Podcast Released

Hello Adventuristas,

In December I recorded a podcast with the wonderful Alison Hoenes at the How Fitting Podcast. It was such a wonderful conversation about tall women, the clothing industry and making clothe in the USA. We talk about what struggles led to the creation of Alta Reina, we talk about how being environmentally minded is complicated (oh so complicated) and what makes Alta Reina different from other tall-friendly clothing brands. 

If you would like to listen, head over to How Fitting to hear whole interview. 

If you don't want to listen, I've included the text below to read it. 

Thanks as always for joining in this big adventure. I look forward to sharing the progress along the way. Please share this podcast with your tall friends and sign up for our mailing list to stay up-to-date.

Cheerfully,

Suzi

 

Transcript from the podcast How Fitting with Alison Hoenes

"Welcome to How Fitting, the podcast for slow fashion designers and entrepreneurs about creating clothing and growing a business that fits your customer lifestyle and values. I'm your host, Alison Hoenes.

Do you want to get your designs to production without compromising your brand's fit, vision, or values? My pattern making services are tailored to help women's wear slow fashion brands do just that. You can learn more and book a free introduction call at howfittingpatterns.com to see if we'd be a good fit to work together.

Now, on to the episode. Today, I'm joined by Suzi Zook, the founder of the tall women's outdoor apparel brand, Alta Reina. Welcome to How Fitting, Suzi.

Hi, thanks for having me.

I have a big question to start off with. What's the bigger adventure, skiing and mountain biking or fashion entrepreneurship?

Oh, my goodness. There's a lot more serotonin and dopamine every single time you go after it, and the other one is a lot more of a learning curve, and then you finally get that big hit, yeah, when you get product and when you launch.

Yeah, yeah. So I'm pretty sure if I tried to ski, there would be a huge learning curve for that too.

Right? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

The learning never stops with entrepreneurship and clothing design and manufacturing. That's for sure.

Yeah. And you, your brand has been a couple years in the making at this point, right?

It has, yes.

So what sparked the initial idea for Alta Reina?

Well, I moved to the mountains about eight years ago, and as I continued to get better and take lessons and improve my skiing, particularly alpine downhill skiing, I realized that I physically could not do some of the things that were being asked of me. You know, put your shoulders back, lean forward, and unfortunately, having poorly fitting clothes means that you are either not warm, because it's so baggy, or you are being restricted physically, and you can't actually roll your shoulders back, because your coat and your base layer and your mid layer and all these things have you kind of stuffed into your clothes. So after talking with a lot of friends, because, surprising or not, there are a lot of tall women in the outdoor adventure industry, and a lot of athletes.”

So after a lot of conversation and discussion, and years of being uncomfortable in my clothes, whether it's because I hated the colors or I hated the fit, I decided that, why not, see if something can happen. I also have two daughters who are super tall, because my husband is even a foot taller than I am, that I wanted them to be able to avoid having this problem when it came to finding clothes and, yeah, being able to express their personalities.

Yeah, and I think so often it's like we know this, that our clothes affect like how we feel and performance, and I'm sure with like sports or any kind of like athletic hobby that even more so that that's the case. But, you know, we often don't think of, okay, well, what's the solution? Like, is there a solution?

Or we don't connect it to, oh, this is so hard because of my clothes. But yeah, so what were like, what were some of the things about the apparel, outdoor apparel like currently in the market that really just didn't didn't fit? You mentioned kind of like being oversized or like restricted.

But specifically, what were the things that didn't didn't fit for you?

So, I mean, a little bit of everything. Outerwear, so like your Gortex coat, the woven materials, the things that are not stretchy, those are really complicated because it either fits or it doesn't. I grew up having such a vivid memory of being in high school social studies.

And at the time, the North face, like blue and black jacket was red and black jacket. That was the thing to wear, at least in the Pacific Northwest, if you skied. And I didn't like that.

I've just, I've never liked those colors. I've always been more of a purple teal. And I remember getting, I got the Columbia jacket because I wanted to be a little different, but it was still forest green and black.

