We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sofi Ronning a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Sofi, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
I would say the most meaningful project I’ve made to date was a custom heirloom denim jacket for my partner using his paternal Grandmother’s hand-stitched quilt patches. In 2023, we visited my partner’s grandparents in Southern California and I shared with his grandma some of the pieces I had started to make using people’s unfinished quilt projects and secondhand cutter quilts. His grandma is a lifelong quilter and after the conversation, she gifted me some of her unfinished work as well. As much as I appreciated her quilt patches, the pieces felt too special to sell through my business, so I set them aside for a special project. When my partner asked for a custom patchwork denim jacket using his grandmother’s patches for his birthday, it felt like the perfect project where my partner could appreciate his grandmother’s creative spirit for years to come.
Getting to work on that project felt like such a gift that both his grandma and I separately got to work on. My grandma was also a lifelong quilter, so it felt really special to combine the skills my grandma taught me with his grandmother’s craft. My grandma passed away when I was young, so my work wasn’t something I was able to share with her into adulthood, but getting to share appreciation for sewing and quilting with my partner’s grandma has felt really special.
I’ve now made two patchwork heirloom jackets and two patchwork stuffed animals using his grandmother’s quilt patches for different members of my partner’s family, and it’s really expanded my interest of making heirloom custom goods. I love the idea of turning something already special like a quilt or an adored clothing item into something new that can continue to be appreciated and passed down to future generations.
Sofi, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Sofi Ronning and I am the founder and creative director of Two Howling Labs Studio. Two Howling Labs is a single-person run, intentional clothing and accessories business, that specializes in upcycling secondhand and vintage textiles into wearable art. Over the past year and a half, the company has also expanded into selling select vintage and handmade knits and crocheted goods.
Two Howling Labs is named after our two labrador-mixes who learned to howl, but the work is inspired by my maternal grandma Mary. My grandma had a passion for sewing, quilting, and yard sale-ing which became activities we did together whenever I would see her. One of the greatest joys of creating this business has been incorporating the activities I did with my grandma; this business feels like an ode to her favorite things in life that she passed down and became some of my favorite things.
Our focus as a small business is on the intersection of sustainability, slow-fashion, community care, and creating pieces that make space for self-expression for every body. We prioritize second-hand in all aspects of our business and try to source as locally as possible, with the intention of selling unique items that can be loved for years to come at an accessible price. All of our handmade and upcycled items are sewn in our studio in Milwaukie, Oregon.
Two Howling Labs originally started as a hobby to access my own self-expression during the pandemic lockdown, after having worked in corporate retail for years. At the time, I had been away from the sewing machine for a while, and after borrowing a friend’s machine, I began making scrunchies and masks, then started exploring upcycling clothes in my closet with embroidery and secondhand quilt patches. Over the next couple of years, I worked at some local small businesses, but was still interested in fashion and self-expression, and was upcycling clothes for myself on the side. After receiving a lot of positive feedback around my own pieces and people offering to buy my work, it made me want to turn my art into a a full-time job. I had a background in working in clothing retail, at farmers markets, and helping run a small businesses, so it felt like a natural progression to use those skills start my own small business.
Over the course of doing this work and speaking with people in my community, I’ve come to see how difficult it is to find high-quality size-inclusive styles that are both fun and functional, so my focus has expanded into making more size-inclusive pieces, especially through our knits collection. I’ve also made this a priority within our vintage selection. Self-expression should never be gate-kept and I am so excited to join other creatives in creating more accessible, sustainable fashion.
The two parts of the business I’m most proud of are our customs process and our guarantee:
<b>Customs Process</b>
I love that our customs process gives people the opportunity to work with me directly to create something new out of their own heirloom quilt/special clothing piece, or to create the clothing or accessory of their dreams. The customs process is as hands-on or hands-off as the customer wants and it’s been so much fun to bring people’s visions to life that also weaves in something special to them. So far I’ve been able to make some of my favorite pieces through this process and every time I bring someone’s vision to life, it teaches me new techniques and helps expand my creativity through learning from their creative lens.
<b>Our Guarantee</b>
Our guarantee is something I thought long and hard about before launching this company because I didn’t want Two Howling Labs’ pieces to contribute further to the landfill or textile waste. In an effort to create a more full-circle business, I offer a guarantee on all of the pieces I make/upcycle where I’ll repair the item for free if any of my stitching rips or lifts. I also offer low-cost mending and repairs if the original clothing item I’ve upcycled begins to show signs of wear. The idea is to create long-lasting pieces that can be mended and passed down without becoming waste in the landfill. I think our guarantee also sets us apart in our sustainability effort and encourages customers to keep pieces longer than they would if they’re damaged.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being a creative has been the community I’ve gained. Before starting this business, I had really struggled with finding my own place in Portland. I was a transplant from the midwest and, as much as I loved the friends I had made here, I struggled to feel like I had community. Without family in the area or having known people before moving here, I wasn’t sure how to carve a place for myself where I could feel seen and understood.
The small business community is really strong and since joining it as a business owner, it’s really transformed my relationships and created a feeling of belonging. I love that we share information with one another, are open about our struggles and our wins, hang out as friends, and that we learn so much from one another’s experiences. It’s a community that approaches the world with so much vulnerability, honesty, passion, and love, which is so necessary in the world we exist in.
I really love that the community is both local and virtual, since it gives me hope that no matter where I live in the world, the artist & small business community will always be there for me. This community truly is such a gift.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
When I first started the company in 2023, the original hand-embroidered pieces I had made for the company launch were extremely time-consuming, sometimes taking over 50 hours to complete because of hand-embroidery. I was so excited to make pieces that felt like a different take on what I had seen from other upcycling artists, but because of the labor, the price point ended up being really high, and it led to what felt like a failed launch with only one sale.
At first, I felt a lot of sadness and disappointment in myself around that original line not being successful, but it was a really great learning moment that forced me to re-think things and pivot. In an effort to offer a range of price options, I started by integrating lower-cost vintage pieces at local markets, then expanded into upcycling sweatshirts, shirts, and creating a line of more affordable upcycled pieces. Plus, with the launch of our official website last year, I was able to start offering custom embroidery on any of our upcycled denim pieces, so people can still enjoy the original design ideas, but within their own budget. These changes substantially raised my sales and have given me the opportunity to explore enjoyable work I may not have done otherwise, including other forms of appliqué that have become some of my favorite projects.
My biggest takeaway from this experience and the business overall is that it takes constant pivoting, curiosity, and pushing through. If I hadn’t shifted after that first launch and had continued to make pieces that were time-consuming to make and too expensive for a majority of my customer-base to afford, it would’ve become really difficult to maintain my creativity and countered the financial accessibility I want the business to have. My therapist was so helpful during that process and encouraged me to pick myself up and keep going, without spiraling into self-doubt. It’s been a really life-changing approach that I’ve not only implemented in my work, but in my life overall. We only succeed if we dust ourselves off, remain curious, and keep moving forward.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.twohowlinglabs.com/
- Instagram: @twohowlinglabs
- Other: tiktok: @twohowlinglabs
Image Credits
Sara Ryan