Today we’d like to introduce you to Summer Dalton.
Summer, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in Ventura, CA with an artistic mother and a contractor father, so creativity and hands-on activities were a part of my life as long as I can remember. In high school, I took some photography classes at the local community college and fell in love with the darkroom. I eventually made my way to New York to study photography at SVA (School of Visual Arts) where I had dreams of becoming a fine artist. As more of the photography world left the darkroom and spent more time with digital media, I became less interested. The hands-on process wasn’t the same, even though you could manipulate more. I started taking some printmaking and sculpture classes, finding ways to incorporate my photography into those projects. In the meantime, I held a job at PS1 Contemporary Art Museum (now MoMA PS1) and was surrounded by amazing art of all medias and working artists, both local and international. I found myself in the art-filled galleries of the museum before opening hours and got to see in an intimate way how the pieces were constructed and installed. Even though I loved that job, I knew my time in New York was coming to an end, so I headed home to Ventura with the difficult task of figuring out my next venture.
In Ventura, I continued dabbling in screen-printing and created a small t-shirt line featuring my line drawings on organic t-shirts and printed with water-based inks. It was a fun way to connect with people, but I was still missing that feeling of making something from start-to-finish. In the meantime, I got hired on with Patagonia to work in the photo studio as a stylist and started a family. After my second daughter was born, I started sewing kids’ clothes in a more serious way, with the idea that I was going to start a kids’ linen clothing line. I loved the timeless look of linen, and the durability of the natural fiber was great. One night, when my girls were sleeping, I decided to make a pair of pants for myself that had been in the back of my mind for some time. I loosely traced a couple different pants and overalls I had and tweaked the pattern to fit the image in my head, and the Wrap Pants prototype was born! I wore the pants a few times, getting compliments every time and friends asking me to make them some.
I knew I wanted to make the pants out of linen, so in the Spring of 2018, I started sourcing linen wholesalers, not really knowing what I was doing. I found a supplier in LA that I liked the quality of, and felt better knowing the fabric is dyed in the USA, where there are a little more strict regulations on wastewater, so I knew at least the dye used wouldn’t be polluting rivers in countries where clean water is already hard to come by. I did my first market in June of 2018 and launched my website the following month, all while working at Patagonia full-time and raising my two small daughters. I am lucky to have my workspace in the basement of my home, so I spend many evenings sewing after my girls are in bed. It’s been about nine months since I started selling my linen pants and tops and I have been overwhelmed by the positive responses, and I get butterflies each time someone places an order, especially when it is their 2nd or 3rd order! I’m continually looking at my patterns and making minor tweaks to make the products even better, and am excited to add more products to the line!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Oh man, I feel like putting yourself out there always comes with its own struggles. I remember the first time I did a maker’s market with this line in Santa Barbara, I was so nervous. I had created all of these garments and sewn them myself as a self-taught clothing designer and sewer. I thought about all the not-quite-perfect seams that people would see. But then a clothing designer I knew tried on and bought a pair of my pants, and I felt amazing! Right now my struggle is time. I’m hoping to find some local people to help me sew my garments so that I can focus on bringing some new styles to the line and then maybe I won’t have to stay up until midnight every night sewing after my kids go to sleep. I’m also still trying to figure out how to best use social media to get my name out there, especially since pretty much all of my website traffic comes from Instagram.
Please tell us about TIGEROWL.
TIGEROWL is a linen clothing company. I currently design, cut and sew everything in my home studio in Ventura, CA. I use, almost exclusively, mid-weight linen to construct my tops and pants, which I love because it is breathable when it needs to be and warm when the weather cools. Definitely, my most popular item is the Wrap Pant, which I got inspired to design years after my dad had traveled to Thailand and brought me back a pair of Thai Fisherman Pants. I always loved the idea of the giant pants that fit most people, but I didn’t feel very attractive in them. I created the TIGEROWL Wrap Pants and found that they pretty much fit everyone that tried them on, from size 2-14. I love that they are so versatile for our ever-changing bodies, especially after my two pregnancies. I love having the one-size model, but this year I plan to expand the sizing to fit some larger sizes too. I’ve made a few custom pairs for a couple of customers who were size 16 and got great responses, so I’m excited about going even bigger.
I think the thing that makes me feel the most proud is the same thing that I struggle with — the fact that I have been the one to do everything in this business. Design, cut, sew, make the website, market the product, even shoot some of the photos (well, besides a little production help from a friend here and there! Thanks Kimberly!). I know with growth, this is not sustainable, but it has felt so good to be involved in every single aspect of this company. I think with my hands-on personality, this will really help me to understand what is involved once I start contracting out some of my work.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Well, I wish I took more advantage of my creative community in New York. At some point I kind of stopped making my own art, mostly because I was surrounded by it all day at the museum, and also because I was feeling kind of lost as far as direction goes. Also, I always wonder what it would be like if I had been a trained garment maker. Would I still want to make clothing? I have had to google things like “type of seam used on the butt of jeans” to learn what a flat-felled seam was called, then look up videos on YouTube to figure out how to sew them. I’ve had a huge learning curve and continue to, so having more training would have been nice. There’s still an opportunity for that, but it’s just a matter of making time for it.
Contact Info:
- Website: tigerowldesigns.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @tigerowl
- Facebook: @tigerowldesigns
Image Credit:
Michael Kwiecinski/Wonder Tribe
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