About Us

Raya Bloom – Built From the Ground Up

Raya Bloom started in 2019 out of a small walk-up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The founder, Elena Vale, had dropped out of NYU after realizing she was spending more time sketching in the back of class than paying attention. Cofounder, Milo Hart, was crashing in a basement sublet nearby, splitting his time between a grocery night shift on Franklin Avenue and delivering food on his bike.

At first, they weren’t setting out to build a brand — it started more as a side project. Elena had an idea for a shirt design after a string of late-night talks about what fashion felt like it was missing. Milo figured out how to get blanks from a guy in Queens who only took cash and preferred not to text. They screen-printed the first run at a tiny DIY studio in Bushwick with warped tables and no ventilation.

They did everything themselves: designs, printing, tagging, shipping, lugging boxes on the subway. Milo built the first website on his cracked laptop while watching reruns of Frasier, which he still insists is “deeply misunderstood.” Elena once stayed up until 4 a.m. ironing 80 shirts before a pop-up, burning her hand three times but pretending she didn’t.

Their lives slowly wrapped around the project. Not all at once, and not in some cinematic way — more like: they worked on it every day, they stopped talking about doing something “after things settled,” and without really realizing it, this became the thing.

Over time, people started recognizing the name. A few stockists reached out. Features trickled in. They still argue about fonts and shipment delays, but Raya Bloom became known — not because of a viral moment, but because they kept going.

It started with two people and an idea taped to a fridge. It’s still that, mostly — just with better tape :)