And they were just such terrible colors. They were all very, in my opinion, very masculine or boring colors. And then as the ski industry moved a little bit more to a very common phrase is shrink it and pink it.

They take the men's clothes, basically you size down and then you change it to pink or bubblegum pink or purple. Not even purple, bubblegum pink. That's, yeah.

But even when it did get more fun, then it couldn't fit into the women's clothes. Whether it's because they're not made for the women's body, maybe having curves, but they were absolutely never designed for broad shoulders, longer, or just different proportions. It's not even that I can put on a tall coat, because there are companies that make them in black or brown, but they just add length to the sleeve and they add length to the hem, and they call it tall.

But the armpit area, the shoulder joint, still doesn't fit, and it doesn't go around your hips. So I have to pull up my coat, zip it halfway, and then roll my coat under so that the bottom hem is at my waist instead of at my hips. That's so annoying.

It's so frustrating. And then finding, because outdoor winter activities require a lot of layering. You have a tight shirt on the bottom, usually, on your closest to your skin.

But if it's too tight, you either your neck is super cold because you have this gigantic neck hole, which is the wrong word, or you're chronically pinched, and then your next layer just makes it all even worse. And then having this weird layer that's somehow huge in the waist, but too small on the hips and too narrow in the shoulders, but huge on the arms. It's just so binding.

And again, if you want a black coat, and you have, I would argue, a fairly European tall or Scandinavian tall-shaped body, there are brands out there that have you covered. It's not novel, but having colorful, fun things that are truly designed for the broader shoulders, bigger joints. And then I do a much more of an American tall shape to my garments.

And it's so wonderful when you can just pull your jacket all the way down and zip it. I think it's taken for granted a lot from that. If you don't have that problem, you don't have that problem.

And that's amazing. Yeah.

Yeah. And it's so interesting to me as a pattern maker, the differences in body shape, like globally, and in different niches within the United States. There's petite, there's curvy, there's more of a straighter body type, there's tall, and it's like each group of people, and nobody's really the average of any of those one groups.

Everyone is unique. But even if you can combine into some of those buckets, like the difference in how the clothing needs to be made in order to function the same for everybody and look the same but fit very unique proportions. And yeah, that's such like an interesting point that's like, okay, American tall versus like a European tall being different.

And I'm guessing the American tall has a little bit more of a curvy hip and maybe fuller arms a little bit. Am I wrong there?

Yeah, I would say that's a great, definitely more hips. Yeah, broader shoulder, upper arm, not quite as, there's a, as with anything, there are multiple kinds of tall. You could be five, six and have a 32 inch inseam.

And you could be six foot and have a 30, you know, 29 inch, 30 inch inseam. So that's not that your overall height dictates it. Similarly, you can be all legs and arms, have a 36 inch inseam and have super long arms.

And then actually wear a petite for tops with the, you know, if it was a tank top or a short t-shirt. So yeah, it's super fascinating. And that's why I think that it's so wonderful that we do have so many small brands that make what they make and do it well.

I agree.

Yeah, if you're 5'6 and 120 pounds, go get Patagonia, like do it. Absolutely. But if you are not within that very small size category, it's really complicated.

And yeah, having options is just really wonderful. And then once you find something that works, being able to stick with it and getting that.

Yeah.

Yeah. Finding that brand or that shit that works for you is really helpful.

Yeah, absolutely. And you brought up another kind of good point too of taller does not necessarily mean bigger, you know, through the larger circumference of your body. I think that's something that commonly, you know, you said if you get it long enough, then it's like too big and you're not kept warm.

Again, that's like another thing with proportions where like women's height and size are not really correlated. But there are the, you know, these other proportions with height that of course change and different proportions with size that change. But it's not like, oh, you're tall.

You know, it needs to be bigger automatically.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And there, it's so fascinating because even within my size chart have, I have a very distinct sort of person at each specific size, right?

So the extra small is, you know, this avatar, the small is this one, the medium is, is different. And as you change sizes, like the proportions are, are also different. Because if you have an extra large woman who's 6'3, that looks different than an extra small woman who is 6'3.

