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Designer duo: Returning to their Philly roots, two Lansdale natives fill the racks at their new Old City fashion outpost, Smak Parlour, with their original designs.
Photo By: Michael T. Regan

Two young designers unveil Smak Parlour, a fashion den 10 years in the making.

by Adrienne Saunders

For weeks, the pink Smak Parlour sign hung above covered windows, intriguing passers-by on Market Street. The fuchsia Singer sewing machine on the sill on opening day was the only hint Abby Kessler, 26, and Katie Loftus, 25, gave shoppers about the work behind their wares. But apparently March 16 was not nearly soon enough. By 5 p.m., customers literally beat on the door until the owners stopped cleaning the construction remnants and opened up. Pushing paint buckets and power tools aside, two young entrepreneurs greeted those first takers with a peek at the venture that started as a chance encounter in high school, "like fate in the bathroom," Kessler remembers.

Kessler leaned over the sink, smudging her thick black eyeliner in a mirror at North Penn High and noticed a stranger a few feet away doing her makeup the same way. When Loftus looked back at her, they shared a laugh, but they quickly found their common interests went beyond makeup technique: They were both obsessed with clothes. The upstarts jumped in and started designing together. Friends would even buy their safety-pin-embellished jeans for a few bucks. After graduating from Drexel's design program in May 2001, the Lansdale natives set off for Manhattan's Garment District to put in their dues — Loftus for a men's shirt-wear company; Kessler for a denim showroom.

Shortly after 9/11, Loftus was laid off and Kessler was designing denim studs. "What we were doing in New York was so uncool," Loftus says. Far from their dream to design their own label, they moved to Philly in May 2002. Within a week, their families convinced them to realize that dream — now. Three weeks later, about 24 shirt samples using modern cuts with vintage fabrics were ready for local boutiques. The line sold successfully for two years in stores from D.C. to NYC. Rather than continue to move product via the trunk of Kessler's car, the women decided to expand last year and pulled their line from vendors. After eight months of real estate hunts, working odd jobs, designing clothes out of their living rooms and interviewing sewers, a landlord took a chance on them. But the adventure was just beginning. The former cell-phone depot at 219 Market St. was a mess — brown carpet, unsightly drop ceiling, "holes in the walls," Loftus remembers.

So, Kessler and Loftus put their creative energy into construction and interior design. With some elbow grease lent by their families, they made flooring, exposed the ceiling, hung chandeliers, painted and papered, and installed retail racks. "I was fascinated to learn this stuff," Loftus says. Two and a half months later, the shop held 800 colorful women's pieces handmade by a staff of sewers. Nestled next to Betsey Johnson accessories and Irregular Choice and Jeffrey Campbell shoes, clothes flew off the racks. Within two weeks, only four of the 30 jackets they opened with remained. While some pieces are pricey, they're generally on par with nearby boutiques: tops, $22 to $112; skirts and pants, $64 to $154; and fitted jackets, $154 to $174. As for Smak accessories, "It would be nice to get to a point where it's an all-Smak store," Loftus says. For now, they're busy keeping the racks full.

Standing at the baby-pink desk that serves as a register, it's clear Kessler and Loftus were born into fashion. Loftus's gold open-toe wedge heels pick up the metallic threads in her hip-slung black belt. Kessler's hot-pink heels add electric color to her outfit: a white ribbed tank layered over a lacy hip-skimming black slip and jeans. Bolts of orange mesh, silver lace and red gingham line the wall behind the worktable where Kessler unloads silk-screened tank tops. Trim, sequins and buttons spill over fabric; the women use them like fashion finger paint. A light-pink tank with a silk-screened cupcake gets pink mesh shoulder trim; a gray version ends up with metal stars and guns to "make it more masculine," Loftus says. The samples come together, and only Kessler and Loftus know when they're just right. "We don't put it on the floor if we don't like it," Kessler says.

Finding the creative freedom they didn't have in New York, Kessler and Loftus are happy to be home. For them, Philly "has so much potential," Loftus says. "I feel like if enough people did creative things, it could be like New York." With Philly battling to stem the flow of young creative talent out of the area, Smak Parlour isn't just an example of two of those talents sticking around; it's a business that keeps local residents, from the sneakers-and-skirts crowd to Chihuahua-toting day-trippers, from looking elsewhere for products they demand. "People are really hip here," Kessler says, "and they care about fashion. They seem to like what we're making."

Smak Parlour will host a free First Friday event featuring the all-female a cappella group A Choired Taste, Fri., May 6, 5 p.m. , 215 Market St., 215-625-4551.

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