My small children's clothing
company competed well in the high end New York City Market. I sold to Bonwit Teller,
Bendel, Bergdorf, and Saks 5th Avenue sometimes with a baby on my hip. I made the first denim
clothes for children in the US. I had articles published about me in
The Times, New York Magazine, The New Yorker and Chicago Tribune.
I brought my knowledge of fabrics and design to the horse industry after 9-11-01.
My apartment was destroyed and my consulting job gone. I stayed upstate with
my son and daughter-in-law and they have horses and asked me to sew
(the beginning...).
My first project was in the winter, making a dressage quarter sheet for my son's and his wife's
horses in an unheated indoor arena. I had not even stood next to a horse in 30 years.
Learning how to get close enough to measure was an adventure. (My son's
horse is 18+ hands, young, and unpredictable.) I found that horses like my energy.
(I meditated for 20 years as a Buddhist monk - another story) and they quickly felt
comfortable around me so, standing close enough to measure was quickly over come. The quarter
sheets were a great success! As the word spread there were grand-prix level owners and instructors
adding to the finer the design points of the sheets. However, it was my choice of fabrics that really
won my clients over.
Then, I graduated to blankets. I noticed that no one had wool and I wanted to know
why. People said nobody made wool blankets any more and they were hard to take care of. I love
wool, so I set out to show horse owners how practical wool is, how good it is for the horse
and
how resilient it could be, especially if I pre-shrunk
the wool so it could be put in the washing machine.
In the middle of the night, I had a dream on how to custom fit each animal. I had
learned in a short time that every 84" horse in the barn had a different top line
and
every 84" blanket on the market was a standard size. Everyone I spoke to complained
about rubs plus the horses were weighted down with blankets in the below zero
winter on the Hudson River.
Here my mountain climbing experience came into play and all the high altitude climbing
gear I had made while we lived in CA and traveled to Yosemite on weekends.