Yeah. So even within that, the body, bodies are so amazing, but they absolutely have patterns, they have, yeah, patterns that you can see as you observe people, but also can be generally grouped into baby.

Yeah. But I do really love brands like yours that aren't trying to fit like a huge bucket, like a huge grouping of people. You're trying to fit those smaller niche groups of people that are usually underserved by the bigger brands.

And in doing so, you're able to get that more precise fit that really works for that group of people, that they really won't be able to find anywhere else.

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. So yeah. So that's what sparked the idea.

And then I know, like, I really like how you kind of tested the concept by attending Outdoor Retailer, the trade show, before you even like started the brand. So what exactly were your goals in attending that show?

So my goal in going to OR, February, January of 2020. Yeah. Like maybe there's just something that I'm missing and it's been there the whole time.

Right? And again, is this something that anyone would be interested in? Finally seeing is it even, and I didn't really know what OR was at the time, and it has evolved since then.

Trying to figure out those resources of how do you do this? How many moving pieces are there in making something at this scale? And how easy or difficult will it be to find said resources?

And every time, everyone I spoke with was really excited about the idea. And I made some fabulous connections with people that continue to be in my network and support system and resources. One person, I believe I met them at that one, is actually who introduced me to you.

Yeah. And it's just been really, yeah. So I think I went into it just, is this idea something people would be on board with?

And how do you even choose or find the resources that you need to accomplish a task like this? Yeah. And I came home and I was really excited.

And then as everyone knows, it's just a few weeks later.

Everything changed. Yeah.

Right. So, yeah. So everything went on pause.

And I continue to go to OR every year, just to stay in the conversation and to see what new things are happening. And I was actually with Adrienne two years ago at OR, where a lot of brands were moving into the extended sizing area, which is fantastic. And it was funny because I was having a conversation with someone.

They're like, oh, look, that company, it's a big company, is doing extended sizing. And my thought is that is fantastic for the people that need that kind of extended sizing. But extended sizing still doesn't mean tall, and the companies that do it still don't.

In many situations, don't do it well. They either don't do their highest quality line in that size range, or they don't do tops for women, they only do bottoms for women, or they only do certain lines, like they'll do the flannels, but they won't do the t-shirt, or they'll do their casual city coat, or their down coat, but they won't do their alpine, or their high expedition line in a tall size range. I feel like things are getting there, but it's still very of the 12 colors they”

If they have it in tall, you get two. Yeah. Again, if you want a black, tall coat, you can find that.

If you want tall babes that are black or navy blue, you can absolutely find those things. It's the color palette and that kind of stuff. I've really committed to the top of it fitting tall women.

I think I got lost in the weeds on that one. Sorry.

No, you're good. I'm really curious, like when you're at that first outdoor retailer, like what did you say to people? How did you bring up, were you just walk up to a booth and be like, hey, I'm thinking about starting this brand.

What do you think? How did you start those conversations at that first outdoor retailer?

The cool thing about outdoor retailers is that they have a lot of education seminars, and I would go to a lot of those. I would walk around, look at the booths, but I would go to a lot of the education stuff. In there, sometimes they'll have either meet and greet or turn and talk to this person, or someone else would hand me a business card and we would start talking.

It was a lot of those conversations where I would talk to people or I would see a tall woman walking around and say hello. Yeah, I think at that time, a lot of it was definitely people trying to network and introduce you to their brand, a lot more sort of spontaneous conversation about what you're up to. So I went to a lot of education stuff and I still do, yeah, but they also have really cool like Maine, I think it's like a made in Maine area.

And they're all brands and goods that are made actually manufactured in the state of Maine and so I would walk around and talk to people in there as well as finding those small businesses and talking with them about their process and how long did they take to, you know, from from start to launch and to getting there and having a booth and such. Yeah.

Yeah. And that makes a lot of sense. I feel like my, you know, the conversations that come up when I'm in a trade show tend to be those a little bit more spontaneous ones like that as well, where you just get to talking or, you know, after the event or after the seminar, you know, whatever educational thing you're at and or you, you know, talk to someone in the lunch line and, you know, hear about what they're doing.

