Looking appropriately stylish in an ensemble that included a handmade, triangular cocobolo necklace, Annie Raife sat down with me to talk about her creation of neckwear and the business through which she sells it.
Her online store, Raife and Singer, is on Etsy.
What’s the origin of the name Raife and Singer?
Raife is my last name, and Singer is the sewing machine that my mom taught me how to sew on.
Describe what it is that you do.
So I design and make neckwear, which I define kind of loosely. I started out making bowties and bolo ties, and I’ve also started making skinny ties more recently. But I also do necklaces and scarves. I don’t wear a ton of accessories, but I pretty much just make stuff that I like to wear.
What was the inspiration and influence behind your work?
I starting making stuff as a hobby, as a side thing. I sort of just would have ideas like “Oh, I’d love to wear something like this, but I have no idea where to get it, so I guess I’ll just try to make it.” And this sounds kind of cheesy, but I feel like the origin story of Raife and Singer starts with my parents. They’re both craftspeople. My dad is a woodworker and my mom can sew anything, and make anything in the kitchen. I was brought up with this DIY attitude, and my parents were always making stuff. And they always empowered me to create stuff as well. Coming up with that attitude and being surrounded by my parents always making stuff, I thought “I’ll just do what I can do!” Even though I didn’t have any training or skills in that, I just sort of had this attitude of “If I want it, I’m going to try and make it.” And so I guess it’s sort of just an extension of my own personal style and things that I want to wear, and things that I want to see other people wear. And I just figure out how to create that.
Where are you from?
I’m originally from Des Moines, Iowa.
What’s your educational background?
I went to Smith College. I graduated in 2011, majored in women’s studies. I haven’t taken an art class since middle school. So I really have no background in design or accessories or fashion, other than just doing it as a hobby.
I certainly wish I had taken a graphic design or photography class, so that I could do more of that stuff myself, cause that’s stuff that’s necessary for creating a brand.
How long have you been creating neckwear?
I started the Etsy store last October, so almost a year ago. But I’ve been making stuff for a couple of years now, like three years maybe. Sort of honing in on how to create stuff that I can sell for a couple of years.
I know of the Etsy account, but do you sell in the traditional marketplace as well?
I don’t as of now, but I’d like to in the next year or two. It’s just a matter of building up inventory.
Tell me about your clientele. Where do you find yourself shipping to most?
All over. Mostly US based, but a few in Europe and Australia. It’s really all over the US. I’ve sent them to Florida, Virginia, Oregon. And I get a lot of New York people as well.
Tell me about the process, from inspiration to design, and then to physically creating the pieces.
I’ve made all my own patterns, and that’s just a matter of making a bunch of shit that doesn’t work until I get something that works. And then in terms of fabric, I just spend a lot of time combing through discount fabric stores until I find something that I like, and finding stuff that works with my vision. And then I try to choose stuff that works sort of like a collection, even though I don’t do like a fall/winter collection or whatever, but I try to have everything come together to make a cohesive aesthetic. And then after that it’s just tedious hours at my sewing machine or at my desk.
What are your thoughts on selling online vs. the traditional marketplace?
Ideally I’d like to be doing both. I’d like to have a stand-alone website within the next year so that I not only have an Etsy, but my own website. Online is great cause you can promote it and reach a wider audience, but then I’d also really like to be selling stuff to people locally and interacting with people that are going to be wearing it. And also, I feel like it’s a good marketing thing. Someone sees their friend wearing something and they’re like, “Oh that’s awesome, where did you get that?” “Oh, I got it at Brooklyn Flea. It’s this little booth where they have a lot of great stuff.” When I buy stuff, I’d almost always rather buy something in person. You get to touch it and feel it and try it on. And you don’t have to deal with shipping and filling out forms.
And waiting.
Right.
Do you have any plans to expand beyond creating neckwear, or is it the focus for now?
I see myself staying focused on [neckwear]. That’s just what I’m interested in. Something I haven’t talked about yet that I want to is that I feel like a lot of my stuff is really tailored towards creating an androgynous aesthetic. I see pretty much everything I make being worn on anyone on any part of the gender spectrum. I know bowties and bolo ties are considered menswear and I’ll probably never be free of that label. But I really try to make stuff that can be worn and appreciated by folks on all parts of the gender spectrum.
How does being a part of the LGBT community affect what you do?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I feel like identifying as queer and presenting as gender non-conforming or gender non-normative really is intimately tied to my personal style and what I do. And I think it’s sort of…it’s hard to explain. I feel like I’ve had this attitude for the past few years that if I’m on point all the time, if I just look on point and fierce and awesome all the time, no one can touch me. And whether or not that’s true, that’s the attitude I have, and if I feel like I look good and I feel confident, then that’s the way that I move in the world and that’s how, to some degree, how people perceive me. And maybe that sounds a little bit cocky, but I feel like it’s something that our community is familiar with.
I don’t want to be making “queer accessories” or “LGBT accessories” or whatever. I just feel like my identity, which is a lot more complex than just my sexuality or my gender identity, but my identity as a whole is inseparable from what I create and informs it in every way, my queerness and gender non-conformity being only a part of that identity.
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