Ryan Fashions

Up on the second floor of Be 5 in Sector 1, you’ll find us at Ryan Fashions. It’s not a big mall store or anything like that. We have a couple of rooms where we keep the racks of clothes and the sewing machines. It’s often a bit chaotic with rolls of cloth sitting in the corners and threads all over the floor. We do a lot of the work ourselves, from cutting the patterns to the final stitching. It’s a lot of sitting and focusing on the details. Sector 1 is a decent place to be, though finding parking near the building can be a headache for anyone visiting. I started this because I liked the way clothes were made back in the day, with a bit more care. We don't have a big team, just a few of us who know our way around a needle. Sometimes we’re here late into the evening trying to finish an order for a wedding or a local event. The lighting isn't perfect, but we make it work. Customers usually come in for fittings and we talk about what needs to be taken in or let out. It’s very personal work. We don't have a website or anything like that; we just rely on people telling their friends about us. It’s a simple life, surrounded by fabric and the hum of the machines. It gets hot in the summer, but we keep the fans going. It's just what we do.