About Our Founder

With a focus on craft, Emma Gage is a fashion designer and advocate whose work merges ethical responsibility with artistic expression. As the founder and creative director of MELKE, she is committed to redefining luxury through sustainable practices and transparent production with a goal to bridge craft, ethics, and emotion —  not just making clothes; reinventing meaning of production.

Emma believes that true luxury begins with human connection. Through her partnership with Knit One, Change One (KOCO), she works with female artisans in rural India to create handcrafted knitwear that carries both beauty and purpose. Each piece is an exchange of skill, culture, and care — a reminder that fashion can celebrate joy, preserve tradition, and uplift lives. For Emma, craftsmanship is more than technique; it’s a shared story between maker and wearer. Equally committed to preserving craft at home, she works with historic manufacturers in New York’s Garment District, supporting local production and helping to sustain the legacy of American garment-making. For Emma, craftsmanship is more than technique; it’s a shared story between maker and wearer, rooted in dignity, heritage, and heart.

Her collections, shown at New York Fashion Week and carried by specialty boutiques internationally, reflect a balance of conceptual design, refined tailoring, and unexpected whimsy.

Before launching MELKE, Emma worked with designers including Betsey Johnson, NiNA Tiari, and Kate Hudson, gaining hands-on experience in both heritage and contemporary fashion houses. She earned her BFA in Fashion Design from Marist College, where she was a two-time Fashion Scholarship Fund recipient and a Kate Spade & Company Foundation Scholar. In January of 2021 Emma was invited to join the CFDA, solidifying her as a top American designer.

She currently serves on the boards of Closely Crafted and Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden’s World Childhood Foundation, advocating for ethical labor and the protection of children globally.

 

Emma is a New York based fashion designer focusing on designing and creating awareness around sustainability and ethical fashion. Most recently, she worked as a designer at Happy X Nature, a brand focusing on sustainability and waste reduction, in NYC. Along with her work in design, she works closely with organizations to combat human trafficking, the education of children, as well as combatting the institutionalization of children. Through her work, she is able to blend both non profit work and fashion together to create artistic expression for people as well as economic empowerment.


A Marist College graduate with a BFA in fashion design, she has won four major design scholarships - she is a two time winner of the YMA Fashion Scholarship as well as the Kate Spade and Company Foundation Scholarship - her designs and work focus on luxury and high fashion within the realms of sustainability.

Emma assisted with the creation of a start up label, running production, design, sample making and much more. She has also worked extensively with Betsey Johnson, Nicholas K, volunteered at two New York Fashion Weeks (2014 and 2015), spoke about human trafficking and the apparel industry at the 2015 Nexus Global Youth Summit, and is a tireless advocate for garment workers rights. She is also currently a co-chair on an advisory board focused on rescuing young women and girls from human trafficking and forced prostitution.