Dr. Leila Kelleher applies biomechanics principles to fashion design to develop innovative solutions for plus-size apparel design and development. She is a co-founder of a space, in between., and an Assistant Professor of Fashion Design and Social Justice at Parsons School of Design. With a PhD in Biomechanics, she takes an interdisciplinary approach to expanding design practices for plus-size fashion.

Leila is the co-founder of the Size Inclusion in Fashion (SIF) Lab, which advances research, industry collaboration, and education to challenge conventional sizing practices. Her book, Plus Size Patternmaking for Womenswear (Bloomsbury, 2025), is the first specialized textbook on plus-size patternmaking, introducing techniques for designing and producing plus-size garments that account for differences in body shape and proportion.