In Brief: Fashion designer Mia Liu is collaborating with luxury hospitality teams to enhance their professional attire, aiming to elevate guest experiences through stylistic nuances and attention to detail.
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Mia Liu – Image Credit Puzzle Partner
Drape and Stitch founder and head design on building a new category in that’s attracting the loyalty of the world’s most recognized hotels
In luxury hospitality, every detail is deliberate. Lighting, scent, materials, service rituals—each element is carefully orchestrated to shape how a guest feels. Yet, one of the most visible and constant touchpoints is often treated as an afterthought: what the team wears.
As humans, we instinctively make judgments based on appearance. What someone is wearing shapes how we perceive them—who they are, their role, and even their competence. In hospitality, where first impressions are everything, this instinctive evaluation extends to the staff. Uniforms are not just clothing; they are a signal of professionalism, attention to detail, and the brand itself.
When I sat down with Drape & Stitch founder and creative director Mia Liu, it became immediately clear how much opportunity lies in this overlooked space. As she walked me through her sketches and lookbook—collections created for hospitality brands across hotels, restaurants, and resorts—I was struck by the precision and intention behind each piece. From custom-developed fabrics to embroidered shirts and finely detailed buttons, every element was designed to reflect not just the brand, but the property itself—its setting, its story, even its surroundings.
This wasn’t uniform design in the traditional sense. It felt closer to fashion—intentional, expressive, and deeply tied to identity. And beyond aesthetics, Liu emphasized another critical dimension: how uniforms make staff feel.
“When people feel confident and respected in what they’re wearing, it changes how they carry themselves,” Liu explains. “That confidence is reflected in the service they provide and the way they engage with guests.”
Launched in 2022, Drape & Stitch entered the market at a time when luxury hospitality was outperforming other segments and investing heavily in guest experience. But Liu saw a disconnect: brands were investing in their environments but overlooking the people representing them.
What she’s building is not simply a uniform company. It’s a new category—one that bridges the gap between traditional large-scale suppliers and high-end fashion ateliers, combining design, speed, and operational intelligence in a way the market has largely lacked.
Uniforms as Brand Identity
Liu’s career spans global fashion brands, performance apparel, and advanced product development—experience that gave her a deep understanding of both creativity and execution.
“Uniforms are one of the most immediate signals of a brand, yet they’re often treated as a secondary decision,” Liu explains. “Luxury hospitality invests heavily in spaces, but the people representing the brand every day are sometimes overlooked. You’re not just designing clothing. You’re designing how the brand shows up in every guest interaction.”
This philosophy underpins Drape & Stitch’s approach. Rather than starting with catalogs or product specs, the process begins with brand identity, how a property wants to be perceived and how that perception is reinforced through the team.
“The custom hospitality uniform becomes a visual confirmation of identity. When a guest sees the team, they should instantly understand the brand,” Liu says.
But it’s not just about how guests perceive the team—it’s also about how the team feels. “When staff feel proud of what they’re wearing, it elevates their confidence and sense of belonging,” Liu adds. “That energy translates directly into better service and more meaningful guest interactions.”
Who They Work With
Drape & Stitch primarily partners with luxury hotels and resorts, boutique and lifestyle brands, high-end restaurant groups, and casino or destination properties. These are companies where brand identity and guest experience are central to how they compete.
“The common thread is that they care deeply about how they show up,” Liu says. “They understand that every detail contributes to the guest experience, and that includes the team.”
At the same time, the decision to invest in uniforms is not purely aesthetic—it’s also practical.
“Our clients are looking for strong value,” Liu explains. “They want something that performs operationally, that lasts, that simplifies their process. But they also understand that you get what you pay for.”
This balance between investment and return is central to Drape & Stitch’s positioning. For brands that see uniforms as part of their identity and guest experience, the value becomes clear.
A Faster, Smarter Approach
Behind the scenes, Drape & Stitch’s operations team, led by Mike Pan and Michael Falco, has been built with a philosophy of speed, efficiency, and innovation. Their approach challenges a category that has historically been slow, fragmented, and resistant to change.
The result is a model that not only accelerates sampling and production but rethinks how uniform programs are executed altogether. This fresh perspective has helped the company grow primarily through referrals and repeat clients—an indicator that the experience is resonating as much as the product itself.
The Hidden Influence on Guest Experience
For Liu, the importance of uniforms ultimately comes back to perception.
“Guests form impressions instantly, before a word is spoken,” she says. “What they see shapes what they expect.”
Uniforms act as silent signals, communicating service level, attention to detail, and brand positioning.
“It’s the first thing your guest sees, and often the last thing they remember,” Liu adds.
And when staff feel confident and respected in their uniforms, it enhances their ability to deliver exceptional service. “It’s not just about looking polished—it’s about creating a sense of pride and professionalism that guests can feel,” Liu explains.
Redefining the Role of Uniforms
As Drape & Stitch grows, Liu is focused on more than scaling the business.
“Hospitality is becoming more experience-driven, especially with a younger, more design-conscious guest,” she says. “That expectation doesn’t stop at the space—it extends to people, presentation, and consistency.”
Over the next five years, she envisions uniforms becoming a more intentional part of brand strategy.
“I think we’ll see a shift where uniforms are no longer an afterthought, but a core part of how brands express themselves,” Liu says. “Our goal is to help lead that shift.”
The Bigger Idea
At its core, Drape & Stitch is not just rethinking uniforms—it’s redefining their role in hospitality.
“The most powerful signals in luxury are often the ones people don’t immediately notice,” Liu says. “But they feel them.”
Sitting with Liu and seeing the work up close, it becomes hard to unsee what most of the industry has overlooked for years. In a world where hospitality brands compete on experience, emotion, and identity, the uniform is no longer a background detail—it is part of the story being told in real time, with every guest interaction.
What Drape & Stitch is doing feels less like an incremental improvement and more like a reframing of the category itself. And if Liu is right, the brands that recognize this shift early won’t just look more polished—they’ll feel more cohesive, more intentional, and ultimately, more memorable in the ways that matter most.
About the Author
Ivana Johnston is the co-founder and CEO of Puzzle Partner, a strategic marketing and consulting firm serving high-growth technology companies and premium luxury brands, from early-stage startups to global enterprises. She focuses on positioning, messaging, demand generation, and sales enablement.
She also leads Two13.ai, an AI transformation practice helping executive teams redesign how their organizations operate — building leaner, faster businesses that use AI as a core competitive advantage.
Her client work has supported more than $1B in funding outcomes and acquisition transactions ranging from $50M to over $90M, including 10x valuation multiples.
Her insights on technology, AI, and business strategy are featured in Forbes and Entrepreneur and other leading trade publications. She is a member of the Forbes Business Council and a recognized thought leader at the intersection of AI and commercial growth. She is also a licensed commercial pilot.
Connect with Ivana on LinkedIn.
