Exclusive | Buzzy clothing brand for teens and tweens has a secret weapon: A 16-year-old designer

Ariella Maizner is sew talented.At age 6, she took her first sewing class and discovered a natural affinity.At age 9, she launched her own fashion line, Theme, after friends started asking about the feminine frocks she was making and wearing to birthday parties and bat mitzvahs.Initially, she tie-dyed shirts on the roof of her family’s Manhattan apartment to sell at boutiques and pop-ups.When she was 10, Rent the Runway invited her to show a collection of sequined hoodies and matching skirts at New York Fashion Week.Now, at age 16, Maizner has a growing brand that’s sold at more than 200 boutiques across the country, as well as in department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom.

Her clothes have been seen on Zaya Wade — the daughter of actress Gabrielle Union and basketball star-turned-Utah Jazz co-owner Dwayne Wade — and TikTok influencer Charli D’Amelio.She’s collaborated with the likes of Walmart and State and recently debuted a line of beaded bracelets and charm necklaces for teen mall brand Claire’s.“Ever since I was little, I played dress up,” Maizner, a sophomore at a Manhattan public high school, told The Post.

“I thought, ‘Oh, if I can make my own clothes, that would be so cool!’” The first piece she finished was a rainbow-striped maxi dress with a matching belt.Soon, she was sewing herself frocks for her friends’ birthday parties and other events — and getting lots of requests from others who wanted clothes like hers. “That’s when I was like, ‘I want to make a brand,’ because everyone asked me to make things for them,” Maizner said.

When she told her mother, Debbi Maizner, then a CMO at JPMorgan Chase, she wanted to start her own line, Debbi was cautious but encouraging. “I told her: ‘We live in the best city in the world.You should meet people and learn from them,’” Debbi — who now handles operations for Theme — told The Post.

“It started as a journey to just support her interests.”...