From Deseret News archives:

Clothes are a 'modest' success

Utahn offers new apparel that actually covers

Published: Thursday, March 24, 2005 9:15 a.m. MST
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"They're modest shirts that allow you to wear everything else," she said. "Personally, I am excited about it because when I go shopping, I don't even look twice at the length, I don't have to look if it's see-through or not, or if it's wide-shouldered. I can wear everything that's in the stores right now with my shirt. Shopping is a whole new deal."

But the natural networking disposition of Shade's target market, LDS women, has also done much to drive the company's success. Shade sells the majority of its products at Tupperware-like parties, hosted by enthusiastic customers for their family and friends.

"I wasn't going to go the party approach, because I wanted to establish myself as a hip, modest clothing line," Rippy said. "But literally like a week into selling the shirts, I had ladies begging me to throw parties."

The approach Rippy initially shied away from has become Shade's "bread and butter."

"Next thing you know, we do about 18 parties a week, and that's just because we don't have enough inventory to accommodate more," she said. "Parties are a good chunk right now, I'd have to say the majority of, our sales. So that's been a huge thing for us; ladies telling their friends has been really helpful."

According to Rippy, each party of 30 to 50 women results in an average of 150 to 450 shirts sold.

"People never walk away with just one; they usually buy three," said Brown. "Some people will throw down $300, $400, if they have a lot of teenage girls.

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Though most of the parties are hosted in Utah, women in Arizona, Washington, Nevada and California have held them as well.

"We get people from out of state constantly asking to be sales reps in their state," Rippy said. "We hope to eventually have 40 parties a week going all at the same time. It's just been a great way to get the word out fast."

Shade's products are also available on the Internet — www.shadeclothing.com — and have been sold at local JMR clothing stores since February.

Gateway Mall JMR sales associate Amy Maddux said the shirts sell out quickly at her store.

"The first time that we got them in, I think we sold out within, like, two or three hours," she said. "The cap-sleeve shirt sells amazingly well."

Fashion Place JMR assistant manager Brian Pearce said the shirts appeal to customers because they're fashionable. "The long shirts are in right now, everyone's loving the long, and all these shirts are long," he said. "I see pregnant women come in, and they love the stretch, and for women that are LDS and wear garments, it covers that. It's modest but yet modern."

Rippy said she is currently working to get the shirts into other stores, but the main roadblock has been inventory.

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Image
Dan Lund, for the Deseret Morning News

Enthusiastic customers gather at a home in Springville to purchase apparel created by Shade Clothing. The clothing is designed to be fashionable and modest.

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