Today we’d like to introduce you to Haley Harloquin.
Haley, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Having graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Concordia University, I went to pursue a graduate degree in Fine Art at University of Houston in 1991. During this time I was having difficulty with my marriage and wanted to become independent but be able to live my life and support myself through pursuing my passions. I had two passions dance and art. Since I was dancing and performing with a modern dance theatre at the time, I knew my time in dance was limited and I felt I wanted to pursue art as functional art. I started painting on clothes and marketing and selling my own brand to stores in Houston and going to market and selling nationwide. Stores in Houston wanted an exclusive on my designs, Raspberry Rose, Maxwells in Rice Village. I decided to design
clothes to paint on and started buying cottons and silks and making patterns and hiring contractors to sew my garments and then I would hand paint them. On a trip to Chicago to show my line at market I met a Chinese man and told him what my passion was and he hooked me up with a one of his relatives in Hong Kong who had a factory to manufacture 100% silk blouses and flowy skirts and dresses. This young man believed in me and so he had his family finance the manufacturing for two years. I would meet with his mother and have to get an interpreter to translate my faxes to Chinese to send my specs to the factory in Hong Kong. I would pay the import fees on all goods received and then paint these outfits and market them nationwide. The cotton outfits I was producing were all manufactured in Houston hiring sewing contractors. At that time I got an account from Sun and Ski Sports by actually visiting them in their buying office and they called me back and ordered 3 painted designs that on sweat tops and matching sweat pants. I got them to order the tops and bottoms from a supplier I researched and pay for them and ship them to my studio which was in a loft in my house in Memorial. I then hired a student from the art institute in Houston to copy my three designs and help me to paint 900 sweat shirts and 900 sweat pants. I purchased all the paint a got paid a design fee. It took us 8 weeks of 12 hour days.
I later got a call from Saks 5th Ave New York buying office, who said that one of their buyers took a photo of one of my hand painted garments that was hanging in the window of Maxwells in Rice Village. They requested that I do an exclusive line of hand painted t-shirts and an exclusive like of color rhinestone studded blouses for the 7-14 department, I did not have to go to New York to get the order. I filled the order and shipped everything to Saks. They wanted to honor me at a March of Dimes luncheon at their Post Oak Location but I did not attend since at that time I was quite timid. I also did an exclusive line of clothing for the Children’s Collection Teen store at that time. I was also manufacturing 300 skirts a month and delivering them myself to the buying office of Accente Stores owned by Jim and Jean Wilson. It took me six months to land a contract from Pea in the Pod through showing my line at the Dallas Market. I did an exclusive printed line of leggings that was b0ught by Pea in the Pod and sold in about ninety of their stores. We had to ship each store separately. Furthermore, I had showrooms at every major market in the United States, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and expanded into designing clothes in the United States only that was day to evening wear. I b0ught my fabrics from Europe and so I would have better quality fabric and be able to compete and be more unique. My line consisted of flowy dresses, skirts, pants and jackets that coordinated. I would design a new line 5 times a year that consisted of 100 samples each for each showroom. I would rep my own line at certain markets and hire reps to represent and sell my line at others.
I had been operating out of an office in my x husband’s office building for a while and when I got a divorce I looked for a new space and that’s how and when I got into retail. I got a space I could operate a wholesale and retail business out of with store frontage. I then had a tap on what people really needed and wanted and designed clothes that fit well, flowed gracefully and that were timelessly elegant. Strangely enough a couple of months ago I got two phone calls from customers that knew me way back then and had b0ught several of my outfits that I had designed out of German sueded rayon. They called and told me that due to circumstances they had moved out of the country but were back in Houston now and were looking for me since they remembered me and still owned and wore the clothes they had bought. One of them made it to my store with her daughter who was grown now and bought her one of my dresses.
I had moved to Town and Country Mall and hired a girl to work for me and she asked me why I did not have more formal dresses for teens to wear to their dances like homecoming and prom. So I listened to her and started researching and buying dresses for the store and then expanded to formal wear and that became my retail niche. The marketing team from the management company of General Growth Company out of the Midwest came to Houston and held personal coaching meetings with me to teach me specialty customer service and helped me with displays. And how to set goals every month. The marketing manager at the mall arranged for me to do a fashion show for Rodeo guests that they flew in from all over Texas. They arranged a luncheon at the Houston Country Club. That’s when I started doing fashion shows and it went on from there.
I really enjoy working with models and styling them for the shows. I actually train them to runway walk and ever since then have trained quite a few new prodigies that have been signed by major modeling agencies and successful. Really enjoy mentoring these girls and producing runway shows showcasing my dresses. One of the models Marissa Hopkins that I trained to walk and did her first runway show for H. Harloquin dresses two years ago for Houston Fashion Week at the Marriot Galleria got to do two billboards for American Eagle that were showcased in New York city the summer of 2016 and recently was one of the contestants on America’s Next Top Model.
H. Harloquin moved from Town and Country Mall to the Galleria all in 2003 and sold formal and cocktail dresses there for 9.5 years until Nov 2013. We had to move because Saks Fifth Ave. got bought by the Hudson Bay Company and decided to revamp the store and expand it by renovating and they needed our space. During these 9.5 years H. Harloquin dresses competed with every major retailer that sells and sold after 5 dresses.
