New business is tailored to fit the times
Nelson tailor and clothing designer Vanessa Atkinson is brushing off any talk of post-covid recession. ‘‘If you concern yourself with worry, you’re not going to get started.’’
Atkinson moved her business, Tailored Alterations, to Nelson from Westport earlier in the year, preparing for a March opening in the former home of Elise Hair & Beauty on Tukuka St.
The Covid-19 lockdown was a blow.
‘‘I was pushing myself to open,’’ Atkinson said.
‘‘I had the motivation, had the full steam. But I had to lay my ideas to the ground.’’
But Atkinson was determined to look on the bright side: the government subsidy meant her business wouldn’t fold before it had a chance to open, and the lockdown meant time to create new designs.
Now, she’s ready to open – this time for real.
Sewing has always been her passion, Atkinson said. A few years ago, she realised her skills could be used to offer an alteration service with a designer twist.
‘‘People need help; I can put my design eye into people’s everyday clothing.’’
This could mean a vintage outfit unearthed in an op shop, or a rash internet purchase. ‘‘Clothes that don’t sit or fit right, or are falling apart before they’ve tried it on.
‘‘People are just throwing them away. But if they come to me, I’ll tell them if I can help them, or if it’s a waste of time.’’
Tailored Alterations began life in Westport in 2018. Like now, it was a time of economic uncertainty in the West Coast town.
‘‘People would come up to me and say, you’re not going to succeed. But that’s not my mindset.’’
And succeed she did, growing her business enough to shift into its newer, larger Nelson location.
‘‘Westport was a perfect place to learn, and understand where you have to grow.’’
The Westport community supported her business with donations of fabric and old patterns they’d dug out from cupboards, she said.
These allowed her to create designs under her own label, True Self. Atkinson also reimagines old garments, turning an outdated item into something completely new.
Displayed on the racks in her shop, Atkinson’s designs span styles and decades. There’s a black and white dress made out of a tablecloth, and an orange coat trimmed with possum fur that began life as a jacket and skirt.
Her eclectic designs tapped into a growing movement against fast fashion, she said.
‘‘I’m about recycling; we can’t keep buying and buying and buying.’’