The Double Stitch Twins Erika and Monika Simmons are two crafty ladies. They crochet beautiful apparel and accessories that are filled with style, beauty, and color. Currently they are working on a wonderful Crochet & Pattern book that is due to come out in May of 2008. Erika and Monika talk with us about why creativity is important and they share a few marketing tips for promoting your work. Thanks Monika and Erika for sharing your crochet inspiration!
Jubella: Why is creativity important to you?
Double Stitch: As crochet artists, creativity is very important to us, because it initially keeps us from getting board during our creative process. Even if we’re crocheting a piece that’s all black, we’ll use black beads, black sequins, sparkly yarn, textured black yarn for fringes, etc. This pushes us to always add that little extra that we like to see when we shop for apparel ourselves.
Jubella: How would you describe your most creative spot/atmosphere?
Double Stitch: My (Erika), favorite creative spot or atmosphere is in my home studio in the sun porch. I love it because I’m facing toward the racks of clothing that we have in our inventory and it’s inspiring for me to see what I’ve created already, while making something new and innovative. There are windows around the whole area, and I’m usually listening to Law and Order or the Golden Girls DVD, lol!
Monika’s most creative spot/atmosphere is in her bedroom. It’s comfy and cozy and she listens to television while she hides her creation from me until she’s done. This way she can unveil her fabulous Double Stitch original.
Jubella: Favorite Fashion magazine or episode?
Double Stitch: We both like magazines like, Vogue and Lucky so that we can stay abreast to what’s current in the Fashion industry. But, we both love Sophisticates Black Hair Magazine, Essence and Ebony the most!
Jubella: Top 3 Fashion/Beauty Boutiques or Designers?
Double Stitch: Tracy Reese’s designs are absolutely beautiful. Sistah’s from Harlem are extremely innovative and inspiring. Anthropologie is great because of the special touches and quality of the designs that they feature!
Jubella: What designers have inspired you?
Double Stitch: Tracy Reese has inspired us through her perseverance in the industry. She has always had the obvious talent, but she has proven that believing in her ability can get her everywhere! She kept going though bankruptcies and never stopped. Also her designs are gorgeous!
Sistah’s from Harlem NY, has shown us that we can do it too! When we see them, we see us. We just live in different places. It’s very important to see yourself in others that you believe are successful. It pushes you in a way that only a role model can.
Jubella: What are your top 3 marketing tips that you would give to an aspiring designer?
1. Wake Up & Pay Attention: Listen to what your prospective clients say about your collection, but decide for yourself what your clothing line will be about. People other than ourselves, usually reveal the strengths or special appeal about our line through the comments that they make . Do what YOU do, and stay true to the essence of what made you designer. That way, your line can grow while you grow.
2. Invest is Marketing: Make sure that Marketing is not an optional part of your business. Plenty of people have a great product that no one knows about. So what’s the use of working on your collection and putting all of the money into supplies, when you need business cards and ads in place? Split the money up, make some hot samples and purchase some eye catching ads, flyers and/or business cards. Marketing investments make the difference!
3. Party with a purpose: It’s cool to scope out your prospective market, by attending events where you think YOUR client would go. This is very useful research and can help you to decide who is most interested in your work as well as who will actually pay for it.
Jubella: What would we find in your closet or purse?
Double Stitch: In our purse you would find a (5.50) crochet needle, fabric discount card, a pen, and business cards. In our closet you would find a Double Stitch T shirt with crochet sleeves (to represent Double Stitch in a casual grocery shopping kind of way), funky boots (any color), Tube tops (to layer Double Stitch jackets, shawls, and accessories), Double Stitch Multi-way shawl (can be worn over 30 ways), and some Long skirts.
Jubella: Other than fashion, in what other ways do you express your creativity?
Double Stitch: Hair Stylists: We have been braiding hair for over 15 years (since college) and we were able to express ourselves through our clients hair that way. Dance: We have been dancers since age 12 and we love modern, ballet, jazz, African, and hip hop dance! Artists: We both discovered very early, that we can draw very well, but believe it or not, we don’t do sketches of our clothing. we just dream it up and then do it, not patterns or anything!