Jessica McClintock, Betsey Johnson, Cache were all competitors yet they sales clerks would send us customers. Unfortunately these chain brand stores have all closed. We also competed with Neimans, and Nordstroms. We have since moved and expanded the store to 4,200 sq. feet on Highway 6 South. We miss being inside the loop and hope to find a new location soon.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Well in the beginning I was travelling every four to six weeks to sell my line at market having to bring it with me most of the time and being gone 3 to 4 days and having to go back to the retail store immediately without any break. The cost to profit ratio manufacturing in Houston varied at times and I decided to concentrate on my retail store instead of wholesale. My mom had helped me at times with her advice on finding resolutions on how to deal and handle difficult customers or suppliers. For the most part the challenge was incredible and I thoroughly enjoyed and was fearless living on the edge and knowing I had to make it and be successful as to selling my brand. I would say that while on the road doing a designer show in a hotel in New York City during market week and having to unload two racks of clothing and wheel them in through an alley in the middle of winter in New Y0rk because they wouldn’t let me enter through the front door after paying $500. A night for the room out of which I showcased my line. I had to go through the back entrance where the dumpsters were in the hotel through a narrow passageway to the elevator was humiliating and difficult and then unpack and steam 100 garments and be ready at 9 am. Believe me that was not easy. I once read that Calvin Klein used to wheel his racks of clothing through the streets of New York when he first started!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
H. Harloquin specializes in formal evening special occasion dresses. I buy, manage, style and fit each individual. When we dress someone for pr0m, a charity gala, a birthday party they will stand out and look better than any of the actresses we see at the Golden Globe Event or for the most part. They will know how to pose for their photos. We take photos when each customer is trying on and believe that you need to have perspective and be able to look at yourself objectively before you make your choice of which dress you look the best in. Sizing someone has always been my specialty when it came to designing I knew how to size my patterns and when it comes to dresses I have learned that no two companies have the same size chart. Photography and styling is what I really enjoy as well~!
I am proud that as a company we have been through our ups and downs and still hang in there with a positive attitude. I am proud that I have competed with every major designer there is in my field of design and have made it and H. Harloquin still is in business. I believe we are very service oriented and try to inspire the young to dream big, have a vision and follow through and reach their goals. I also have and am competing with every store in Houston that specializes in formal and cocktail dresses and am proud to say I have a following of many loyal and satisfied customers.
Hard work and dedication. Yes we have to succeed but succeeding is having a happy customer looking great in her dress and appreciating your mission to help them. Having dressed many opera singers from around the world, flutists, local performers, students that have similar interests such as their love for dance and their commitment has helped me to relate my passion for the arts to them and how important I think it is to pursue your passion and go for it no matter what. I have contributed to various charities such as the Spinal Cord Injury Association in Houston by dressing women in wheel chairs and featuring them in a fashion show for Houston Fashion Week.
I have rewarded them by letting one of them that couldn’t get out of the wheel chair keep her dress. I have donated a dress to Jamie from Jamie’s Hope for her to wear at her Yearly Charity Gala. She is presently still struggling unfortunately with cancer. When we moved I donated fifty dresses to a charity organization that gives dresses to underprivileged teens for prom. H. Harloquin dresses has participated in fashion shows that raise money to help the abused. Fashion for Cause be It Fashion for a Cure or Fashion For Hope have driven me to donate my time and energy to producing Fashion Shows that raise awareness. I share this passion and vision with the models I work with and the importance of giving selflessly for a greater purpose.
My next great venture will be Fashion For Peace.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, my mom once dressed me in an outfit similar to my older sister but in another color. Abruptly I suddenly I realized that I prized individuality rather than complacency. I was a rebel when it came to my mom’s strict discipline, but instead of being reckless I was determined to make a difference in the world.
I used to try to shop at department stores but time and time again I would be frustrated and tired of not finding the right fit. A lot of the clothes had great hanger appeal but once you tried them on they looked terrible. I was thought to myself that this needs to change and that one day perhaps I would be involved in designing clothes that actually fit and looked good on. I started visiting New York City in my early teens and looked for unique outfits at their vintage shops in the East Village and downtown Manhattan. Since I began working at the age of 16, I had the freedom to choose and pay for my own clothes. I studied dance religiously, ballet, jazz ballet and modern dance, I studied yoga and practiced. I drew and painted and did sculpture and photography. I acted in a couple of one act plays.
I was a dreamer who loved the arts and music and enjoyed reading philosophical and psychological theories. My quest was spiritual I believed in the goodness of mankind. And for the most part I was focused and committed to pursuing my interest in the arts.
Contact Info:
- Website: hharloquin.com
- Phone: 281 558-4275
- Email: hharloquin@gmail.com
- Instagram: hharloquinshop
- Facebook: HHarloquin Dresses, H. Harloquin Prom Dresses, H. Harloquin, H. Harloquin Homecoming
Image Credit:
Quy Tran Photography, Nina Rosa Photograghy, Stars Photograghy -Video
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