Specialty Outdoors

Sewing and Repair for Outdoors Enthusiasts

Interviews and Articles

SHE KEEPS OUTDOOR GEAR IN STITCHES

Photo and Story by Rich Landers/The Spokesman-Review March 23, 1997

To succeed in repairing and altering gear for fussy outdoors people, you must know your job inside and out.
That's why Penny Schwyn recently spent three days setting up and crawling through 11 arctic tents used by a Spokane company before she made a stitch on her sewing machine.
"I had to peel off duct tape and sort through the field repairs," she said. "I patched some things right then and marked the major repairs that needed to be done on a machine.'
This was all in a day's work for a stay-at-home mom who has a small business and a long history in making and repairing outdoor gear.

Schwyn has been sewing for nearly 30 years and she's only 37. She worked for Mountainsmith, a pack company based in Golden, Colo., in the early 1980s.
"I was in on the company's transition from a garage to its first location," she said. "At that time, I was the company's Jill of all trades."

Later, she worked for an upscale bridal and custom sewing shop.
Outdoors people "are a lot less stressed out than brides, but they're just as demanding about their clothing," Schwyn said. She works in a basement room with two sewing machines and one industrial upholstering machine. Penny could be worth gold to people who need custom designs, alterations or repairs.

"One skier asked me to take six inches out of the arms and legs of a powder suit," she said. "He'd already paid $300 to $400 for it, but he can't find anything off the rack that fits. He's thrilled to pieces. Paying extra for alterations to get something that fits is well worth the added cost to some people."

Another frequent request comes from people who want custom Gore-Tex pants.

"Either they want me to copy a style they really like but can no longer find, or they want something simpler with no bells and whistles to add cost and weight, or maybe their body is just hard to fit." She admits her services aren't what some people would consider cheap.

"I see myself as a professional," she said. "People who go to a service offered by dry cleaners might get some work done for less, but those sewers don't know what the gear is for or they might not know the materials.

"If climbers say they need reinforcements in their pant legs where their crampons keep ripping holes, I know what they're talking about."

Costs range from under $12 for minor repairs to $20 for replacing jacket zippers and $50-$80 for major ski suit alterations.

"Most zipper repairs don't need a replacement, just a new slider," she said. "That's simple and cheap."

Work in progress at her table included replacing pack straps, altering ski clothing, repairing tents and making custom fleece clothing.

She also was working on a prototype for a locking storage bag the Mount Spokane Ski Patrol could use for their chair lift rescue ropes.

"They need something they can leave out and lock so jokers won't steal
the carabiners," she said.

Some people look to a custom sewer simply because they can't part with gear that has so many memories.

"A friend had an old Omnipotent - the first Gore-Tex tent," she said. "The panels were worn and mildewy. Early Winters offered to give her a replacement, but they don't make the Omnipotent any more and that's the one she wanted. So I'm replacing some of the panels."

Despite her business and making all of her family's fleece garments, Schwyn still finds time to sew for fun. "When I've been hauling tents around and working with heavy stuff, it's a pleasure to work on quilts," she said, agreeing that it's much like writing poetry after working on a thesis all day.

With a little care, good outdoor gear will last for years. But accidents happen. That's when Penny can come to the rescue.

"There was a guy who was camping and forgot where his dog was," she said. "And when he started calling for it, the Rottweiler came ripping right through the mosquito netting of the tent door."

Being a small business, she generally works alone. But last summer, she had to call in reinforcements. "I had a setback when I broke my arm test-riding a mountain bike," she said. "I had a pack I was repairing and the guy needed it. So my husband, Craig, had to finish the repairs. He did a good job, too."

( thanks Rich!)

What a Stitch

Bring her your tattered, your torn, your blown out. Bring her your tent with a hole in the floor. Penny Schwyn can fix it. And if she can't, she can rebuild it, often better than it was before. Schwyn is a 36-year-old "sewist" and sole proprietor of Specialty Outdoors, a custom sewing operation that specializes in outdoor gear - from Gore-Tex pants with a whole in the knee to backpacks that need a few extra straps.

Her business, which she runs out of the basement of her split level home on Spokane's South Hill, has flourished primarily through word of mouth. Husband Craig, a part-time ski patroller at Mt. Spokane, helped spread the word in the skiing community, while friends in the Spokane Mountaineers quickly realized the talented resource they had literally right next door.

"People would complain because there was no one around to repair their gear," says Schwyn. "They would have to ship it off to Seattle or California or Colorado."

When word got out that Schwyn had the skills, and the desire, to mend, alter or replace, the calls started coming in. She says the outdoors community liked the fact that they had access to someone who not only had complex sewing skills, but good familiarity with outdoor sports. When Schwyn isn't managing Specialty Outdoors, she is outdoors - hiking, rafting, camping, skiing and biking with her husband, two sons and energetic golden retriever.

"I know the stuff and I do the stuff," says Schwyn. "So if someone is talking to me about the way their pants fit in a harness, or how they need a gizmo put on their backpack, I know what they're talking about. This recent customer, a diehard telemark skier wanted a pair of custom Lycra tights with knee pad covers and other features, and his eyes lit up when he was describing it to me because I said I understand exactly what he's looking for."

But such elaborate custom projects don't make up the bulk of Schwyn's work, she says. Much of it is no frills repair jobs, alterations for people with non-average body size, or replacing that pesky feature outdoor gear is hard pressed to go without: the zipper.

Schwyn cut her teeth in the outdoor gear industry while living in Golden, Colorado, where she met, and eventually began to work for Pat Smith, founder of MountainSmith, a company specializing in mid- to high-end backpacks.

"He was still working in his garage when we met," recalls Schwyn. Since husband Craig was in school, Schwyn decided to put her lifelong interest in sewing to work, helping Smith with production but, since the company was so small, also pitching in on research and design. When the family finally settled in Spokane, Schwyn set up her own workshop, complete with an industrial quality sewing machine that allows her to work with particularly tough fabrics like Cordura, canvas, nylon webbing and other textiles common to outdoor gear. Now she serves a steady run of clientele, almost all with unique needs - a duffel for a trip abroad, a jacket altered because the sleeves are too long.

Schwyn prices out her jobs based on the cost of materials needed, estimated hours of labor and complexity of the task. In most cases, she says, final costs are significantly lower than replacing gear. And, compared to the sticker shock can set in when a customer is shopping around for a new Gore-Tex parka or tent, refurbishing or repairing the original product can be a far more frugal option.

So does Schwyn hope to follow in the footsteps of mentor Pat Smith? Not really, she says. She likes working out of her home, running a small, custom operation. Manufacturing her own products and entering the competitive outdoor sports industry looses its appeal when she considers the sacrifices involved.

"I really like working at home," she says. "It's important for me to be near my family and not be a slave to the business."
Call Specialty Outdoors: 448-0346

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