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Gay Ellis, Finds Success With Bold Garments
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Gay Ellis Turns Homemade Gift Into Major Enterprise
Sheffield Artist Finds Success With Bold Garments
by Kirt Zimmer

Rob Brown had no idea ten years ago what an innocent gift would lead to.

His wife, Gay Ellis, made him a coat based on traditional Lapland designs. The Laplanders, or Sami, wear very bright, ornate clothing that can be seen in their Arctic Circle environs. When skiers saw Brown's coat against the white slopes of Burke Mountain, they were smitten. He was asked repeatedly where the coat came from.

Encouraged to make the coat in quantity, Gay Ellis began selling them at craft fairs. Quickly, she learned she had something good. So she took a trip to the New York International Gift Show, not typically a venue for amateurs. After taking $20,000 worth of orders from buyers, Samii Clothes was off and running. "I didn't know how I'd get the money to buy materials, or how I'd pack all this stuff, or anything!" laughs Ellis today. "I was scrounging in dumpsters around town, looking for good boxes to use for shipping orders."

Ten years later, Samii Clothes is approaching $1 million in annual gross sales. The company supplies garments to mail order catalogs such as Orvis, Garnet Hill, and Gorsuch.

Samii's extensive inventory of coats, hats, gloves, mittens, backpacks and tote bags are also sold in stores like Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, and 270 upscale specialty stores throughout the United States.

Setting Trends in Multi-Cultural Fashion

One of the things that distinguishes Samii from the competition is its progressive approach to doing business.

The die was cast for Ellis' future at that same New York Gift Show, where she was overwhelmed by a display by Aid to Artisans. The non-profit organization creates economic opportunities for craftspeople in underdeveloped countries around the world.

In 1990, they matched Ellis with Hungarian women who were using surgical scissors to make the highly-stylized, cut-felt appliquŽ pieces Samii had been searching for. A business relationship was formed in the midst of a newly-thawed Cold War, and today Samii imports the work of 28 people in the Hortobagy region of Eastern Hungary.

The approach worked so well for Ellis that she is currently developing a line of garments with Romanian women. They will provide Samii with beaded embroidery to trim hats, embroidered sheepskin for hats and mittens, and hand-woven and embroidered boiled wool for jackets.

But Ellis doesn't just employ people from other countries. The 48-year-old entrepreneur also keeps women in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom busy. Once a week, 19 sewers drop off work at Samii's facility in Glover, and pick up the components that they will fashion into the next orders. Another 12 sewers are overseen by a subcontractor. Yet another 12 people are employed in part-time, full-time and seasonal positions ranging from business manager to public relations and general production.

"I find great satisfaction being involved in the lives of my employees," says Ellis. "I feel blessed that I can live where I want and surround myself with such resourceful, energetic and talented women."

Giving Back to the Community

Ellis is known to share her blessings. Every couple of years, she helps fund and organize a women's health clinic that combines support from the Vermont Health Department and Planned Parenthood in the Northeast Kingdom. For someone whose business depends on 41 female employees, issues like breast cancer and women's reproductive health are important.

Soon, Ellis may copy the philanthropy of Oregon kidswear company Hanna Anderson. Her "Cash for Kids" program puts $100 in the hands of her employees' children. The kids have to spend it on their schools, but do suggest where the school will spend the contribution. Does the math teacher need new books, or is it more of a priority to upgrade the cafeteria's ketchup! The children decide.

"It's a neat way for kids to be involved in their community," Ellis says. "And I think it would be a nice bonus for my employees and their children, and it supports education."

Ellis is also a member of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility and a board member of the Sustainable Jobs Fund, an arm of the Vermont Economic Development Agency. The typical image of craft businesses is one person working at home, but the stereotype doesn't come close to fitting Ellis. Her success depends on collaborating with her employees and the greater community.

Balancing Business with Life

But sometimes Ellis needs to escape her ever-expanding role as general manager of Samii for the solitude of her Sheffield garden. "Your mind gets to that place where you're dreaming," she says. "I've always loved planting things and seeing them grow."

Samii has grown to the point where Ellis has difficulty getting away from the office and finding time to design. Business fights artistic expression, and Ellis is caught in the middle. She dreams of taking a sabbatical to study landscape design.

"You have to measure your innate sense of overall satisfaction," she says. "One day might be completely exasperating, with a customer that can only speak to the president of the company. And the next week you might be invited to Central Asia as a design consultant. Sometimes I feel abused and downtrodden, and other times I feel loved and appreciated."

Ellis has become a popular speaker for Aid to Artisans, and has visited Uzbekistan and Romania to share her story of turning a small, home-based cottage industry into a major manufacturer. "When people see our garments, they often say ÎWhere are these from!', expecting to hear Poland or Europe," Ellis says. "When I tell them Vermont, they're surprised. They don't see the connection."

Most people see Vermont as anything but a mecca for multi-cultural fashion. But in fact Ellis spends much of her time following fashion trends and relating them to Samii. She reads magazines on textiles and interior design, and visits Montreal for inspiration.

"We have to keep up with fashion in terms of color and body shapes," she says. "We do have an embellished, decorative look that is our trademark. Our customers expect us to keep providing fresh designs."

That's just Gay Ellis' style: identifying a trend and improving it. Playing the role of successful artist and businesswoman, she wears it well. For more information about Gay Ellis, call Samii Clothes at (802) 525-1131. Garments are showcased and available for purchase at the Vermont State Craft Center at Frog Hollow, (802) 388-3177.

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Kirt Zimmer writes from the Vermont State Craft Center at Frog Hollow, Middlebury, Vt.