#Synergy organic cotton full#

Puts on her shoes and is out the door.”įisher and Schwab opened their storefront on Walnut Street in the old Bay Photo location at what many might have considered an odd time economically. “I want someone to be able to throw on a dress and know she looks good. “I guess what inspires me are clothes that look good and are functional, that make a woman feel feminine but are easy to wear,” she says. But they all share Fisher’s basic inspiration and commitment to environmental ethics. While Synergy Organic has a more junior vibe with birds, clouds and flowers screenprinted on swingy, soft cotton garments, Kate Organic has a more classic essentials look.

Everything is made with organic cotton, hemp and low-impact dyes in hues of slate, brown, pink and beige. The line split into three parts: Synergy, which still makes some items from recycled silks Synergy Organic, a youthful line that includes T-shirts, screen prints and hand appliqués and Kate Organic, a more upscale line of organic cotton dresses, pants and tops all sewn in the Bay Area. The shift really took place after the birth of baby number one in 2006, when Schwab stepped up full-time to handle the business side of Synergy. “Our business is an extension of who we are.”

“Coming from the world of environment nonprofits, working so long for Greenpeace, it was natural,” says Schwab. The concept meshed well with the couple’s hippie roots. “There was less demand in the marketplace and I was starting to get bored with that motif.”Īs she began exploring new ways to work with recycled materials, she learned more about organic cotton being grown in India. “Then it started to die out,” says Fisher. The line hit a commercial high note with an order from Urban Outfitters. By then Fisher and Schwab were married and living in Santa Cruz, selling clothing at trade shows and concerts. Synergy (named for the marriage of Eastern cloth and Western style) started in 1995 and rode the wave of bohemian chic that crested when the likes of Madonna and Gwen Stefani stuck bindis to their foreheads in the late ’90s. I liked that idea of the cultural history of the fabric,” she says. “An Indian woman would wear it in a marriage ceremony, then it came to a woman here in the States living her life. Once she realized there was a market for the look, the native New Yorker designed contemporary, Western-style clothing, like spaghetti strap dresses, and had them sewn from the traditional cloth.

#Synergy organic cotton full#

“We’re growing up in that whole demographic that’s been developing over the last 10 years.”įisher got her start at 21 on a vacation to India and Nepal in 1993, when she came back with a suitcase full of recycled silk saris, brocades and other textiles. People who are more willing to shop at Whole Foods or Staff of Life,” she says. We’re young families and young adults wanting to be eco-minded. “We started in our 20s and now we’re in our mid, late 30s. And yeah, yeah-they grew up, got married and had kids, but Fisher’s clothing line Synergy grew up with them, culminating with her new downtown Santa Cruz storefront, Synergy Clothing, which opened in January. She was a Deadhead peddling Indian textiles he was a Greenpeace activist touring with Phish’s nonprofit arm the Waterwheel Foundation. A lot has changed since Kate Fisher locked eyes with Henry Schwab at a Phish concert in 1997.