🔒South Street Linen: Comfort and fashion for the ages

Lynn Krauss, Mary Ruth Hedstrom and Jane Ryan, co-founders of boutique clothing maker South Street Linen, know their customers well. All they have to do is look in the mirror. “We are our demographic,” Krauss told Mainebiz during a recent interview in her downtown Portland shop, surrounded by racks of colorful and artsy scarves, dresses and shirts. Their average age is 64.

Though it may seem unlikely for three artists to become businesspeople mid-career, they are thriving, selling comfortable, yet fashionable clothing to middle-aged women via their website and in two stores (the second is on Vinalhaven). And while they initially aimed to fill a clothing void, they inadvertently ended up tapping a number of current trends: locally made products, women-owned businesses, natural fiber products, encore entrepreneurship and extending a traditional Maine industry (textile-making).

Customer response to the four-year-old company suggests their ideas are on track: revenues have doubled in each of the past two years and are expected to do so again by the end of 2014 to reach about $500,000 to $750,000.

American women account for 85% of all consumer purchases, spending $7 trillion annually on all types of goods, according to www.she-conomy.com. In particular, the baby boomer women they are targeting wield more spending clout than any other market segment.

Krauss talked with Mainebiz about the company's growth since it started almost four years ago. An edited transcript follows.

Mainebiz: Tell us how the company got started.

Lynn Krauss: We were pretty well established in our painting careers, but we also were on the fringe of the economic downturn. The three of us would get together and critique each other's paintings. One day Mary Ruth was wearing a piece of linen around her neck. I'd been doing a lot of block printing and I said, 'Gee, I'd love to get my hands on that scarf and print it.' Mary Ruth and I spent a week dying fabric. Itonwed our first 50 scarves and gave them to me to block print. We hung them at Corey & Co., and they sold out. They were $120 back then. We [later] concentrated on clothing.

MB: Who are your customers?

LK: We usually say age 45 and up, but younger women also like our clothing. We are in the higher-end price range. There is a dress that's $149 and a coat that's $329. Scarves are $159. We're a cut above department stores because we don't send anything overseas [to be made]. There are lots of different types of women, but they seem interesting across the board, with an artful eye toward what they wear.

MB: Baby boomer clothes have been trending since 2008, so what's new with your approach?

LK: We just knew what we liked and wanted, and found there were a lot of other women out there who felt the same, who wanted to feel good about what they were wearing and wanted to look good. Not all women can afford it, but the profit margin is really small when you make clothing in the United States. So it's a matter of educating people [about the price]. Our stuff is very enduring. It lasts a long time stylistically. It is the equivalent of a tweed jacket.

MB: Is it necessary to change the way you dress in middle age?

LK: If people spend their life at the gym and are in great shape, they may feel they can wear the clothing their daughters wear. Typical women aging gracefully and taking good care of themselves don't want to be restricted by really body-conscious clothing. Ours is really flattering, but it also is extremely comfortable. If you want to drink a milkshake sometimes, our clothes are great.

MB: Why linen? It seems to wrinkle easily.

LK: Linen wants to wrinkle. We try to tell customers not to press it and to wash it and hang it so it has that rumpled, softer effect. Linen has so much character and integrity, so many different personalities depending on the weight and weave. The more you wash it, the better it gets.