About Us

Yafet Tesfaye, of ATO-YAF, is a contemporary fashion designer trained in New York City, Raised in Minneapolis and Born in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. Yafet spent his childhood surrounded by a fusion of the traditional and the cutting edge, as politics and business in Ethiopia’s capital city Addis Abeba began to change, expand and flourish. His innate sensibility at a young age led him to value a certain commodity that sets all of us apart: personal expression - particularly through fashion, art, music, and architecture. Moving to Minnesota with his mother at age 13, he was able to experience firsthand the dramatic differences between cultures in their values, trends, and character. This awarded him a unique perspective, combining his appreciation of outward fashion and style with his objectives for our ability as a society to live sustainably.