Episode 6: Who Makes Our Accessories? A Chat with Seamstress Christina
Maddie and Christina start by talking about Modern Companion’s products. Maddie says all of their accessories are still proudly handmade in South Carolina. She started out making all of the accessories herself but realized she needed help to grow. Sewing was not her strong suit or passion so she started looking for assistance.
Christina and Maddie connected on indeed when Christina moved to South Carolina from Virginia. She’d been making tactical belts and wanted to keep sewing. She reached out to Maddie and a few days later joined the team.
Christina loves pets. She has two schnauzers who run her house, Wellington and Barley. The duo loves to help Christina sew and Maddie loves the photos that result. Christina likes to test the accessories she creates for Modern Companion on her own dogs to make sure the designs are working correctly. They’re the official accessory product testers. She even tests them during play to make sure the bandanas, bows, and more are durable.
Christina sews the custom accessories and cotton accessories. Modern Companion’s other seamstress, Amy, handles the scarves. Christina says her favorite accessories to make are the Modern Companion bow ties. She says they’re Wellington’s favorites. Maddie shares that the Sailor Bows were something Christina came up with because she wanted a girlier version of the bow tie for Barley. They’re now incredibly popular. She says the minis are difficult to create but she loves a challenge.
Maddie says the custom wedding tuxedos are something else Christina likes to help with. She thinks it's fun to know that her work is being featured in the special moments in different families' lives.
Maddie then brings up the Nordstrom order of 2022. She’d received an email from a buyer at Nordstrom asking Modern Companion to join in their holiday pop up. Maddie thought it was fake at first but it was real. She said the brand found her on TikTok and reached out. They had to make 900 bandanas in less than a month to distribute to 30 different Nordstrom stores during the holiday season. Christina says that makes her think of how far her sewing business has come since then. She’d been working on an old machine and realized then that it was time to get an industrial sewing machine. It was a difficult order but they had fun.
Maddie and Christina laugh at the amount of fabric that appeared at Christina’s house to fulfill that order. Christina doesn’t like wasting fabric and texts Maddie ideas to try to use every last bit.
Christina runs her own seamstress business and is attending college. She has a 4.0 GPA, Maddie shares that the Modern Companion team is proud of Christina.
Maddie shares memories of Christina and her husband helping paint the retail store before it opened. She’s been with Modern Companion since the beginning and has enjoyed watching the business grow. She gets to interact with the community through events.
Christina says she sees Maddie almost like her own daughter. She gets excited to tell customers at events about why she loves Modern Companion and the products they sell. She likes to see pictures of people and their dogs in the products she creates. They laugh about running out of bow ties at a Junior League event they were at. They had to have Jordan, Maddie’s husband, help sew more on the spot.
Maddie asks Christina what her favorite Modern Companion print has been. She loves the holiday tartan prints and is excited about the new Clemson print. She says she loves being surprised by the different fabrics that come in.
Maddie pulls up an estimate for how many accessories they’ve made over the 4 years they’ve worked together. Christina guesses they’ve made 5 or 6 thousand. Maddie says they’ve sold about 10 thousand. Christina guesses the most popular print was the Eras print. Maddie says that is true and they’ve sold over 300 Eras bandanas. They weren’t expecting so much success from that launch but Maddie says there’s no end in sight.
Christina is celebrating her 4 year anniversary at the end of August. She says she feels like Modern Companion is her baby and she loves watching Maddie and the brand grow. She's happy to have been part of the adventure. Maddie says Christina is like her second mom.
Christina says her favorite thing they’ve done as Modern Companion is the outreach to the local community. She loves seeing how the community comes together around small businesses and how Modern Companion gives back. Maddie says you can buy things from anyone but Modern Companion cares about keeping Modern Companion production in South Carolina. It’s more meaningful that way.
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