Established in 2017, Suay Sew Shop is a women owned LA-based sustainable fashion business that focuses on creating a city-wide movement. To facilitate this, Suay Sew Shop is implementing a circular business strategy. What this means is that not only are they selling up-cycled and thrifted clothes, they also accept individual and corporate donations to ensure that they are using and reusing fabrics to the end of their life cycles. They also hold workshops to teach people how to up-cycle at home, hosting Community Dye Baths to recolour old garments that once again, prolongs their use.
Suay Sew Shop is showing others in LA and in the world that the circular economy model works as an alternative to fast fashion, they lead others by sustaining their business, while at the same time, helping people express themselves through clothes. This is why their efforts are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Responsible Consumption and Production.
Founded by Tina Dosewell, a Thai immigrant and former sew shop worker herself, Suay Sew Shop’s business model centres the experience of its black and brown workers. Much of the world’s fast fashion relies on the exploitation of black and brown garment workers, which is why it was important for Dosewell and her co-founder, Lindsay Rose Medoff, to ensure that their garment workers are fairly compensated.
In an interview with the LA Times, their Director of Operations, Anita Vuong, a second generation Vietnamese and Chinese immigrant whose parents worked at sew shops, shared that she still couldn’t believe how healthy their work environment is. “I wish my parents had a place to work at like Suay when I was growing up — a place that’s communal and puts human rights first,” said Vuong.
Aside from championing sustainability, Suay Sew Shop also offers fashionable designs that scream Los Angeles street wear. This is a specific style that layers athletic wear with casual everyday pieces. Its laid-back styling has been popularized over the years by public figures such as Virgil Abloh and Zendaya, ensuring that Suay Sew Shop’s pieces are keeping up with their community’s sense of fashion and tastes.
Suay Sew Shop, whose label name comes from the Thai word for “beautiful”, also offers a wide range of sustainably made home apparels. Making everything from blankets to pillow covers, their designs are again laid-back and eye-catching at the same time.
Over the years, Suay Sew Shop’s operations have remained rooted in its Los Angeles community, giving back and ensuring that they are taking care of the community as much as the community takes care of them. During COVID-19 lockdowns, they worked with Virgil Abloh and the Cleveland Clinic to sell breathable masks that funded the Cleveland Clinic’s COVID-19 research. They have also launched the “Know Your Farmer” initiative, which helped distribute food to 200 garment families during the lockdowns.
At the end of the day, their CEO and lead designer, Lindsay Rose Medoff, hopes that Suay Sew Shop can inspire others worldwide to follow in their footsteps and create their own circular and sustainable fashion brand.
Find out more about upcycled clothes by Suay Sew Shop and their other initiatives by checking their Instagram on @suaysewshop.