And it is much more casual, but those end up being, you know, some really good connections.

So, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

So what you said, you came away from that show feeling like really excited about the concept and, you know, things had to be unpaused because of COVID a few weeks later. But what were what were your kind of your plans after coming home from the show, like what were kind of your biggest takeaways, I guess?

My biggest takeaways were, let me think for a moment. One of my biggest takeaways from that first OR. One was just a renewed sense of energy and momentum, of there's going to be a lot of learning to do.

And if I can get those connections and figure out the process, then this is definitely doable. I, at that point, also got really excited about making things in the USA because I saw that other brands were doing that and they were small businesses, but they were sustainable. And I was really excited about, at the time, I was really excited about collaborating.

What do you mean by that?

Like, trying to work with artists and graphic designers to get patterns on fabric and that kind of thing, which is probably the thing that has been the biggest struggle because of the fabric that is used. But as far as, like, the things that I took away from it, it was the enthusiasm and excitement, the making things in the USA, and then trying to work with artists and really get those things going.

Cool. Yeah. So everything got put on a little bit of hold, but kind of what were those next steps, even if they were slow or delayed in starting that you took to start the brand?

So I met with a person at my kid's school who had worked for a bunch of big brands in marketing, and I was chatting with her. And originally I wanted to call the company Mountain Amazon, and for probably very obvious reasons to others, Amazon being the name is going to be popular. So along with lots of sketches and drawings and learning about how to measure clothes, I met with her and we chatted and talked, and that is how Alta Reina became the name of the company.

Because I couldn't keep calling it Mountain Amazon. Yeah, so that was one of the weirdly, one of the first things that I did was talk with somebody about a name.

I do really like the name because it means tall queen, right? And then, but it also sounds like all terrain.

Right, like it's, yeah, it's a fun little play on words. Yeah, so instantly I loved it. And yeah, so that was sort of an exciting step.

And then I just worked on lots of sketches of different kinds of clothing and trying to figure out what it was that I wanted to start with. And then truly I kind of hit the stopping point of I can have Zoom meetings with people, which is great. And I did for a while.

And there are a lot of really great companies that do sort of all-inclusive services. They work with you on the garments and the patterns, and then they find the fabric and they find a manufacturing partner. But it's harder to find them from making them things in the US.

And I tend to be, I want to do it myself kind of girl, which is what it is. So it's probably put some speed bumps in the road unnecessarily. And at some point, it sort of stalled and I just didn't know where to go.

So I looked online for an education and accountability program, and I found Factory 45, which is, I know you're familiar with it, was doing that program. And that was super helpful. And it gave a lot of information on what the next steps were, how to go about looking for resources, like manufacturing partners.

And also, they had people who were mentors. Also were great references and resources to finding manufacturing partners. And I still will go and look back in the education portal and see like, okay, I need a little refresher on this.

What should I do? Yeah. And then things slowly started to come in or to come together.

And I found someone who provided dead stock for technical fabric, which was trickier.

Yeah, I bet.

Yeah. So, fortunately, and I think I found this out at OR, talking to the polar tech rep in my area. We had a lovely conversation and, you know, you end up talking about your kids and where you live and what activities you're doing.

But he, so a different OR year, he's the one that got me in touch with this place that does dead stock for polar tech. And that has been a super great resource. So then I had a lot of fabric and I had an idea.

And then, well, actually, I had multiple fabrics because I found you as a pattern maker. And that was a super, that was a super fun process. And yeah, that's where you're getting to fine tune the fabric.

So I went from this company to this other company. And that was a while ago. Then the next, for me, the next step was finding a manufacturing partner who was based in the US.

And that I found through Factory 45, through one of the mentors that was in that program. And she had worked with this person and I have really enjoyed working with them. They're in New York area and super helpful.

Most people are incredibly helpful when it comes to saying, hey, I've never done this before, so please be patient. And people seem, you know, more than happy to sort of explain things, perhaps a little more than they would like to or than they have to with others. But that has been, it's been really fascinating.

