Firm with a global reach began with a DIY raincoat
Susan Coulbourn Mocarski remembers getting stopped in the streets any time she traveled about 14 years ago. Bikers and walkers would approach her, especially in New York City, and inquire about her rain poncho, which was big enough to cover her bags and made well enough to keep her dry. She sewed it herself.
An avid no-car commuter, Mocarski’s DIY raincoat was born out of necessity. At the time, she was searching for high-performance women’s outerwear and was coming up short. So she made something for herself, and was stunned by the number of people who’d notice it and ask her where they could get one.
From there, Mocarski founded Cleverhood — a Providence-based company that designs and manufactures highperformance outerwear and rain gear, including rain capes, snow capes, jackets, bags, cardigans, and more. The company has international reach, and Mocarski is always on the hunt for ways to make the products even better.
The Globe caught up with Mocarski about her business, how it’s evolved over the years, and goals for the future.
Have you always been somebody that sews your own clothes?
I think I’m more of an engineer. Making things work just makes sense to me. In terms of sewing, I could get there. I mean, if you looked at the seams, it wasn’t spectacular. But I had enough ability to kind of prototype and do all that sort of stuff.
What’s the benefit of a rain cape versus a raincoat?
So, the utility of a high-performance rain poncho is that it covers all of your stuff — your bag, your backpack. You’ve probably worn a plastic poncho. But with something more substantial, it’s not going to flip around, and it’s not going to be disposable.
Also, when I was playing around with this, to go biking, I just put two thumb loops on the underside of the front. Just two elastics so I could hold the handle bars of the bike, and I was astounded with how well that worked. It gives you lots of airflow, it covers your pedaling legs, it covers all your gear if you’re wearing a messenger bag. But you’re not sweating out, which is another issue when you’re cycling or walking to work.
There’s a design element, too, and we’ve gotten design awards. We’re in the Museum of Modern Art stores and other design stores. I think that’s the “clever” in the whole thing.
What’s your best-selling product?
The rain poncho, or rain cape, is our core product. Eighty-five percent of our sales are that. It has become a real go-to among bike commuters, which is really nice, and other companies are now making them, which — I wouldn’t have started this company if I could have found one years ago. But it’s been great.
Making rainwear is definitely our specialty and the underlying theme is trying to get people comfortable with going out of their car and not retreating. Continuing to walk. Continuing to grab a bike share. Because it’s not that bad out there.
Where are the products manufactured now?
Technical rainwear isn’t made in the US anymore, with the exception of the US military because they’re in compliance. So when I first started, I set out to make the products in the US. I started in New Jersey and kind of bounced around everywhere. And we worked with mostly all military contractors. I eventually got a lot of our production back to Fall River, and that was really exciting.
But when COVID hit, all of our places, ones in New Jersey, Oakland, and Fall River, closed. The quality sewists that can do this technical stuff are mostly really old. So when COVID hit, most of these places closed, and a couple of them went and did personal masks and gear for hospitals. So we were out of inventory and I just took a moment to assess. We had been looking at a really nice, small manufacturer in Vietnam, so we jumped into production with them. And I’m really glad we did take that risk because at that moment, so many people were out of public transportation, so our business picked up quite a bit.
What are the products made out of?
They’re mostly polyester. We’ve gotten to the point where we’re now 100 percent recycled polyester. There’s also a sheer membrane that’s attached to the inside of the garment, it can be one layer or two layers. And then on the outside there’s a durable water repellent.
I’ve been focusing on sustainability and how we can do these things with materials that are earth-friendly, without sacrificing the ability to keep people dry. One of the most sustainable things we really can do is make a garment that’s going to last.
As a marketing analysis showed, people hang on to these for 14 years, 10 years. So I’m really happy to see the longevity of the garments being a very critical, sustainable feature.
How big is your team?
Right now we’re four and a half, and we’ve been as big as six people.
How big is your inventory?
We usually produce about 3,000 per production run, and that’s across sizes and colors, and we usually go through that in about eight to nine months.