Defying the Odds

There’s something almost gallery-like about Frock, the clothing store that Laura William-Larson and Trish Ginter run in downtown Chester.

In one of the two storefront windows that overlook Main Street there’s a dress form with nothing on it but a string of small, unlit white lights. In the opposite window a black-and-white wrap adorns another dress frame.

The shop’s interior is spartan. There’s a wide expanse of golden oak flooring and an array of about a dozen or so colorful articles of clothing on racks on either side of the store. A weathered wooden case at the back of the room has a few folded shirts on its shelves, along with a couple of necklaces. Inside a basket atop a nearby table there are some 10 hand-silk-screened T-shirts that have been rolled up to fit inside.

The serenity of the small space is in contrast to the bustle and sounds of laughter from the room next door, visible through an open doorway. It’s an equally small space where William-Larson and her business partner, Ginter, design and make the clothes they sell here at Frock.

A kaleidoscope of colorful fabrics overflows two huge bins tucked beneath a large table where the women cut fabric after designing a piece. It takes up more than half of the small workroom. Another wooden cabinet near a storefront window in this small workspace also overflows with fabric. Several sewing machines and a rack of thread sit at the rear of the room.

Both women have their own clothing lines and opened this increasingly popular small shop about a year and a half ago. They worked together previously in downtown Chester, first in a wedding dress shop that Ginter operated and later at a private studio where they both made their own clothing line.

They decided to open Frock, they both said, from popular demand from customers and after the space at 11 Main St., became available. At the time, they were making clothes and selling them online from a studio across Main Street.

Despite a deep recession that was putting a pall on most other existing businesses and discouraging new ones, the two women said they jumped at the chance to start a new venture.

“We just painted the place, moved our fabrics over, started sewing and opened the doors,” William-Larson said. “We didn’t skip a beat, we literally didn’t skip a beat.”

“And we never looked back!” added Ginter.

Since opening the store in January of 2009, Frock’s become a staple in Chester’s downtown village district, an area well-known in the region for its eclectic blend of shops and restaurants.

Both women have a long history of sewing and making their own clothes. Both learned to sew from their mothers or grandmothers; Ginter went to fashion design school in New York City and was a designer there for many years, Williams-Larson was an artist who started designing clothes by “up-cycling” other clothes and silk-screening her own art designs onto t-shirts.

They credit their success to their passion and love of designing and sewing clothes. They make what they like and they don’t follow the oftentimes strict mandates of the fashion industry. For instance, while most department store chains by mid-August were rolling out their fall and winter lines, at Frock summer still ruled and the women were cheerfully still making summer clothes. A few clean, white tank tops sporting William-Larson’s original silk-screened designs hung inside the store, along with brightly colored sleeveless summer dresses, short-sleeved shirts and jaunty skirts.

As soon as they make an article of clothing a price tag goes on it and it’s hung inside the store. Often it gets sold within hours, even minutes.

“We sell things sometimes as fast as we make them,” Ginter said.

One recent customer even bought a blouse as Ginter was still sewing it.

At Christmas last year, they said, their clothes were selling so quickly the store was nearly empty by Christmas Eve.

“There was nothing in here. We couldn’t keep up,” said William-Larson.

They each have their own clothing line, MerGirl for Ginter and Whosiepie, for William-Larson, and also sell their clothes on another site for independent designers called Smashing Darling.

No two articles of clothing are alike and they don’t do custom orders. But they will alter one of their own designs if it doesn’t fit exactly right. They’ll also remake one of their designs if someone wants the same article of clothing in a different size or different fabric. With the exception of the pre-made t-shirts they buy for their silk-screened creations, none of the clothes contain a size. Some are small, some are large, but most are an average size.

“The fabric tells us what it wants to be,” said William-Larson.