Wild Orchid Designs offers unique shopping experience to customers
Posted Feb 11, 2010 By Ashley Kulp
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EMC News - For as long as she can remember, Michelle Haggart-Rodgers has had a passion for designing clothes.
Ashley Kulp, Kemptville EMC
Fashion designer Michelle Haggart-Rodgers stands beside some of her many creations available at her shop, Wild Orchid Designs. Located at 111 Prescott St., she opened her store last July and has since been gaining quite a following. She offers ladies clothing, including dresses, tops and pants, in addition to accessories and her custom-made swimsuits and yoga pants.
So it was probably a good move when the fashion designer opened the doors to her new clothing shop, Wild Orchid Designs, last July. Haggart-Rodgers, who has lived in North Grenville with her family for the past five years, said the initial interest in her store was positive and it's continued to attract customers.
"I unofficially opened my doors on July 4. I just opened my doors and put my sign out and I did really well that day," she stated in an interview with the EMC at her Prescott St. shop last week. "But before that, as I was getting ready to open I was constantly cleaning fingerprints and nose prints off the window from people looking inside!"
The store specializes in much of Haggart-Rodgers' own custom designs in ladies clothing, swimsuits, exercise and dance wear (which is all chlorine-treated to resist shrinking, fading, pulling and running), but she also obtains inventory for the shop from places such as Toronto, Montreal, New York and Los Angeles. Her designs are reasonably priced, ranging in the area of $60 for a pair of pants, $40 for a top, $60 and up for swimwear and dresses also begin at around $60, depending on the fabric and style.
"I've had people come in and say 'It's so easy to find stuff,' rather than having to go to Ottawa," she remarked, adding that due to the popularity of her designs, she is fully booked until the end of April. After finding the high-traffic location at 111 Prescott St., Haggart-Rodgers said it took she and her husband about six weeks to transform the space. She had previously been working out of her home, but was searching for something new.
"I was sewing dance wear and swimsuits and still sending them to Toronto, I still had a customer base there," she noted. "After a while, that kind of fizzled out and my husband said I was wasting my talent and should open my own store...We were walking downtown (Kemptville) one day and this place was for rent just when I was considering opening a store. It seemed like a good fit."
Haggart-Rodgers said that while she enjoyed living in Toronto, her husband's family lived in nearby Prescott and she longed for a change as well. "I wanted to move away from the rat race and settle down and have a quiet life."
When asked of how she became interested in clothing design, she immediately lights up. "I was 14 or 15 when I began making clothes," Haggart-Rodgers remarked. "My girlfriend and I used to make outfits. She would come up with the idea and I would cut it up and sew it and we'd wear them (creations) out. She would lie on the floor and I would cut around her to make the pattern."
Living in Oakville with her mother and four siblings, she designed clothes in order to be unique and stand out from everyone else. "We lived in an expensive neighbourhood and it was hard to find stuff. My friend and I would look through magazines for inspiration and if we couldn't find it, we'd go and make it," she explained. "I always had the design bug."
"Clothes were very important to me as far back as I can remember," Haggart-Rodgers continued. "I would cry if I grew out of something. But my mom had an incredible sense of style. She was a single mom of four kids, so we had a tight budget. I just picked up tips from her."
At that time, she admits, her designing was "more hit and miss."
"I didn't really know how to sew, the only experience I had was home economics," she commented.
Her love of fashion design has never waned and to further hone her skills in the industry, Haggart-Rodgers attended the two-year fashion design course at George Brown College in Toronto. Afterwards she attended York University for business.
"I'd always, always wanted to go to school for fashion design," she said, remembering of how she had brought "racks and racks" of her designs to her interview for the course. "All of my costume making, dance wear, yoga pants, that's all self taught."
After finishing school, it didn't take long for Haggart-Rodgers to build up a clientele. "I started working immediately, but I was also working during school, designing custom made clothing for people I knew," she noted. "After that, I worked out of my home by turning a portion of my apartment into a small studio. I put out a few business cards at one of the fabric stores I shopped at and that's the only advertising I needed."
It didn't take long to build up that customer base and Haggart-Rodgers was soon much sought after and "working seven days a week" to keep up to demands. During this time, her fashions were featured on CityTV's 'Breakfast Television' program and in a variety of fashion shows. She also once developed a one-of-a-kind jersey especially for a Nike commercial.
All that changed when she met her husband and they decided to settle back in the North Grenville area. "His uncle is a real estate agent, so he helped us find a home," Haggart-Rodgers said, adding that she doesn't regret a thing about the move. "It's so much fun here and so clean. Everyone's very friendly and it's safe."
She also points out that she might not have had the opportunity to open her store quite so soon had she still been living in Toronto. "There's such a high overhead there...they need to put a rental cap on buildings," she commented.
Perhaps the most unique aspect of Wild Orchid Designs is the personal shopping experience Haggart-Rodgers provides her customers. If they see one of her designs that they like but it isn't the right size, she will take their measurements and custom order it to fit them perfectly.
"If you can't find what you're looking for, I'll make it for you. It's the best of both worlds," she said.
"...I like giving the customers exactly what they want and if they're happy, then it makes me proud. I've had women cry when I've made an outfit for them," Haggart-Rodgers added. "They have spent years searching for that perfect swimsuit or outfit and it's always been such a disappointment when you can't find what you're looking for."
Her favourite material to work with is stretch knits and she uses that fabric to design her intricate swimsuits and yoga pants. "The material is very easy for me to work with," she said.
She said she also has a "knack" for knowing what will look good on certain figures. "I'm good at picking out styles and fabrics for people," Haggart-Rodgers admitted. "I've never had anyone say this is not for me. It always is because I make it for you...Most women have an idea of what they want and I just finish that off by changing things like the style and draping, to make it more flattering."
And what happens if you purchase a pair of pants that are a tad too long? Haggart-Rodgers has that covered as well. "I have someone who does alterations for me and she's reasonably priced, fast and efficient," she said.
Though she hasn't been in business for a full year yet, Haggart-Rodgers said her swimsuits and her 'seven-in-one dress' have been bestsellers. Her 'seven-in-one dress' allows women to wear a bra for more support and can be wrapped to create a number of different styles, such as a halter or strapless dress. In fact, a sample of the dress in red has been a fixture in her front window since opening. "It's kind of my good luck charm," she said. "It's flattering on almost everybody."
But the best reward she can get from her designs is the smiles they put on the faces of her customers.
"My favourite thing is the reaction I get from the customers when they see the finished product I've made them or they try a piece on. It's really rewarding to see them in an outfit they feel good in," Haggart-Rodgers concluded.
Wild Orchid Designs is located at 111 Prescott St. and is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. For more information, please visit the store or call Haggart-Rodgers at 613-258-1331.
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