OUR NEW SEWING AREA AND SAMPLE SEWERS ARE HERE!!

Author:
Ellen Bennett

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There's a point in the embryo of a business when you literally do everything. Answer the phone, stamp packages, track orders, your cell phone is the customer service hotline and your office looks like a Mini Cooper w/ more boxes than a public storage. 

Then you graduate to a 400 sq. ft. office and you feel like you've accomplished more than you even know what to do with, hell you even have a chalkboard wall, I mean, we're talking the big leagues now. 

Then a few months go by and your one rack of aprons turns into 3 and so it goes. Growing, falling, learning and sleeping when you remember to. 

When you do this over and over in so many different layers of business you almost forget to celebrate the moments where, two years back you wouldn't have even believed that was ever going to happen. 

That's kind of how I felt about our apron HQ. It was the monstrosity of a task logistically, financially, and physically and once we got it, my next goal was to get our sewers in house. 

hedley and bennett handmade chef gear wear apron aprons

Now, if you know anything about the current scene on manufacturing in California, it's a wild one that I knew nothing about, but order by order, we figured it out, always keeping track of our mistakes and errors and asking so many questions. There is no rule book or magical person who knows all these answers so we carved out the processes and put them together. 

One of those hurdles was navigating having our sample sewing team in house. Now what you have to understand is you can't just stick people in here and give 'em a sewing machine. There's such a tremendous volume of steps required to pull off something like this. Patterns, machines, threads, needles, sewers, workers comp, ironing boards, processes, cutting equipment and the list went on and on and on. In between all that, I realized we also needed to get health insurance for our team to make this next big move. 

That's just how it goes... everything all at once! But we did it. We got 'em in here. And the team feels fuller, in the best possible way. They have Hickory aprons with their names embroidered on them and there's just something so full circle about this. I love seeing them chugging away every day, bringing your and our apron dreams to life. (Mad props to Jasmine and the production team for making all of this happen!!) 

As Walt Disney says If you can dream it you can do it! :)

Next time you're in DTLA, come by for ice cream and a hug and check it out for yourself, ok!!!?

 

 

All of this is really because of you guys, Squad. All your feedback, comments, suggestions, calls and EVERYTHING has gotten us to this point. Its helped us evolve, improve our products, have higher quality, faster turnaround . It really goes to show you this is a group effort, every single day that H&B breathes and exists, it's because of the Apron Squad that contributes. That honesty and interactiveness helps us create a better product for and its not just about making aprons and workwear, but about us working together. You're not just our customers, you're our friends and the Apron Squad has turned into what feels like an extended family and I'm so grateful that you guys are here alongside us in this crazy ride for better uniforms, better work wear and better community.  Our ethos has been to design the world's best work wear and build a community in the kitchen and beyond and you guys have really allowed that to happen and we are so, so grateful.