She also shares the transformations through before-and-after videos, documenting the process and showcasing her work on social media.

“Learn along the way”

While Sohki Studio gives Sofia a space to explore her creativity, it has also become an opportunity to put her business knowledge into practice. After completing her freshman year, she was already able to apply lessons from courses such as Financial Accounting and Management to her own business.

“Financial Accounting has helped me understand how I organize my expenses and sales revenue to understand where I am profiting and how I can budget my expenses,” she says. Her studies have also helped her think about pricing and time management, while she looks forward to developing her marketing knowledge and using it to grow the business further.

Looking ahead, Sofia hopes to develop her own brand of pieces made from second-hand materials sourced through donations and thrift stores, while continuing to offer alterations and reworks.

And her advice to other students with creative ideas is to simply start.

“You don’t have to have everything figured out and planned out perfectly right away. Learn along the way.”