Bandit Queen

Our business, Bandit Queen, is located at 130 Cotton Exchange. It’s an iconic building, and being inside it feels like stepping back in time a bit. The halls are wide and have that old-school feel that you don't see much anymore. We are in unit 130, which isn't the biggest space, but it’s enough for what we do. The Cotton Exchange is always buzzing with activity, even if it’s not as crazy as it was years ago. We have fabrics and samples draped over almost every surface in the room. It’s a bit of a mess, truth be told. There are threads on the floor and stacks of notebooks filled with sketches and orders from various people. We don't have a fancy showroom or a polished display. It's more like a workshop where things actually get done. We spend a lot of time talking to suppliers and looking at different materials. The light coming through the windows is actually pretty good in the afternoons, which helps with the fine work. Sometimes the building is cold in the winter and too hot in the summer, but that’s just part of being in an old place like this. We know the other folks in the building, the ones who have been here for decades. It feels like a real community. We don't use big marketing terms to describe ourselves. We just make things and hope people like them. It’s a quiet life of work, centered around this one room in a very old building.