Today we’d like to introduce you to Louise Sutton.
Louise, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am from Orlando, FL and started Sewing very young, under age 10. In high school, I started selling altered clothes on eBay (Etsy wasn’t around!) and took a free technical course for industrial Sewing. Disney offered me a costuming job at age 18.
I worked in several theme parks and fabric stores, then managed a vintage clothing store. I restored and repaired clothes and some got sold to Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire. Through that shop, I went to NYC and sold to several famous designers at the Manhattan Vintage Clothing Show.
A couple months later, I moved to NYC and started sewing bespoke clothing in a Park Slope boutique. After that, I went on to manage a sewing studio and taught classes. I took a side job helping a designer for NY Fashion Week and they offered me a job as their sample seamstress in Boston.
I moved to Rhode Island and sewed around 70 pieces from scratch for NY Fashion Week. Later, I started working at Stitch & Tickle making leather bags, Owner Operator making snowboard mittens and bags, Good Clothing Co. on the Cape and Fall River, and many more locally.
I now have my own production room here in Providence, alongside Pretty Things and above DASH Bicycle and The Nitro Bar.
Has it been a smooth road?
Yes, and no. Sewing and management come naturally to me so that part has been smooth!
Managing expectations has been the thing I struggle with most. I am one person producing a couple hundred garments for at least 6 accounts, so it’s a constant shuffle. I try my hardest to be respectful of people’s deadlines (a rarity in fashion) and am always honest with my clients. I think we need to really work on bringing the human element into this industry, and I try to do that.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Sutton Sewing story. Tell us more about the business.
My business is best described as sewing services. I do tailoring, alterations, repairs, and custom clothing for individuals. For designers, I offer basic pattern drafting and grading, sample sewing, and piecework/production.
I specialize in garment sewing, but dabble in accessories, bags- you name it. What I’m most proud of as a company is being able to help startups by offering reasonable pricing, a 5 piece minimum for piecework, and generally being able to be more accessible and communicative than most factories.
What sets me apart from others is that (to my knowledge) I am the only industrial-type production room in this area, and everything comes out of one person in one place! When you meet with me, you meet the maker of your clothes, see the machines, and see it actually happening. There is a personal feeling to my method of manufacturing.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see the fashion industry getting slower in the next 5-10 years! Slow Fashion is a huge movement that I really think will last because we [producers] simply can’t keep up with the tight deadlines and demands of fast fashion. More and more companies are re-evaluating their practices and becoming more interested in where their items come from, how they’re made, etc. I really feel that that’s important- We ask those questions about our food, but our clothes cover the largest organ on our body!
The next shift or change I see is lack of qualified stitchers. It’s very hard to find people who can do industrial Sewing, and there’s going to be a huge demand soon because social media has made designing more accessible. Who’s going to make the clothes?
Contact Info:
- Address: 226 Broadway
Providence, RI 02903 - Website: Www.suttonsewing.com
- Email: suttonsewing@gmail.com
- Instagram: @suttonsewing
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