Like traditional Parisian fashion houses, Betty Jean Couture offers made-to-measure clothes sewn on-site. Like traditional Portland family houses, Betty Jean Couture is a relative bargain. Simple sheath dresses start at $130. Basic skirt and jacket suits average $350.
“People want fit, but they don’t want to pay an arm and a leg,” says owner Kenneth Doswell.
Doswell continues the tradition of working with his family. His brother Jerald handles design. Doswell’s wife, Michelle, does the bookkeeping. He and Michelle remodeled the Betty Jean Couture house themselves.
“Everything,” he says, “except wiring and plumbing.”
They figured it would take six months. Three years later, they finally opened the doors.
The core of the business is the custom clothing, measured, cut and stitched in the shop by four contract employees. They’ve been able to turn around garment orders in as quickly as four days.
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Category Women's Clothing | 0 Comments »
What do pandas and a pair of Philadelphia-area clothing designers have in common?
They love bamboo. Luckily for both, it is incredibly fast-growing and very durable. Bamboo can also be grown with little water and little or no pesticides, grows up to a foot in a day, grows well in a variety of climates and absorbs more carbon dioxide — a greenhouse gas — and releases more oxygen than a similarly-sized stand of trees.
But where the pandas are eating bamboo, the duo comprising Denise Shardlow Designs are clothing their customers in it.
Clothing designer Shardlow and business manager Glenn Kohler, a 1982 graduate of Muhlenberg High School, are marketing a line of clothing made from bamboo, which they say is a more environmentally-friendly fabric than the more common cotton.
“We hope to be on the forefront of bamboo fashion,” Kohler said.
As consumers grow more environmentally conscious, more designers nationwide are introducing clothing made from bamboo.
The fabric also has plenty to recommend it, its proponents say: A soft feel similar to cashmere, a silk-like drape, odor and stain resistance, thermal regulating and moisture wicking.
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Category Designers, Fabrics, Fibers, Definitions | 0 Comments »
