Project Made Possible: Haylani Apparel Sewing Success One Stitch at a Time

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Blog Entries

October 4, 2018

(Photos via Haylani Apparel)

Charlene Chapple sits at her sewing machine, pulling floral fabric into the shape of a toddler’s romper. The material was selected by her five year old daughter – whose keen eye means she regularly has a say in which fabric swatches Charlene selects.

As the garment takes shape, she stops to re-fill drinks for her girls, help with homework and read stories. After she puts them to bed, she’ll put away the sewing machine, since it’s noisy, and move on to packaging the dozens of orders she has received.

Juggling her time and responsibilities is something Charlene has mastered since starting her business Haylani Apparel in March 2015. The Metis owned and operated company is named for Charlene’s three daughters: Hayden, Leilani and Dani.

“I hadn’t really made a conscious decision to start a business but I was home on maternity leave and I was finding it really difficult to find cute baby clothes in town so I thought I’d try making my own,” Charlene explains. “I went to my aunt’s house and asked to borrow her sewing machine. She walked me through the basics and I’ve been sewing ever since.”

After sharing photos of her creations on Instagram, friends and acquaintances began inquiring and placing orders.

As demand continued to grow and her business took shape, Charlene reached out to the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and with the help of the Support for Entrepreneurs and Economic Development (SEED) Micro Business Program, she was able to secure funding to help purchase a new sewing machine, a large order of fabric and a stock of tags and packaging materials.

“I knew that as my customer base grew I would need to have a lot of inventory on hand to fill all the orders and that’s where the SEED Micro Business Program was really helpful. I didn’t have to stall my business or slow down orders or production, I was able to keep it growing,” Charlene says.          

Haylani Apparel has indeed grown since its creation. Within the Northwest Territories the garments are available at Yellowknife Airport at ‘The Cabin’ shop, Aurora Village’s Trading Post, and Peterson’s Point Lake Lodge. The clothing is also sold in three locations in Edmonton and one in Calgary.

After launching the Haylani Apparel website in the summer of 2018, sales have continued to increase with orders coming in from across the territory as well as other parts of Canada and the United States.

The interest was especially palpable recently. Charlene launched her new fabric line for winter a few weeks ago and has since received over 200 orders for beanies alone.

From sourcing fabric and sewing, to packaging and labelling, Charlene is a one-stop shop for her business. As demand grows, Charlene hopes to grow her business as well and has been considering hiring an extra set of hands and potentially moving the business out of her home and into a commercial space.

What advice does Charlene have for other local businesses?

“Look into all the different funding programs available for small businesses. When I started out I had no idea that so many programs existed in the NWT. Be sure to investigate those options!”

Project Made Possible is an ongoing ITI blog series celebrating the achievements of NWT residents and businesses. ITI offers many programs and services to support economic development and growth. This series shares the many faces, stories and achievements that reflect their success.