And it takes so much longer than I ever expected. And it makes sense. And sometimes it's, you know, the manufacturer's side.

Sometimes it's a printer. Sometimes it's fabric. Sometimes it's, I'm just, you know, busy and not, you know, checking my email every day, or it's just learning things takes longer than not already knowing them.

Yeah.

You know, the first production, I feel like always takes like the longest. And then because you're figuring everything out for the first time and working with this factory for the first time and there's just lots of things that have to be kind of like ironed out on that first run that you can build on in the future and don't have to do again.

Right.

Once, you know, everyone's kind of familiar with the product. I want to back up a little bit. You mentioned that you, you know, at a certain point you got stuck trying to, you know, figure things out on your own.

What was kind of the step that you got stuck at?

 I feel like there was a point at which it went from one garment to making garments. And that felt really big between either perceived or real minimums and committing to that much fabric. It just felt like all of a sudden it was a really big financial commitment as well.

And I think there was a big mental block for me in this is really fun, you know, and making an individual thing here and there. And then doing the sizing is exciting, but then having to have them all made feels like, oh, now I need more than just, you know, five or 10 yards of fabric. Now, okay, now I have to like really commit and make choices that will impact others.

And that's I think where the, you know, the imposter syndrome, the self-doubt of everybody says, this is a great idea, but is anyone going to buy anything? Or you also then are starting, or should be starting to move away from the garment production and more into the marketing and building, you know, a following and a reputation and getting there so that when you do launch, you have people to buy them. And that has, for me, that's been absolutely the hardest part.

I might be like a, you know, tortoise in the hair, tortoise speed in this game. But I think that the real true big obstacle was like, oh, okay, now I'm not just making things because that I can do. I can come up with ideas and I, you know, I can create fabrics and sewing garments.

It's lovely. But then you have the marketing component and the computer component and the blog component and social media and what marketing avenues do you do? That is really a change in brain.

Yeah. And it felt like sort of there was a line where it's like, okay, the garment kind of has its own life. You have to choose to like really commit to go forward.

And that was hard.

Yeah. And I mean, it is. It is, I think, too, like when it becomes real.

And like you said, the financial investment at that point, you know, I've absolutely seen that in other designers and even at points, you know, in like my previous job and I was, you know, working, doing a little bit more design work as well that you're like, I think this is good, but like, I don't know. Am I, am I sure enough to like put my weight behind it or, you know, money behind it or whatever it is to make it happen? And it is easy to kind of doubt yourself, especially when you like, you don't, you haven't launched, you don't have feedback yet from, you know, happy customers to kind of be that, that voice of reason of like, okay, yes, this works.

I did, I did it, you know, people like it. You're just going on like very limited experience either from you or, you know, fit other fit models or yeah, it can be tricky.

Yeah, it's super tricky.

Yeah. So how, how were you or how are you funding the brand at this point?

It's all self-funded and it's just me. So yeah, I think having, yeah, having in a marketing organizational type brain partner would be super helpful for anyone. I'm always really don't know the right word to choose.

A little bit envious probably of people that have been able to come together with a partner and start this kind of adventure. Having complimentary skill sets and brains would be amazing in this kind of a, yeah, in this kind of a path. Yeah.

Yeah, it is. There are some times when I like interview two founders of a brand where I get kind of jealous too. I'm like, oh man, like wouldn't that be fun to have, you know, that other kind of like bestie that, you know, handle the stuff that I don't want to do or, you know, I'm not as skilled in and you know, just somebody to bounce ideas off of too, like, am I just, you know, overthinking this or is this how that, you know, give me a reality check on this before I go ahead on it.

Yeah, absolutely. Because you can ask all the people you want, but if they don't have a vested interest, it makes it a lot more complicated to, it just changes the weight of their feedback. Yeah.

And in that, in, I guess, an example of that in my journey to get here has been my designing of outerwear. So I would really love to be able to do the ski coat, right? The shell, the waterproof, breathable garments.”

And I have found one company in the US that I've been able to find it as the quality and the, you know, seam sealing, seam taping, all that stuff. And man, it is a whole different commitment, I think might be the right word. Because at that point, when you're working with those kinds of fabrics, you are talking about a lot more expensive goods and just more types of materials and trims.

