Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta are the founders of Eckhaus Latta, a New York and Los Angeles-based label that distinguishes itself from its peers with its gender-neutral designs and has built a reputation for casting models of all genders, ages, shapes and sizes in their runway shows and campaigns.

The two met at Rhode Island School of Design, where Latta studied textile design and Eckhaus studied sculpture. After graduating in 2010, the duo cut their teeth working for a number of brands and institutions: Eckhaus worked as an accessories designer at Marc by Marc Jacobs, while Latta was a knitwear designer at Opening Ceremony and also ran a textile company that supplied fabric to Calvin Klein and Proenza Schouler. In 2011, the two came together to launch Eckhaus Latta and showed their first collection in New York for Spring/Summer 2013.

As authentic as it is influential, the brand has stood out through gender-neutral designs and casting non-models in its shows. The designers are also known for using unconventional fabrics like plastics and fishing lines. Eckhaus and Latta started working with European fabric mills for the first time in 2017, although the designers still use deadstock materials — a key element of their early collections.