Texas designer supports Susan G. Komen foundation

Wednesday, 31 October 2012 by Grayson Edds

Native Texan Sarah Stewart took a bold step in her life more than a year ago when she decided to turn her dream into a reality and launched her line of scarves with its namesake label Sarah Stewart, Stylish Adornments. As a career woman and mother living in Houston with her three children, she said she was often faced with drastic temperature changes from the sultry warmth of the sun to the chill of a blowing air conditioner.

"I love clothes, I love fabric, and I love color," Stewart said. "I had been toying with the idea for three or four years before scarves came 'in'. I wanted something cute and fun to throw on over 'mom' clothes or jeans and a t-shirt."

After earning her Bachelor's of Science in Organizational Development and a minor in Fine Arts from Vanderbilt University, she worked in the field of organizational development for years, she said, including event production and political campaigns.

"I started in event production because I love the visual aspect and the chaos that goes with that," she said. "I also did some consulting for a non profit organization. Then one summer I went to see a friend in Australia, went to see some factories, and put together some designs. I wasn't settled with what I was doing before. I'm settled with what I'm doing now."

Stewart said her first stop after receiving her first batch of samples was Tootsies, a posh women's boutique. Within four months, Sarah Stewart scarves hit the shelves and adorned mannequins at Tootsies.

"I figured if Tootsies will buy, I probably have something here," she said. "It's about as grassroots as you can get. I've gone from one store to another and have a website for sales as well. I would love to be a name brand in lots of stores in the U.S."

She now has scarves in stores in New Mexico, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia and California as well.

In addition to being a mother, career woman, dreamer and entrepreneur, she can now add philanthropist to her resume after being contacted by the local chapter of the Susan G. Komen foundation requesting her help with one of their parties.

"I said I would be happy to do anything pink for them," she said. "We talked about doing a specific scarf, but this year was too soon."

She has about a dozen pink scarves to choose from in her collection, so she decided to dedicate 20 percent of any pink scarf in her collection to the Susan G. Komen foundation.

"At 48, it affects my age group. There are quite a lot of women in my age group who have been affected," she said. "It's something that I think needs a whole lot of attention. I've seen it affect all these people that I love, so I thought that I would do whatever I could to help."

She added that she hopes that people will be aware of Breast Cancer Awareness Month all month long, to make donations, and do whatever they can to help the cause.

With cooler temperatures heading our way, you can find the entire collection of Sarah Stewart scarves at www.shopsarahstewart.com. Order anything pink before the end of October to have a portion of your purchase go to the Susan G. Komen foundation.

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