Rapozza: Participant Spotlight on Brenda Palomino
Today, we’re sitting down with Brenda Palomino, co-owner of Rapozza. Through the Seattle Restored pop-up program, Brenda and her family have created a playful community space that is more than just racks of kids’ clothes – it’s a thoughtful, colorful space built for families to visit together.
Q: Tell us about your business. What inspired your pop-up concept?
It came from something pretty ordinary, honestly: living in the Pacific Northwest, kids’ clothes here skew pretty muted (a lot of grey, oatmeal, sage). Nice, but not much fun to put on a four-year-old. We wanted to bring color into that, without dropping the quality since most “fun” kidswear cuts corners to get there. So Rapozza is our answer to both problems at once: bold, hand-drawn prints on premium Peruvian Pima and Tangüis cotton, cut and sewn in a small, female-led workshop in Peru.
It started in 2024 from a basement, selling online. From there it grew the normal, slow way: makers markets, one Saturday at a time. In-person markets were about 60% of our sales, which tells you something: people want to actually touch the fabric before they buy their kid a $40 hoodie. That’s really the whole reason for the pop-up. Color and fabric quality don’t come through on a phone screen the way they do in person, so a physical space just made sense once we had the traction to try it. The space is a place for people to touch the cotton, understand a little more about the process, and also find fun things to do with their kids in Seattle.
Rapozza is run by three of us: I (Brenda) design every print by hand; my sister Daniela handles strategy; and our mom, Mariela Espinoza, runs fulfillment and the day-to-day. Family-owned, immigrant-owned, woman-owned, proudly all the way through.
Q: Why did you apply for Seattle Restored? how will this opportunity help you reach your goals?
Practically speaking, Seattle Restored is the only reason we have a physical location at all: it’s what got us into Pacific Place. For a brand our size, jumping straight from markets to a mall lease isn’t really something you can do on your own; the program closed that gap.
Beyond the space, it lines up with what we’re actually trying to build: not just another rack of clothes, but a spot families in the neighborhood actually stop into; eventually with a small kids’ corner for low-key activities, so there’s a reason to come back besides buying something.
Q: What’s the most rewarding part of your business? how do you hope to impact the community?
Probably the two ends of it meeting in the middle.
On one end: making sure the women sewing these clothes in Peru are actually paid fairly for the work; we say it plainly: if you’re not paying the true cost of a garment, someone else is covering the difference.
On the other end: a kid in Seattle wearing something bright and sturdy enough to actually live in, not just look cute in a photo. Getting to be part of both sides of that is the rewarding part.
For the community, we’d just like Pacific Place to be a place families actually return to, not a one-time stop.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know about you or your business?
The clothing itself (pants, tops, dresses, vests, sweatshirts) is built around original hand-drawn prints, and we post behind-the-scenes looks at how those get made on Instagram (@rapozzasquad): sketching, sampling, sewing, the whole process before anything hits a rack.
Q: Do you have any events or collaborations coming up?
Yes — we’ve got a full run of events including workshops, community gatherings, custom patches, and more planned at the shop this fall and winter. Visit our events page online at: rapozza.com/pages/events-page
Sat, Oct 3, 1–3 pm: Weave Your Tote, family-friendly: weaving fabric scraps and yarn onto a blank tote.
Oct 3–17 (with an in-store guided session on Oct 10): kids drop off (or make in-store) a drawing that we turn into an embroidered design on a tote or jacket. Open to adults too.
Sat, Oct 24th (Halloween): Trick-or-Treat Tote Painting and embroidery.
Sat, Oct 31 (Halloween): Trick-or-Treat Tote Painting, timed so kids can carry their painted tote out trick-or-treating that day.
Sat, Nov 7, 11 am–2 pm: The reveal for the embroidery project: painted and embroidered totes and jackets, finished.
Sat, Nov 21: A second round of art-to-embroidery begins, open to adults too.
Sat, Nov 28 (Small Business Saturday): Design & Paint Your Tote, parent-and-me, with live embroidery adding names or monograms.
Sat, Dec 12: Paint & Hot Cocoa for kids w/ mini canvases and easels with a hot cocoa bar.
Collaborations: We will start carrying some of the Onemiddlechild designs. This will include a limited set of collaborations with other local artists. Come check it out!
Q: If you could give one piece of advice to locals, what would it be?
Before you buy something for your kid online, check if someone nearby is already selling it.
There are more small, independent makers in this city than people realize, and a lot of them are much closer than the warehouse your package usually ships from.
Q: What’s your favorite Seattle Restored activation, and why?
Seattle Restored at Base Camp Studios 2 in Belltown. I actually know a few of the artists there, and I’ve shared space with some of them myself. What I love about it isn’t just the art, which is genuinely amazing; it’s the atmosphere: everyone there is supportive of each other’s work in a way that doesn’t always happen when a bunch of artists are grouped.
It’s a whole building turned into working studios, so you’re seeing people actually make the work, not just a finished show.
Q: Where would you take visitors or a group of friends for a fun, relaxed experience in Seattle?
Pioneer Square. It’s got the Art Walk, so it’s a good place to run into new artists and people who just have style, and there’s enough packed into a few blocks that a group can split off and still end up together; someone ducks into a gallery, someone wanders, and there’s always gluten-free pasta available if that’s a thing your group needs to plan around. It’s relaxed in a way that doesn’t take any real planning, which is exactly what makes it good for visitors.
Q: What are you looking forward to the most in the coming year?
Mostly just watching our pop-up at Pacific Place stop feeling like “the new store” and start feeling like a regular stop for families in the area.
The kids’ corner is actually getting used; people are coming back a third and fourth time, that kind of thing. We built this brand one market table at a time; this is the same idea, just with a door that stays open.
Visit RAPOZZA
Address:
Pacific Place – 1st Floor
600 Pine St.
Seattle, WA 98101
Open hours:
See profile for current operating hours
Dates: June 15 – November 15, 2026
