island style
An island designer makes waves with luxe athleisure
Words by Alorie Gilbert
Photos by Cameron Karsten
Fashion designer Megan Sanchez has a saying, “When you don’t feel creative, you have to leave your seat. Go move.” It’s something she puts into practice on the pickleball and tennis court and the golf course. She was a high school athlete too, excelling at volleyball, before going on to earn a degree in apparel design and launching her fashion design career 17 years ago at Eddie Bauer. “I’ve played sports my whole life,” she notes.
Which makes sense when you enter her clothing boutique, Wavekelly. The store carries a modern mix of elevated activewear, denim and sporty, all-weather gear—modeled on these pages by Lauren Alexander. Sanchez opened the shop on Bainbridge Island last year after leaving a job at Nordstrom, where she spent more than a decade launching over a dozen brands and growing labels into household names and best sellers. Her expertise includes seasonal brand strategy, product design, fabric selection, color, fit and styling—not to mention creative collaboration with artists and influencers.
Wavekelly is also the name of Sanchez’s own clothing label, which she launched in tandem with the store. Her line of casual, chic women’s basics assorts well with a handful of other labels handpicked by Sanchez and leans toward what she terms “studio activewear.” On an island full of hikers, yogis, pickleballers and fitness freaks, many of whom continue to sport a casual, work-from-home style post-pandemic, it seems like a shrewd business direction. “This is an active island,” notes Sanchez, who grew up in Spokane. “People like to get out and move.”
Her garments are made in small batches at a family-owned factory in Los Angeles, “with consideration for our planet,” the tags read. Sanchez and product developer in LA purchase fabric overruns—textiles that would otherwise be discarded—to create her line. This introduces an extra challenge to her design process, as she never knows exactly what will be available.
Her commitment to sustainability extends to the other brands she sells, including a denim line from LA-based AGOLDE that requires less water, energy and harsh chemicals to produce than standard denim, which is considered one of the most environmentally damaging fashion categories. Another brand Sanchez stocks is Le Bon Shoppe, a “slow fashion” label that produces limited quantities of timeless wardrobe sta- ples meant to last many seasons—without wasteful overstock.
Owning a boutique is a big departure from Sanchez’s corporate life that required daily commutes to Seattle and frequent travel to New York, LA, Europe and Asia. A move to Bainbridge Island in 2020 with her husband and two young children got her thinking about taking her career in a more entrepreneurial direction. While trotting the globe for Nordstrom, Sanchez always enjoyed exploring local boutiques with exclusive labels and imagined opening one of her own. “I’ve always daydreamed about this, but didn’t think it would actually happen,” she says of launching Wavekelly—a name inspired by her great great grandmother, a glamorous Hollywood socialite with the nickname Wave and surname Kelly.
To bring her own brand and shop to life, she tapped a product developer in LA and consulted with a friend who owns the Seattle boutique Pipe & Row. Sanchez creates all her designs using Adobe Illustrator and fabric samples sent from LA. In addition to women’s clothing, Wavekelly carries unisex outerwear, bags, skincare and fragrances. While the boutique is a dream come true, it’s also a learning curve for Sanchez. “It feels very different,” she reflects. “I feel uncomfortable almost every single day. It’s a huge (source of ) growth for me personally.”
Part of the island’s bustling downtown retail scene, Sanchez is keen to engage with the community where she lives. She plans to keep residents and visitors coming back with reasonable prices, fresh style, trunk shows and other events that create buzz and community. At her grand opening she offered onsite custom embroidery, a raw oyster bar and bubbly. The tiny place was packed. “I wanted to create a store my friends and I want to shop at,” she says. “But there’s something here for everyone.
