There’s always a time when you need something nice to wear, and there’s no time to browse or no concrete idea as to how you should go about putting an outfit together. We’ve all been there, and we’ve all wanted easy access to something like The Dresser- and founder, Amy “Trish” Schwartz, made it happen.
Born in Saint Lucia, Amy lived with her parents in Antigua where she went to school until she had to move back to Saint Lucia in 1997. She attended Ave Maria, where she was first introduced to a non-co-ed educational institution wherein afterwards, she went on to Saint Joseph’s Convent Secondary where she was more inclined to focus on the arts. After Secondary School, Amy went on to study Hospitality Management at Monroe College with a minor in Sales and Marketing. Although she loved dealing with guests and people, she realized it wasn’t entirely what she wanted to do with her life.
Amy started her clothing store in Vieux Fort before she got the opportunity to move to Jeremie Street in Castries. Now with two locations; One on Jeremie Street and the other at JQ Mall in Rodney Bay, her origin story of how The Dresser was born, is a thought put to the test.
Dazzle: How did the concept come about?
“I loved to dress up, even as a little girl. My family always encouraged pairing things together. One day my little sister looked at me and she said, “well you realize, everything in your luggage is for someone else?” And then it hit me that my entire suitcase—I traveled a lot so I always brought things for other people—didn’t have anything for me. My sister suggested that I open a store, or a boutique and I tested the theory to see how profitable it would be for me.”
Dazzle: What is The Dresser?
“I always found that people around me always needed help to get dressed. It’s out of that the concept of The Dresser was born. I didn’t want to call it stylist, because it’s a little bit of a harsh word to pronounce but the word dresser is familiar to people and I wanted to play on the words a little bit. At The Dresser, we tell people how to dress, what to wear with what and for which occasion. Whether it’s daytime, cocktail, wedding, evening party or birthday party.”
Dazzle: Did you always want to own a business?
“I actually owned two businesses prior to The Dresser, but I always knew I loved to manage and operate a business. Because of my creative nature, I’m not a 9-5 person. If I get an idea or get inspired at two in the morning, then I would get up and work on whatever project I’m working on then. I like the flexibility and a regular job won’t give me that. This profession suits me perfectly.
Dazzle: What challenges have you faced?
“Every day there’s a new challenge that you have to overcome and it’s really all about your mindset. Are you going to focus on the mountain of challenges or focus on your achievements? What you focus on is what manifests so I choose to focus on the achievements. Everyday won’t be your best day but the best days exist.”
“Challenges can come in the form of flight delays and package delays. It can come in the form of a volcano eruption, something we have no control over and like we recently saw, it can affect more than just our brothers and sisters in Saint Vincent.”
“We don’t only style people in Saint Lucia. We have clients in the rest of the Caribbean as well so we just have to adapt and make things work as best as we can with what we have.”
Dazzle: How do you target your scope of clients?
“We get many referrals, clients who we have styled in the past refer additional clients to us.”
“When we get a client, we then ask what their requirements are and then we’re able to go in the right direction from there. Some people simply want guidance as to what they should wear with this, and some people want us to actually source those items for them whether it is for a wedding or a party. We don’t just stop at sourcing the outfit. If it’s for a wedding in Saint Lucia, we physically go in and help the bride, or groom, or bridal party get dressed.”
“There are many different facets of what we do. There’s the styling aspect, the retail aspect and personalized shopping service.”
Dazzle: What is your support system like?
“I have a team that I work with in Saint Lucia and they’re amazing. We have really tailored our product for what the clients want in terms of the type of service we would want for ourselves.”
“In terms of family, there’s always different elements that help you along the way. It may not be your immediate family but there are strangers who offer support in terms of ratings and recommendations. Initially when we started, everyone was a little skeptical about the idea of a stylist. It was unheard of in Saint Lucia but with the demand for parties and events and normal, everyday outings, people then began to realize how they would come to need our services.”
Dazzle: How has the business grown since it started?
“Remember, I started selling out of a suitcase. I was just going around to my friends and selling, or they would come over to spend time and they would buy from what I had in my suitcase. Then I had one physical store and then two, so it has grown quite a bit since the brand was conceptualised.”
“Sometimes you don’t realize it when your head’s down and you’re going full speed but when you pause and take a step back, and you see how much time has passed and what you’ve accomplished thus far, you realize how much you’ve grown. We’ve grown not just locally, but internationally as well and we’re grateful for it.”
Dazzle: What was the public response like when you opened?
“People were really supportive. They supported us, and especially in our Castries location, the traffic there was overwhelming. We had a lot of traffic from the cruise ship. We got a lot of crew members who would come in because there were theme nights every other night on the ship and we had exactly what they needed.”
“When COVID hit, there wasn’t a cruise ship or the traffic it brought in anymore. We really got the support from St. Lucians, whether they came in as customers or just to check up on the team, the support was there.”
Dazzle: Where do you see your business in the near future?
“It would be a dream of ours to have a worldwide company where we could tell people how to dress on a global scale. I never look at anyone’s dream and say you never know where you will be. Look at Google and Amazon and look at where they started. When you actually look at the history of those brands and where they started, there are some similarities between us. If I could find out what they did, maybe it would help me get to where I want to be with my business.”
Dazzle: Do you operate on an appointment basis or can a client just walk in?
“At the JQ Rodney Bay Mall, we work on an appointment basis but our Castries location allows walk-ins.”
Dazzle: What advice do you have for young entrepreneurs?
“Whatever step that you need to take, ensure that
you take it. The first step is always the hardest but if you don’t take it, nothing will happen.”
We wish Amy all the best in whatever’s next for her and The Dresser.
Visit The Dresser in Castries on Jeremie Street and in JQ Mall in Rodney Bay to get your next best outfit! Follow them on social media (@thedresserslu)
