Modest clothing ... For those who want to grin, but not bare it
DAILY HERALD 07.10.2005 | By Jill Fellow
Chelsea Rippy from American Fork said she used to spend hours in stores sifting though racks of the latest "low cut," "too short" and "see-through" styles. She had money in her wallet to spend, but week after week, she came home empty-handed and frustrated.
She wanted to be modest, but she also wanted to be cute and fashionable.
"I think it is OK to be modest and beautiful at the same time ... but I couldn't find anything to even cover me," she said.
All she needed, she decided, was the right undershirt that would cover everything she didn't want to show off. Then she could wear the current clothing trends on top of her basic tee and not worry about being uncomfortable
But since no stores were selling such an item, she took matters into her own hands by starting Shade Clothing.
It took a year of creating designs and testing fabrics before her long, cap-sleeve tees and even longer high-cut tank tops were ready for distribution in September 2004.
"I started the project so I would have something to wear, but I soon realized that if I needed it, lots of women needed it, too," she said.
On track to sell $2 million in tank tops and T-shirts by its first anniversary, the American Fork-based company has motivated five similar organizations. It has also left thousands of modest dressers in Utah and other Western states racing to Tupperware-style home parties to buy the needed shirts in multiple colors.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints asks women not to wear short shorts or tight pants and to "refrain from wearing off-the-shoulder, low-cut, and other revealing attire," a church-published guide for young people said. So LDS females join with Muslim, Jewish and Christian women of different sects in their quest to find the right clothes in order to cover up in the name of spirituality.
The number of dotcoms peddling modest fashions continues to rise both among Mormon cultures and among other peoples around the country.
Rippy said Shade Clothing is also developing new products to give local ladies what they need in order to feel comfortable in everyday clothes.
"Our theme and our goal is to keep women happy and comfortable," Rippy said. "We will never have a full fashion line or anything because our goal is to help make the current fashions more modest, but we will expand into new products other than shirts."
The good news about modest fashion companies crosses cultures and state lines as Internet sales increase in local businesses.
Shade Clothing now takes hundreds of online orders a day and has 27 sales reps who throw parties in people's homes around Utah and the West.
Shade Clothing also has a way of bringing women of all varieties together. Rose Anderson from Washington said she wears a Shade shirt every day. She is not LDS but said she values being covered up and cute at the same time. She said a few of her friends and neighbors have also started wearing Shade camisoles and baby tees.
Modesty is not always religious, which is why Rippy tries not to segregate her customers.
"All women have parts of their bodies they do not love," said the Shade creator and mother of two. "It is not always about spiritual modesty. Sometimes it is just about covering up and feeling comfortable and confident knowing your problem areas aren't popping out."
Stacy Nehring, from Provo, recently held her first Shade party. Her aunt invited her to a party in March, and she was on the waiting list for three months before she could have one in her apartment for her neighbors. She, like Anderson, has made Shade shirts a daily accessory.
"I feel almost naked without them," she said. "They give me peace of mind, ... I want my friends and everyone to have that, too."