When Hackwith Design House first hit the local fashion scene in 2010, designer Lisa Hackwith was creating each piece of the line by herself in her home studio. Seven years later, she’s taken over a sprawling studio space in the old King Koll mattress factory in St. Paul, now known as Vandalia Tower—also home to event space Paikka and floral studio Munster Rose—where she has four full-time seamstresses on staff.
Recently, Hackwith and Erin Husted, the brand’s full-time director of operations, decided to take the leap into growing their wholesale market. Last fall, they brought their spring 2017 collection to Capsule in New York, a fashion and lifestyle trade event geared attended by retail buyers from the U.S. and beyond, along with their first lookbook and line sheets, which allow vendors to order further in advance. The pair attended their second Capsule market last weekend, where they showcased their fall 2017 collection and line sheets.
“Before, we didn’t have traditional line sheets because we were focusing on limited-edition pieces,” explains Husted. “We decided if we were going to grow our wholesale market, it’d make sense to do something a little more traditional.”
The spring collection features natural, textured fabrics such as silky tencel, gauzy cotton, a cotton-cupro blend, and denim in a soft color palette of French blue, pale blue, olive, camel, black, white, and cream. In addition to Hackwith’s seasonal collection—which they dub their “Core Collection”—the brand continues to offer its Limited Edition pieces as well as HDH Basics (a permanent collection of Hackwith favorites), HDH Swim (swimwear), HDH Plus (a plus-size line), and HDH Bridal (which has been discontinued, although the Ella Jumper, the Helen Blazer, and many of the gowns from the line are still available).
Is it hard to stay inspired to design for a season ahead? I ask.
“What’s nice about designing ahead is you get to design fall when it’s still cold, and spring when it’s warm,” says Husted. “But it is true, there are coats that are coming out next fall, that I’m like, I want that right now!”
“By the time all our spring stuff comes around, I’m like over it,” Hackwith says, half-jokingly. “I’m thinking about spring 2018 at this point.”
Shop Hackwith Design House’s spring 2017 collection at hackwithdesignhouse.com; select pieces from the collection as well as limited-edition and exclusives are available locally at GRAY Home + Lifestyle, Cliché, Hazel & Rose, Idun, Mille, Parc, and Wilson & Willy’s.
View the rest of the spring 2017 lookbook:
