We recently connected with Garland Hayes and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Garland , thanks for joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

In the beginning I struggled with my business name because I wanted it to be something that sounded mysterious and cool. As a fashion designer I wanted my name to have something involving design and fashion so I picked out “The Devisor”. It was a play on words which was meant to be the designer at first but I thought the divisor, which is someone coming up with a plan was alot cooler.
After using that name for a few years, I realized that my name was a little bit confusing and people cannot understand what I was and what we did. I needed something that was clear and distinctive. I wrote the song many many years ago. Professing myself as “the couture man”. I remembered that lyric to the song and I came up with the perfect name. I thought the three words were clear and distinctive and it described my business all in one clear and catchy phase That’s the name was born, ” couture man sewing”. I am he the great Couture Man.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Garland Demetrous-Master Craftsmen
Couture Man Sewing
“As Head Tailor of “Couture Man Sewing”, it is my personal duty to make all my clients feel special”
A young and egare Demetrous got his start in the sewing industry while attending fashion school at the “Art Institute of California-Inland Empire”. While enrolled in his first quarter he landed his first fashion industry job,working at ”Universal Studios Hollywood”(theme park) for the costume dept. While still studying full time he took on his new role as part of the costume wardrobe staff at Universal Studios for their annual “Halloween Horror Nights’’ (Dresser and Wardrobe Asst.) for the pop culture show “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure.” 2009. Soon thereafter he transferred college campus’s AI California-Hollywood and moved to Los Angeles.
From then on his creative ambitions were unlocked forever. Working for many for a variety of different creative companies such as “The Los Angeles Ballet” (The NutCracker) 2010,”Boomer Mania” (El Portal Theater) “The Un-told Tale of Doris Day” (Costume Head/Lead dresser) and “Daniela Kurrle Couture” 2012 in West Hollywood handcrafting garments as well as doing high quality alterations for celebrities such as Tracee Ellis Ross and Melissa McCarthy and TV show “Pretty Little Liars”. He has hand crafted gowns for two “Miss Rodeo California” pageant winners, He even handcrafted his first couture wedding gown in 2018.
After years of making and learning, I wanted to switch hats and try my hand at teaching. During the pandemic I got my business licenses and began my licensing to become a contracted teacher for the City of Fontana in 2021.my classes are twice a month on saturday mornings. While working with the City and being involved in several community events (Hallween, Easter, Art Festival) other opportunities were created and in 2022 I also was able to land another contract with Fontana Adult School. I currently teach at FAS wed and thurs nights.
Through my the years of teaching sewing at 2 locations I was also able to land yet another contract with The City of Fontana and partnered with Fontana Unified School District in 2023 to run my own after school program at Cypress Elementary school. Currently I have a contract to teach at five 6 week sessions at 3 schools in Fontana.

Garland has worked under the watchful eye of many to become a true master at his craft. Not only is he a master tailor and craftsman but he also hand crafts his own patterns from measurements like an architect.All of his garments are hand-crafted made to measure and quality sewn. What sets “Couture Man Sewing” aside is that we specialize in making custom made to measure garments for any and all body types. We believe it to be Our personal duty to make all women feel beautiful.
With 15 year’s sewing, tailoring,and custom creating under our belts,the possibilities for “Couture Man Sewing” are endless.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

2016. I moved back home from LA to start my entrepreneur business. I was doing many many alterations making custom clothes made to measure and taking on whatever New clients I could. In 2018 I got a chance to teach a Jo-Ann’s fabrics and I loved it. I was able to reach so many new people and inspire others with creativity, especially being a young African American man sewer. Actually leaving Jo-Ann’s to pursue other opportunities. I got a chance to work at Walmart’s fabric department as well. In 2020 the pandemic shut everything down and we were all unsure of what to do. No one needed dresses and no one was going anywhere. I had to pivot my business and think of a new way to pursue my passion. I remember my time at Jo-Ann and how much I loved it and I got the aha idea I was going to become an sewing instructor at my local community center in the city of Fontana. At first my classes were not full because the word hadn’t spread yet, but after being persistent and not giving up I was able to grow my idea into conception. I grew my government contract into three different ones working with not only the city of Fontana, but I’ve partnered with the Fontana unified School district and the Fontana adult School all doing sewing instruction.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I built my presence on social media over time. Just being consistent and engaging my audience with different creative opportunities. I would make funny content about sewing. I constantly post small tutorials from other like-minded pages to give insight to the sewing world. I’m constantly inspiring creativity with my personal page as well. Building audience. It’s about likability and being your true authentic self. Everything I post pretty much on my page has to do with sewing and fashion and art and creativity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Couturemansewing.com
• Instagram: Cms_sewing
• Facebook: Couture man sewing
• Other: Google couture man sewing