More types, yeah, in some ways, but in some ways also like between wanting to stay small and wanting to have a choice over what colors or patterns of fabrics and trying to be mindful about where is it made? Is it because they have a lot of legislation going, happening right now that's banning some of the chemicals that are used in waterproofing? And there's two sides of it.

Obviously, the environmental, if we keep impacting the climate with the choices we as humans make, we won't have something to recreate in. That said, you also have a big group that is very concerned that the quality because some of these things, depending on how you use them, are truly life-saving devices. If your coat leaks and you're in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness, that's a problem.

So some people are concerned that changing the fabrics may compromise the quality of said garments, but which is a whole other conversation and set of information and education that you need to have in order to choose fabrics. But the cost of entry and success for getting into outerwear was so vastly different than what I've been able to launch, which is currently a set of base layers. So thermals, a long-sleeve shirt and long pant.

And my husband and I had many conversations, and he ended up encouraging me to choose the small things that I can have creative freedom over. And I make a lot of my own clothes that I personally wear, and I get compliments and comments on them all the time. It's like, why don't you work on the things that you know, sort of have a hold instead of trying to create another thing that's in this very big market?

And yeah, so I have a prototype. I have round two of prototypes for a jacket and ski bibs. And that's going to have to go to the shelf for a while because also, because as a small business, you need to have garments that are accessible to people, that they're willing, that are already, I mean, it's more expensive than Amazon, but they're actually not any more expensive than any other high quality base layer.

You need that accessibility to the beginning of your business in order to build that customer base. And then eventually, hopefully, you know, we as a community of people who wear these garments, can say, hey, you know, now you have a track record. Any chance you would be willing to make the bibs and the jacket.

And at that point, hopefully, I can be in a place where I can say yes. But at the moment, it makes a lot more sense to, and I'm grateful for my husband's honest feedback of like, let's get viable product out there and do those baby steps before really committing to the bigger design. I mean, the whole thing, design, product testing.

Yeah, that's so smart. You know, it's kind of disappointing as it is to not do the product or the design that you were maybe like really hoping you could. This kind of the tortoise and the hare, like you mentioned, is the slower, smaller steps, but hopefully get Suzi on the path to make it to the finish line that you're aiming for in the long run, more successfully and more sustainably.

Yeah, that's the goal. A nice long slow burn instead of a fireworks. Yeah, because it would be great if I could do this for a long, long time and have fun designs and very functional things and have a great following.

Yeah, that's the goal. I think that's, I would imagine that's everyone's goal. That's definitely my goal.

Stick with it, have fun, expand. And there's also lots of little things that don't, for me, a lot of the time, it's like, okay, this doesn't fit. And none of the other things of that kind ever fit either.

And there are a lot of those opportunities, whether it's socks that are, you know, women's large socks for women who also have an athletic cap, like a bigger cap, you know. Just anything with a hood, like my neck and head, for some reason, happened to be half an inch to an inch longer than someone who is shorter, which makes sense plus the broad shoulder, right? So it's like simple things, like just a hood that doesn't pull my sweatshirt off of my neck.

That would be so rad. Gloves that fit all of my fingers. Because I just learned this, men and women anatomically have different fingers.

So if you're a woman who has to wear men's gloves, or on the flip side, a man who has very small hands and has to wear women's gloves, they're not going to fit you very well. But it's not a high, highly technical garment, you know, so that kind of stuff. Or, you know, it's not just black.

Yeah.

It's just so boring. Yeah.

Yeah, your colors are really fun. You've got the teal and the purple for the base layers, and it looks very you. And also, like, colors that aren't your simple, like, primary color with black palette that you usually see.

Right. Yeah. It's my aunt, when I was probably 18, 20, gave me some turquoise earrings and a matching turquoise necklace.

And she explained to me that she gave that to me because turquoise looks good on everyone. That is not inaccurate. I don't know.

