The crispy, golden cheese that spills over the edge of a grilled cheese sandwich has a name: a cheese skirt. Now, thanks to a New Jersey-born fashion designer, it has an actual hemline.
Tillamook has partnered with Rachel Antonoff on a collection of four one-of-a-kind skirts inspired by the textures, colors and shapes of melted cheese. Announced October 21, the collaboration turns an ordinary comfort food into something considerably less ordinary: collectible fashion.
The collection includes a Pepper Jack Mini Skirt with pepper-inspired details, a Sharp Cheddar Midi Skirt, a dramatic Four Cheese Maxi Skirt and a Swiss Pencil Skirt featuring organza cutouts that resemble the familiar holes in Swiss cheese.
The inspiration is surprisingly literal. When melted cheese escapes the bread and hits a hot pan, it can form a crisp, delicate edge. Antonoff translated those folds and textures into fabric, taking a familiar kitchen accident and making it the central idea of a fashion collection.
For Antonoff, whose roots include Teaneck and New Milford in Bergen County, the concept is very much in character.
Her fashion career began with similarly unconventional beginnings. In a 2019 interview with Fashionista, Antonoff recalled taking fabric and three clothing ideas to a childhood neighbor named Marlene, who made the first samples in her New Jersey basement. Those early designs helped launch Mooka Kinney, the label Antonoff created with a friend before establishing her namesake brand.
The designer has since built a following by turning everyday experiences and familiar imagery into expressive clothing. Food has been a recurring inspiration, including prints featuring pasta, seafood and other playful references to ordinary life.
The Tillamook collaboration takes that idea a step further. Instead of simply printing a sandwich on a skirt, Antonoff has transformed the physical qualities of cheese into the garment itself.
There is also a purpose beyond promoting dairy products.
All four skirts are being offered through a RallyUp auction benefiting Feeding America, the national hunger-relief organization. Tillamook has committed to matching the combined donations generated by the four skirts, up to $10,000.
The limited collection is a promotional partnership, but it also illustrates something Antonoff has understood throughout her career: fashion doesn't have to take itself seriously to involve serious creativity.
Her earliest designs took shape in a New Jersey neighbor's basement. More than two decades later, she's finding inspiration in the crispy edges of a sandwich.
Somewhere along the way, grilled cheese became couture. And for once, wearing your lunch is entirely intentional.
Sources
Tillamook, “Tillamook and Rachel Antonoff Take Grilled Cheese from the Kitchen to the Runway” (Oct. 21, 2026).
Fashionista, Maura Brannigan, “How Rachel Antonoff Became a Famously Creative Fashion Force” (Nov. 18, 2019).
https://fashionista.com/2019/11/rachel-antonoff-fashion-designer-career
Vogue, Steff Yotka, “Rachel Antonoff: Spring 2018 Ready-to-Wear” (Sept. 6, 2017).
https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2018-ready-to-wear/rachel-antonoff
RallyUp, official Tillamook x Rachel Antonoff charity auction.
https://go.rallyup.com/tillamookgrilledcheeseskirts
Famous Birthdays, “Rachel Antonoff” (Teaneck birthplace).
Collection details attributed to the Tillamook and related materials cited in Sources. Cultural framing is RMN's.