Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Reitz.
Hi Erin, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I studied Marketing and Art at the University of Maryland.
I moved to NYC in the Spring of 2001. I was pounding the pavement looking for jobs in marketing…dreaming of working in an art department of a magazine or ad agency. I wasn’t having any luck… one evening, I was in a dive bar with my best friend. I ran to the bathroom carrying a bag I had made myself out of Klein Blue Nylon. A very cool-looking woman approached me in the bathroom and asked where I bought my bag. I told her I made it…she explained that she was the head designer of a clothing company called Nanette Lepore. We hit it off, and by the end of the night, she offered me an internship. The next morning I showed up at the studio at 9 am. I was introduced to the team and dove right in. I knew within the first few minutes that clothing design was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I will never forget the moment I saw a group of women around a dress form, working on this beautiful sculptural dress. The creativity and teamwork was so exciting to me.
I quickly began to study design at the Fashion Institute of New York.
I have designed for companies large and small (i.e., Anne Klein, Ann Taylor, Levi’s, Eddie Bauer, currently Alabama Chanin), always designing women’s sportswear. When I was 22, I began to dream about starting my own line of Women’s shirts. This year, over 20 years later, I fulfilled that dream.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It began as a very smooth ride. I won a fashion competition at FIT and was given an internship at Anne Klein. That quickly became a full-time job. And I was on an upward trajectory from there. Then when I was 33 and the women’s design director at Eddie Bauer in Seattle, I was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor…and my life shattered. I was couch bound for many months. It changed everything. I had surgery and began a miraculous recovery over the next few years. However, I took a break from clothing design and started a small company selling homewares. I quickly missed clothing design and was hired to design for a beautiful and purposeful company called Alabama Chanin. It was founded by sustainable pioneer and creative genius Natalie Chanin, based in Florence, Alabama. I have been designing for them ever since. In the past few years, the dream I had in my 20s to start my own line was resurfacing. So I bit the bullet and started this year!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The collection is elevated but approachable, made for women that are confident and cool, not showy. The styles aren’t frilly or overtly feminine, but not boxy or androgynous, either; they are timeless and classic – for a woman who knows how to dress simply and stylishly. I draw my inspiration from the creative women that surround me – some friends, some acquaintances, and some I only see in passing from a distance. They are the women I imagine when I’m draping. My process is to drape the clothes in my studio in South Carolina. I then send them to an amazing pattern maker in NYC to work out the fine details and fit. They are produced in arguably the best factory in NYC.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
This is an ever-changing industry! Makes it exciting! I am hoping that people buy less clothes, but buy better quality. I hope that people start to look at clothing purchases the way they are beginning to consider food purchases. Where did it come from? Who made it? Will it last?
Pricing:
- Shirts range from $420-540
Contact Info:
- Website: www.emreitz.com
- Instagram: e.m.reitz
Image Credits
Images by me, Erin Reitz