Yeah. Whether you have a lighter complexion, a darker complexion, you know, red hair, black hair, whatever it may be, turquoise does compliment everyone. So I feel like, yeah, and I just, this is just an audio obviously, but I have purple mohawk and I had my troll earrings on and I've got my like rainbow mushroom sweater and like I just don't, if I can buy something in not black, brown or denim, then it's almost always guaranteed that I will be in some sort of a rainbow uniform.

Yeah. Yeah. And there are some people that love monochromatic and you do you.

And know that there are companies that you should go to because that's the beauty of, you know, the clothing industry is that there is something for everyone. And sometimes it's harder to find another. But yeah, you have to, I feel like, in order for me to also maintain the enthusiasm and energy to continue doing this, it has to be something that brings it.

It's not about just producing things, but it's not about producing things that are poorly fit. You really, yeah. So I find that it's really important, which also makes using dead stock quite difficult.

Because if I wanted to do navy blue, beige, white, black, could order as much dead stock as needed. Yeah. Yeah.

So on the fabric side of things, and even just the market that you're in with outdoor apparel, I feel like is in the middle of, like it's, it gets tricky because the market on one hand, is very focused on the environment and being connected to nature, you know, spending time outdoors. But on the other hand, relies very heavily on synthetic performance fibers, and maybe there's these less choice of colors. So how do you balance kind of these two ends of things, both the performance side, which, like you said, could be life-saving potentially, and the environmental side of this for Alta Reina?

That is a very common discussion I have with myself as my own business partner. For me, part of that is making things in the US. I feel like it's contributing to someone's livelihood that lives here in the US, where my company is based, and it also reduces shipping costs, all that kind of thing.

So for me, part of that solution is making things in the US. And part of it is trying to use dead stock. I was not able to use dead stock for all of my fabric in this first run.

Some of the fabric is, but I did have to order other fabric to use for this run that was in an appropriate color. Because that was the other thing. It's like, I might be ready to go, but if there's not dead stock available, then I either wait for the dead stock to come in at some point that's in a color that works for my brand, or I have to order something, which also takes time.

In this situation, I decided to order some, which per usual took about a month, month and a half longer than it was supposed to, but it was also made in the US.

So, yeah, for my previous comment, those are my two things. I would love to use a more natural fiber. Personally, I've not had success finding things in the past that were comfortable, in part because the pattern fit was not for my body, which totally makes sense.

And in a lot of more natural fibers, you don't have stretch, which means oftentimes, which means that you need to find something that fits you better in the first place. So I would love to do that. I also don't know of any that is made in the USA.

Yeah, because the requirements to write made in the USA is just really tricky. There's a lot of requirements.

Yeah, materials as well as manufacturing.

Which I think is why you see a lot of brands that will say, you know, designed in LA, manufactured in Bangladesh, kind of a thing. Because they do want to show that it's an American company, that it's based here. And the reality is, making things here is more expensive.

And there's, you have, with anything, right? You have to weigh pros and cons with each choice that you make. So, yeah, for me at the moment, it's making fabric in the US, or getting USA fabric, getting dead stock if possible, and then manufacturing in the US.

Makes sense. Yeah, I feel like, you know, responsible sourcing or sustainability, eco-friendliness within fashion, no one can do it perfectly. And so every brand kind of has their different approach to, like, these are the factors that are important to you personally, or to your brand.

And it's like those are the priorities. And like, yes, these are the things are nice to have when we can do them or as we can afford to add them into, you know, your approach to manufacturing. But like, you know, those are the, you've got to kind of pick the one or two priorities of, this is the most important aspect.

Yeah, absolutely. And then you just have to, like, be OK with your choice, because inevitably you'll always find, you know, let's say there's polyester made in the USA, but then there's recycled polyester. So is it recycled or is it not recycled?

But the recycled is made overseas, whereas, you know, whereas you get virgins from the US. So yeah, it's always, and again, with everything, it's always the give and take of what is the priority. And I'm just really trying to be like, OK, down this run, the material is polyester.

It's all made in the USA, manufactured in the USA. So I'm going to, you know, I'm going to be OK with that. And maybe another time it's something made overseas, but it's, you know, a hemp canvas.

