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

Sanni, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

In the early 2000s I was a musician living in Athens, Georgia, my second home after moving to the US in the late 90s as an exchange student and falling in love with this creative, supportive college town and it’s music scene. Like many musicians I didn’t make much (or really any) money with music, so to support myself I sold vintage clothing at a couple of stores in town. Within a year or two I was able to support myself from vintage sales and also worked part time in a vintage store. I became interested in sewing and fashion design, so I started redesigning some of the vintage I found that was looking dated or costumey. Often I just changed the length or the shape a bit, took off ugly embellishments, changed out buttons, etc., and the transformation was magic. It still is. Every time a new batch of redesigns is ready I get so happy looking at the “new” pieces that are more flattering and easy to wear for today’s customer. It gives the garment a chance for a new life. During that time I noticed there were other people in town making clothing from scratch, but there wasn’t really a place to sell handmade clothing, so they were often squeezed in with vintage clothing, which wasn’t doing the creativity, time, and care justice that went into creating them. When I got frustrated trying to pursue a career in music, I decided to step away completely and instead open a retail shop for vintage, redesigned, and handmade clothing, and locally made goods. I wanted to support the local creative community, since I knew how hard it was to make a living in this town with not many career and job options. In 2010 I started my own clothing label Community Service, and then a retail space somewhat fell into my lap when a vintage friend decided she needed to close her shop, so she offered for me to take over. I signed the lease in the Varsity parking lot and handed over $2000 for the first month’s rent and security deposit and that was it – I had a store. I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into, but I had a lot of enthusiasm and creative energy and not much to loose. Community opened in September of 2010 on a shoestring budget.

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?

COMMUNITY is a boutique for sustainable fashion and locally made goods. We sell curated vintage clothes with an emphasis on natural fibers and minimalist design. Our clothing label Community Service is made in-house by redesigning vintage clothing into contemporary fashion. We also make clothing from scratch using vintage and sustainable materials. The sewing area is an active part of the retail space to break down the wall between the consumer and the maker, thereby inviting curiosity and dialogue about the process of how our clothes are being made and who makes them. By working with existing materials, Community tackles both the challenge of creating sustainable fashion in a way that is not harmful to the environment or the workers, and the textile waste problem simultaneously. Many of the problems in the textile industry developed through the disconnect between the people who make the clothes and the people who wear them. This has led to overconsumption, poor treatment of textile workers, and huge impacts on the environment. Through transparency of the process, and through education, Community encourages a renewed, balanced, and personal relationship between the consumer and their wardrobe. Our redesigners are encouraged to use fabric scraps in their design and sewing process, and often come up with creative ideas that allows us to use small pieces, like turning them into scrunchies, pockets, and other design details.
Community goes beyond reducing waste in their business practices in that it generates “negative waste”. By working with existing materials and turning discarded items into a sellable product, Community is reducing waste beyond what the business itself produces.

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

Even though there have been many ups and downs and changes throughout my 14 years in business, the biggest disruption was definitely COVID in 2020. After a complete shut-down and tears on the couch wondering what the F we are going to do, we started a fundraiser for the local hospital to produce then much needed face masks. We had the equipment, the skill, and suddenly out of work seamstresses, so within a week we raised $10000 and started sewing fabric face masks first for the hospital, then for the university, and our customers. This extreme pivot was so stressful, but it made me realize how resilient I was as a business owner. My creativity and energy (fueled by stress for sure!) kicked in and we ended up having a really good year financially despite a two months closure and limited in-store shopping for more than a year. I don’t want to experience this ever again, please, but I came out stronger on the other end.

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

Having multiple revenue streams has helped keep us afloat, but it has been a challenge to keep all those balls up in the air. Between vintage resale, producing our own clothing line, alterations, sewing classes, selling products from 50-60 local vendors, and managing an online store, I feel like I am running 6 businesses at once with very limited staff. In the beginning it made sense when these different areas of the business were pretty small but supported each other. Seasonally alterations and classes slow down right when the holiday season gets busy, while we can schedule more classes, or focus on the online store during slow sale times like summer. As the business has grown our revenue has grown too, but not enough to allow us to hire a large enough team to hand over many of these responsibilities, so I am stretched thin between design, photography, sourcing, social media, model shoots, accounting, official business needs, managing employees, emails, advertising, updating the online store, etc. and constantly feel that I am not able to give any of these areas my full attention. Where large companies have a whole team for each of those areas, I can’t help but feel like we are not able to put our best work out there because we are trying to do too much at once.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shopcommunityathens.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/communityathens/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/communityathens

Image Credits

Kidd Fielteau
Katy Warren
Vivi Carrasco
Lauren Chappell