Courtesy of guest blogger, Judy Vue
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| Angela poses as Edward Scissorhands |
After 14 years of designing for big names such as Eddie
Bauer, Cutter and Buck and Tommy Bahama, Seattle fashion designer Susan Fedore
took the big leap to create her own fashion line, Una. She started in 2007 and
has been surviving ever since, cutting and sewing away on a 24/7 workweek in a
small room in her Ballard home, which she lovingly calls “the dungeon.”
Fedore enjoyed making crafts since she was in high school, however,
working in the fashion industry was something she fell into. “It wasn’t that I
picked it so much that it picked me,” she said.
Coming up with the idea to design clothes was easy. Finding
customers to buy her creations was a whole different ball game she hadn’t
prepared for. “First, I started doing craft shows,” she said. She then managed
to get her Website posted online. But she knew that wasn’t going to be enough. “I
realized this wasn’t going to be easy unless I got into wholesale,” she said.
Fedore managed to find a good home for her clothes at three
boutiques, and has expanded into online sales and selling smaller accessories
at other venues — such as a holiday favorite: comfy cotton arm
warmers at Momo.
Elements of nature inspire Una’s hand silk-screened arm warmer designs. One
pair features a spread of fern in order to emulate going on a walk in the
outdoors and looking at the ferns growing from the ground. Another
pair features a pattern of pine needles, specifically knob cone pine trees,
which remind her of trips taken along the Pacific Coast. One of her most
painstakingly intricate
arm warmer designs features a birds’ eye view of a moth spreading its
wings.
Her design comes from other sources too. For instance, her scissor-patterned arm warmers?
“[I did that] as a tongue-in-cheek reference to Edward
Scissorhands,” she said with a laugh. In spite of her lightheartedness, she
admits being a solo fashion designer can be tough. “I’ve never worked so hard
for so little,” she said. In her first two years of starting Una, she
experienced days where she felt she couldn’t do it anymore.
But Fedore isn’t letting the exhaustion get to her. “It’s
not just a monetary thing,” she said. “It’s just an honest pursuit of what I
love.”
If you’re interested in getting a pair of Susan Fedore’s arm
warmers this winter, stop by Momo or check out Susan’s
Website.
