new Maryville company is doing its part to keep the Earth green and its customers comfortable.
Spirit of the Mountains Yogawear, founded by yoga instructor Susan Green, was born from Green's desire to provide functional, high-quality clothing and accessories for yoga practitioners and for others who want to experience the comfort that natural materials provide. Customers design their own clothing by browsing the design collection at .. ofthemountainsyogawear.com and choosing the design they want. They then choose the fabric they desire -- organic or bamboo -- and the design placement. The most popular design is the lotus flower.
"This fabric is made from bamboo," Green said, holding up one of the shirts. "It's totally natural. Most of these others are organic. This is an organic cotton. It's raised without chemicals. We did a lot of research to find the source for theHemp clothing."
Everything is custom-made, Green said.
The company is a true family pursuit. Green, as creative director, sketches the designs, sews the items and adds monogramming. Her son, David Green, with a master's degree in business administration, is in charge of the business and financial areas of the business. Her daughter, Leigh Green, with degrees in apparel merchandising and public relations, handles those duties and also models the clothing.
"My degree is in art so I sketch the patterns and do the hands-on stuff, and they do the brains stuff," Green said with a laugh.
In addition to making the clothing, Green said she does monogramming and machine embroidery on towels, bathrobes, etc. She concentrates on yoga-related items on the Web site, but customers may contact her with their own sketches or photographs to completely personalize their garment or accessory.
Green has been sewing for many years but it was only after her retirement in 2007 that she started planning her own business. The biggest challenge, she said, was figuring out how to do the Web site, which was done with the help of her son. Completing all the rules and regulations -- applying for a business license, tax number, etc. -- added another challenge, as well as finding the bamboo fabric.
"I talked to all kinds of little Chinese men," Green said. "That was a challenge."
Home-based business
Spirit of the Mountains Yogawear is totally based at Green's home, from production to marketing to Web design.
Leigh Green said, "When we were working on the Web site, we were working on the concept of a home-based business, and we decided to make everything instead of spending a lot of money on a lot of professional photography. Everything is home-done. The garments are hanging on our clothesline and I ended up modeling them in our back yard. If it is going to be a home-based business, then we might as well put that in everything we do."
The Web site is designed so the customer has full control of the product he or she receives, explained David Green. "They are going to choose the garment, the color, the design, the placement on the garment of the design. There are a lot of options. Every item is going to be custom-designed by the customer and then made to order. There is no inventory here."
The Greens have received a number of orders locally as well as from the Web site. Products are available at Mountain Yoga and Healing, 1906 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, where Susan is a yoga instructor.
Spirit of the Mountains Yogawear, founded by yoga instructor Susan Green, was born from Green's desire to provide functional, high-quality clothing and accessories for yoga practitioners and for others who want to experience the comfort that natural materials provide. Customers design their own clothing by browsing the design collection at .. ofthemountainsyogawear.com and choosing the design they want. They then choose the fabric they desire -- organic or bamboo -- and the design placement. The most popular design is the lotus flower.
"This fabric is made from bamboo," Green said, holding up one of the shirts. "It's totally natural. Most of these others are organic. This is an organic cotton. It's raised without chemicals. We did a lot of research to find the source for theHemp clothing."
Everything is custom-made, Green said.
The company is a true family pursuit. Green, as creative director, sketches the designs, sews the items and adds monogramming. Her son, David Green, with a master's degree in business administration, is in charge of the business and financial areas of the business. Her daughter, Leigh Green, with degrees in apparel merchandising and public relations, handles those duties and also models the clothing.
"My degree is in art so I sketch the patterns and do the hands-on stuff, and they do the brains stuff," Green said with a laugh.
In addition to making the clothing, Green said she does monogramming and machine embroidery on towels, bathrobes, etc. She concentrates on yoga-related items on the Web site, but customers may contact her with their own sketches or photographs to completely personalize their garment or accessory.
Green has been sewing for many years but it was only after her retirement in 2007 that she started planning her own business. The biggest challenge, she said, was figuring out how to do the Web site, which was done with the help of her son. Completing all the rules and regulations -- applying for a business license, tax number, etc. -- added another challenge, as well as finding the bamboo fabric.
"I talked to all kinds of little Chinese men," Green said. "That was a challenge."
Home-based business
Spirit of the Mountains Yogawear is totally based at Green's home, from production to marketing to Web design.
Leigh Green said, "When we were working on the Web site, we were working on the concept of a home-based business, and we decided to make everything instead of spending a lot of money on a lot of professional photography. Everything is home-done. The garments are hanging on our clothesline and I ended up modeling them in our back yard. If it is going to be a home-based business, then we might as well put that in everything we do."
The Web site is designed so the customer has full control of the product he or she receives, explained David Green. "They are going to choose the garment, the color, the design, the placement on the garment of the design. There are a lot of options. Every item is going to be custom-designed by the customer and then made to order. There is no inventory here."
The Greens have received a number of orders locally as well as from the Web site. Products are available at Mountain Yoga and Healing, 1906 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, where Susan is a yoga instructor.