Welcome to WomenSpirit! We are so happy to be celebrating our 15th anniversary this month. Our robe and apparel selection for women offers high quality, innovative design and great fit. Other companies copy our garments, but they do not fit as well. Our robes help you project your special gifts and talents.
Our story
1993: Patty Fitzpatrick made a costume for Ellen Oak, her friend, to perform the words and music of Hildegard of Bingen. After performing the one-woman play, Ellen planted a seed with Patty, urging her to explore a business possibility: making robes for women ministers. After some thought, Patty began researching the market for women’s robes.
Patty’s background of 15 years working in different facets of the apparel business, both retail and wholesale, prepared her well. She has B.S. in Fashion Merchandising and had been a seamstress all of her life, designing and making her own wardrobe. At that point, she was a stay-at-home mom with two toddlers, working part-time at a fabric store in Kansas City. Besides liking the idea of a garment manufacturing business, Patty felt the additional pull of an entrepreneurial streak that ran through her family. She was keenly aware of the both the challenges and rewards of family businesses.
1994: While continuing her research, Patty met Holly McKissick, pastor of Saint Andrew Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the Kansas City area. Holly was looking for robes for women that were untraditional, had a nice fit for women and that were true to her vision of her ministry. Holly became the first WomenSpirit customer.
February 1995: Patty decided to start a company that made robes in new designs just for women. Work began on the patterns, designs and identifying fabric sources. Patty turned to a Kansas City woman named Gretchen van Horn, a 25-year-owner and operator of a garment manufacturing company called Gretchen Inc. Gretchen, whom Patty had not previously known, became a generous mentor, giving advice on patterns and fit and even helping create the first patterns. In turn, WomenSpirit contracted Gretchen, Inc. to manufacture the robes.
June 1995: WomenSpirit was officially launched! The United Methodist clergywomen and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) women pastors were both having national meetings in August. This seemed like a great way to kick off the new company. Samples are made and WomenSpirit rented booths at the two conferences.
August 1995: The first conference, the United Methodist Clergywomen’s Consultation, in Atlanta began. Patty pulled an “all-nighter,” sewing stole samples before flying out to Atlanta. To Patty’s surprise and joy, when women saw the booth sign that said WomenSpirit, Vestments for Women, many literally ran across the exhibit hall to see, touch and try on the robes. Even more thrilling to Patty, 11 women ordered robes. Then, the next week, it was on to the ELCA conference in Minneapolis. Again, women ministers were very receptive, and Patty took orders for nine robes. It would be a stretch to say “the rest was history,” but, on the other hand, it was clear that WomenSpirit was off and running.
September 1995: A major hurdle after the initial introduction was developing a plan to grow. What would be the best way to market and spread the word to this far-flung customer group? Shopping on the Internet was in the fledgling stage at that time, and it was very expensive to create a shopping website for a start-up business. Then, in late September, a letter arrived from Cokesbury, a major church-supply company affiliated with The United Methodist Publishing House. Cokesbury was seeking a company that was making robes designed specifically for women. The number of United Methodist women clergy had grown to about 3500 at that time. Cokesbury executives wanted robes for women, not robes that had been adapted from the traditional men’s pulpit robe and called a women’s robe. The letter asked if a WomenSpirit representative would come to Nashville to display a line of robes and vestments. The overture, it turned out, had its roots in the Clergywomen’s Consultation in Atlanta, where a Cokesubry sales representative had witnessed women’s enthusiastic response to WomenSpirit’s offerings. After Patty’s presentation in Nashville, Cokesbury officials decided to accept the WomenSpirit robes for its catalog and stores. In a prophetic statement at the time, a top Cokesbury official, Wayne Dedmon (now retired), told Patty, “We’re going to sell a lot of robes.” The Cokesbury agreement represented a huge breakthrough: It gave WomenSpirit a national channel of distribution.
October 1995: Cokesbury placed a wholesale order for about $100,000 worth of garments for its 50-some stores around the country. Gretchen Inc. (Patty’s manufacturer at the time) began churning out the robes. It took about five months to complete the initial Cokesbury order.
June 1996: WomenSpirit products could be seen in the Cokesbury catalog and purchased in its stores.
April 1997: WomenSpirit produced its own first full-color catalog.
July 1997: WomenSpirit introduced a line of clergy blouses at the Episcopal Church General Convention in Philadelphia. The new cleric collar shirts enjoyed a great reception. The “Janie” was also introduced at this time, a women’s version of a Dickey, a better design to eliminate twisting and riding up.
January 1998: Gretchen Inc. closed, and WomenSpirit opened its own manufacturing facility in the space where Gretchen Inc. had operated. Purchasing Gretchen’s equipment and hiring a carryover employee, WomenSpirit jumped into manufacturing on its own. Patty’s jobs included taking orders, cutting out garments, inspecting finished garments, shipping, sourcing all supplies and raw materials, marketing, bookkeeping, creating forms, developing new designs, patternmaking and…cleaning the building. Soon it was apparent that Patty needed help. Employee No. 1, Loretta Ortiz, brought her sister out of retirement to help with final inspection and shipping. Subsequently, Patty hired, a cutter, another sewer, and so on.
1999: WomenSpirit launched its first website. Although orders could not be placed, images of all products were on the site.
2000: WomenSpirit purchased and renovated a building and moved out of the former Gretchen Inc. space. The new space, while smaller, is more efficient and more “employee friendly.”
2002: WomenSpirit’s website went to ecommerce with shopping cart.
June 2010: WomenSpirt celebrated its 15th anniversary. Whoo-hoo!
In closing, we thank you for your support and hope for a fruitful continuation of what we have created.
Amen!