Wednesday, June 25, 2008

WHY BUY BOUTIQUE?

I have been designing childrens clothes professionally for about 20 years. Before that I worked in the garment center. The childrens clothing world just keeps getting bigger and bigger. When I had my business, I thought I was the only person in the country who did what I did. My business started out with just me sewing dolls. Someone offered me a small but beautiful storefront, I knew I couldn't just sell dolls, so I started making clothes for kids. At first I designed and sewed everything myself. At the end I had a small factory and a bunch of employees. I did about 25 trunk show a season up and down the east coast. A lot of the time, I questioned why people bought from me. I knew the clothes were cute and fit well but there was something else. That something else was that there is something special about companies that stay small, where every item is made with (corney as it sounds) love. I really believe some of me travels with each piece of clothing I sell.

I have only been on line a few months but have already met some great people and I cannot believe how many women in this country sew! Did women always sew or is it new? Are we just finding out about each other because of this online community? I think it's great. I think it's great to support each other, I think it's great to support handmade and I think it's great that so many sites support charities.

One last thing, I don't have a lot of memories from my childhood, but one I do have is my mother being happy. She was sitting at her old singer with a stack of back to school fabrics next to her...

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