We recently connected with Sue Stemp and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sue, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I’ve always worked as a designer and have a passion for collecting antique textiles for inspiration, especially hand embroideries, Victorian and Edwardian Broderie Anglaise, delicate laces and beadwork. I moved to LA from New York, and my daughter who was little then, had a few beautiful Stella McCartney organic cotton Broderie Anglaise dresses, with very vintage influenced embroidery. I loved them and wanted something similar in my size but they didn’t exist, apart from at a luxury price point. I’d worked with skilled artisanal manufacturers in India before and knew that it was easy to find certified organic cotton that’s grown there.

At the same time I was disillusioned with the corporate design jobs I’d taken on the West Coast, and wanted to see if I could build a business, with the vision of being as sustainable as possible, working with artisans and creating a collection that was effortless, feminine and unique, but also at a good price.

In 2015 I launched St. Roche with my husband Paud Roche, and within a year the collection had developed into a full line including knitwear, which now is 50% of our business.

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?

St. Roche is a responsibly designed and manufactured, independent womenswear brand based in Los Angeles. The collection fuses an effortless, new-school femininity, with artisanal hand-made details, sustainably sourced natural fibers and original textile designs.

I was born and raised in rural Southern England, I’m a fashion designer and member of the CFDA. After moving to London to study fashion, I relocated to New York to explore new opportunities. This included stints at Daryl K, Tocca and Alexander McQueen, where I worked on design research for his Fall ‘05 collection. Soon after I met my now husband Paud, and after Kate Moss wore a dress I designed, he encouraged me to launch my namesake label Sue Stemp, which sold successfully internationally, showed on the runway during New York fashion week and attracted an It-girl following.

In 2009 we moved to Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles with our small family. As a working mother of two, I felt I no longer had a wardrobe versatile enough for my lifestyle and I found an opportunity in the market for relaxed, feminine, and unique clothes that are affordable and sustainably produced.

Inspired by our global travels, personal ethics and shared love of handcrafted textiles, St. Roche (named after our last names) was launched. My design influences draw upon my British heritage and my experiences living and working in fashion in New York, whilst embracing a West Coast attitude.

Our silhouettes are effortless and timeless. All our prints and embroidery designs are designed in-house or in collaboration with contemporary artists. Our passion is for high quality handwork, supporting artisan groups, their economic development and preserving skilled craft. We source compostable, natural fabrics: GOTS certified organic cotton, soft hand loomed cottons and sustainably produced, traceable Alpaca yarn. The dyes we use are low-impact.

St. Roche is sold DTC on our website, and at select boutiques.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

We manufacture our clothes in India and Peru ( knitwear), close in proximity to the source of the raw materials used ( mostly organic cotton and Alpaca yarn) and the artisanal craft skills involved. We choose our manufacturing partners very carefully, they need to share the same ethical vision as ours, and we only work with women led or small family businesses.

All our current manufacturing partners were recommended to us by word of mouth, by other friends in the industry who have worked with them, so we knew they could make high quality production. However when you’re a small business, manufacturing on the other side of the world can be a headache, especially when you incorporate hand work into your designs, ie hand embroidery, hand printing, hand dyeing and beadwork. I’ve learnt that unless your communication and instructions are completely clear every step of the way, you’ll get a few surprises. Sometimes I have to simplify a design to prevent it not working out at all. I would visit India a couple of times a year and work directly with the people making our clothes, but I’ve traveled much less so since Covid and now we can all use Zoom!

How did you build your audience on social media?

It’s been slow and steady progress. I think the more authentic you are helps you build a more engaged and loyal audience, so I manage our Instagram, and everything is in my voice. Once you start building an actual community it becomes more interesting, I love seeing how our friends and followers style our clothes.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.st-roche.com
• Instagram: @st_roche
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/st.roche.organic/

Image Credits
St. Roche Photographer editorial images: Yelena Yemchuk Photographer studio images: Martin Rusch