Degage Fashions is proud to be celebrating our 23rd year in business where we
design, manufacture and retail all our own clothes and accessories.
I started this business in the basement of a rented house. The first items
produced were mainly ceramic jewelry and hand painted T-Shirts.
These items
were sold at various Craft markets and shows with overwhelming success.
It was soon apparent I was on to something when some sales representatives
approached
me requesting to represent my line for sale to boutiques. Having no idea what
I was doing or getting into I agreed. The orders came pouring in and once in
the stores the repeat orders were overwhelming. In this same two-year period I
gave birth twice and divorced. I scrambled to learn the business (and
Motherhood) and hire some help. Knowing nothing personally about manufacturing
clothing I contracted some small garment factories to do the production.
We were soon doing well enough to buy our own home in Abbotsford with a large
basement, which was dedicated to the business. The business flourished and
grew and I soon had sales reps across most of Canada wholesaling to small
boutiques.
I was traveling a great deal with the business and soon realized I didn't want
to be away from my young sons nor did I want to raise them in a city.
Vancouver Island had been my home as a girl and I wanted to take the boys there
to raise them and change our life style. So we moved to the charming tourist
town of
Chemainus
and I opened my own direct retail
store. Now I had to learn to run a store as well as take on the manufacturing
of the goods myself. That was eighteen years ago. With the help of some very
talented and dedicated staff I did this and again the business flourished. We
now have our own small garment factory and expanded the floor space of the
store last spring. This newest venture of e-commerce is our next stage of
growth.
I have often been asked how we have been successful in a small business in such
a competitive industry and I believe the answer to that is that we concentrate
on excellent customer service and as we are our own manufacturers we can
customize our garments for anyone any size and shape. We also customized
styles. We use classic styles that don't go out of fashion and the best
quality fabrics that wear for a long period of time. We can keep our prices
reasonable as we have no middle man and rather than follow fashion trends we
listen to what our customers want in terms of style and color. Many of our
best sellers are adaptations of styles suggested by our customers.
In closing I would like to thank my team of dedicated employees, both the
present ones and the ones who have moved on. Mostly though, thank you to our
loyal customers. It is our intentions to keep the service and small town
"feel" of our business intact regardless of our growth.
Enjoy browsing our site and we would love to hear any comments or suggestions
or answer any questions you may have.
Sincerely,
Sheri Dusseault
(Owner)
