We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Adrienne Allende a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Adrienne, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

I watched my grandmother make clothes and it was fascinating to me. I wanted to learn but she wouldn’t teach me. I would find pieces of material lying around and I started making clothes for my dolls. Nothing fit. When my grandmother finally realized that I wanted to learn to sew and “teaching” myself wasn’t working, she taught me about fabric. When I was 12 I made a pillow in a home economics class and I did NOT love it. I made myself a pair of shorts and the gates of heaven opened up.
When I was in high school I started making clothes for other people. I was voted most likely to make an entire wardrobe from band aids and bottle caps, which was the biggest joke because people would bring me the most random ugly fabric and I’d make something fabulous from it.
I had a baby during my last year of high school and then I went to F.I.T. I can’t draw so I majored in fashion construction, meaning I can put it together but I can’t put it on paper.
I started doing costuming and alterations and then I went back to school for business. I made clothes and did alterations. I had a business but not on paper.
In 1997 I was working for a small accounting firm and my boss assisted me in filing the proper paperwork and Aces Custom Clothing was officially a legitimate business. That was the LAST time that I ever worked a full time job.
Throughout the years I have built a phenomenal clientele and since I was in business before the invention of social media, I get the majority of my clients through word of mouth. I guess it all started the first time that I realized that I am NOT the only person who doesn’t want to worry about someone else wearing what I have on. I knit, sew and crochet so I am always busy.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I moved from New York to Georgia during my formative years and one of the first things that I noticed was that my personal style was completely different from the people around me. I would go back to New York to shop for school clothes and I noticed that whatever was “trending” in N.Y. took a while to make its way to GA. I wasn’t a fan of mall shopping so I made a lot of my own outfits. I also started to notice that if there was a school function/dance 5 or 6 people would show up wearing the same thing and I always thought to myself I’d be horrified if I walked into a place and 4 other people had on the same outfit. One day I went out with some friends and I jokingly said if I EVER see someone with my outfit on I’d accidentally spill a drink on them because one of us would have to go home.
People started coming to me to make outfits for them for special occasions.
I make clothes for everyone who wears them. I make clothes for men, women and children. I make clothes for NORMAL people not a model size 6. I make clothes for people who get tired of trying things on in the hopes that they find something that fits.
I tell my clients all the time that they can show me 1,000 pictures and I’m going to do what I want and they are going to love it.
My process is odd to a lot of people so I’m definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. During a consultation with me, I ask a lot of questions and I watch closely. I pay attention to the words that people use and I watch the way that they describe what they like and dislike about themselves. I don’t think that people realize how much they use their hands when they talk so I watch to see what people feel the need to adjust while talking.
Everyone has something about themselves that they are self conscious about so if you ask the right questions and watch how they move, you will know what they feel uncomfortable about. I address the insecurities first and it makes the rest flow a lot easier. I don’t use patterns so when I say custom, I absolutely mean that. By the time I’m finished with an outfit I forgot what I did so its almost impossible for me to recreate it. I knit practically everywhere I go because I think that I had A.D.D. before it was given a name. Most people who meet me in person the first time will say things like, didn’t I see you knitting on T.V.? at the club? In a bar? I can honestly say if I’m not working, I’m asleep.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I have had to do a little more than a pivot a few times. I started making money doing what I do in 1993 but I was in college and raising a child. In 1996 I started having strange health problems. I had sun poisoning three times and I didn’t even know that was a real thing. I got sick and wasn’t able to walk (or work) for a year. After getting back on my feet, I started a legitimate business and then I got sick again, this time I had to have the cartilage in my jawbone replaced. My jaw was wired shut, I couldn’t talk (or work) In 2001 I moved to Georgia once again and I started working in a call center because I needed the health insurance.
I made clothes and did alterations for people that I worked with, people who worked at my sons school, parents of the little leaguers and people who were in pageants. (Kids and Queens) I was doing so much work with so many people I had ALMOST become a household name and then in 2006 I literally died.
I was diagnosed with lupus, my kidneys failed and during one of the treatments they gave me, my heart stopped for more than 2 minutes. I was in the hospital for more than a month and before I left I was also diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, some rare blood disorders and mild brain damage. I was on a ton of medications, chemotherapy and I couldn’t use my hands. Doctors said that movement helps ease the pain and slow the damage of the R.A. so I started knitting, everywhere all the time. In 2009 I had a baby.
I’m not sure if you’ve been sticking with me but, that’s a 17 years between my two children. Following in my own footsteps, I restarted my business the year after my baby was born.
When the pandemic hit, I started making masks with the assistance of wonderful people who donated whatever they could. I sent them out to essential workers at grocery stores, doctors offices and pretty much anyone who wanted one. Now that the world is open again, people are back to wanting to not look like everyone else.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I think that the lesson I had to unlearn is that the customer is always right.

The thing is that what I realized is that most of the time when two people are involved, sometimes you are both right OR both very wrong. Most people are visual and don’t realize it. I ask people to show me pictures of what they like because it gives me an idea of what their personal style is, not because I’m going to make that for them. Sometimes people don’t understand that they like what they see on the person they see it on, seeing it on themselves doesn’t always inspire the same feeling.
I have had to learn that being able to talk to people and help them to “see” why something may or may not work for them is better than making what they ask for knowing that they aren’t going to love it.
When I talk to clients from start to finish, I’m not satisfied with “I like it” or “it’s ok” if your immediate response is not “I love this” then I’m not finished yet.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @acescustomclothing
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acescustomclothing