And that obviously has a completely different application. Or, you know, I want to use alpaca, because that has made it, that's sort of a big, a big fabric right now, or a big material versus wall. Recycled versus not recycled.

Yeah.

So I think each run, it's just not, you know, this is how this one went, and it won't always go that way. And that's okay. And you just, yeah, you just do your best, especially when it comes to environmental components.

But it is really complicated and really tricky. And every body works different with different materials too. It's allergic to wool and they get itchy.

And even if it's the softest wool, some people still love silk. People swear by wearing women's pantyhose under their ski boots. Everyone has their own, everyone has their own method to their activity.

And again, which is where having lots of options and then finding what works for you is a super great thing that we do have accessible here.

Absolutely. So what's a moment or a point about your business that you are most proud of so far?

I am really proud of the fact that I actually like have a product and people wear it. Yeah. I actually did from start to finish on this whole outfit.

And I mean, I've had help along the way, but every step involves something that I had to learn and execute and edit and re-execute. And wear test, right? And wear test and ask people to wear them and walk up to strangers and be like, hey, you don't know me, but you're tall.

Would you mind? Yeah. Yeah.

And there's, so that's been, yeah, I'm really proud of myself for actually being able to create a product and put it out into the world and have completed that.

Congrats on that. That is a huge achievement.

Thank you.

So I have one more question that I ask everyone at the end of the interview, which is if you could communicate one value to the world through the clothes you design, what would it be?

Be joyful. Bring others joy. Bring yourself joy.

If other people wouldn't wear it, but it makes you happy, wear it.

Nice. Wear the teal baselayers.

Yes.

Yeah.

Wear color. If you want to wear teal baselayers, and orange jacket, and purple hat, do it. You don't have to.

Yeah. Personality is great.

It is. It's so fun.

Yeah.

I'm a big fan of color myself. I try to avoid black and gray and brown as much as possible.

Yeah. Yeah. It's funny.

I, non sequitur story. I was in a play this fall and they were asking the people had, you know, sort of work wear. And everything that I had was remotely work wear.

I had embroidered flowers on. So everything in my closet was like, Ooh, well that won't work. Nope.

Sorry.

I put a patch on that. Says like, just love. Or there's flowers on my work boots or whatever it may be.

So everything I brought was like, Hmm, sorry, that doesn't work because it had this, you know, bright colored thing or flower or whatnot. And it was, yeah, it was comical.

That's funny. But it means you have a really like unique personal wardrobe.

Absolutely. And it's, and that's one of, that's the thing that I've always loved about clothes, is that you could buy, you know, a black t-shirt, but you can cut it or paint it or style it in such a way that brings you joy, brings other people joy, gives other people permission to express themselves. And maybe it made somebody smile or laugh or just be happy on a day that was just feeling really too hard to get through.

But the number of times people walk up to me and just say, your outfit just makes me so happy. Awesome. What easier way could there be to bring joy to the world?

So cool. Well, this has been a really fun conversation, Suzi. I'm so glad we got to catch up and hear more about the full backstory of launching your brand.

And congrats on the launch of the baselayers. Where can people find out more about you and shop Alta Reina online?

So altareina.com, I think it's in the show notes. Or on Instagram, @altareinaclothing. And that, yeah, that's it.

Only in two places to try to keep it a little bit simple, at least for now.

Cool. Yeah, I'll put links to those in the show notes. And thank you so much for joining me today.

Alison, thank you so much for your time. I really, really appreciate it. It was a great conversation.

Yeah. That's all for today. Thanks for listening.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend. And if you would like more episodes and resources like this about growing a fashion business that fits your customer lifestyle and values, sent right to your inbox, you can sign up for the How Fitting newsletter at howfittingpatterns.com/newsletter, or at the link in the show notes. Again, thank you for listening, and I hope you'll join me again for the next episode of How Fitting."

From How Fitting: design a slow fashion business that fits: The Adventures Of Outdoor Apparel Entrepreneurship with Suzi Zook of Alta Reina, Jan 14, 2025

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