Sewing Up A Profitable Business

Leelanau Enterprise:

Lizzi Lambert was a stay-at-home mom in Leelanau Township when the bottom fell out of her husband’s aviation business.

“It was just after 9/11, aviation slowed and many airlines closed,” Lambert said. “So I decided to go back to work.”

She turned to something she knew: sewing.

Lambert’s mother had owned and operated a dress shop in Franklin, Mich., from the time she was a kindergartner. Sewing came naturally to Lambert. Her first pieces of clothing were for Barbie dolls.

Six years and four stores later, Lambert’s “Haystacks” line of clothing, designed, sewn and sold in Leelanau County, has become a success story.

“I’m a perfect example of someone who took $1,500 on their credit card to start a business,” she said.

Lambert’s business began at home, where using a very basic pattern and a soft, nylon/lycra blend fabric, she made dozens of pairs of pants. Lambert spoke with local businesses which agreed to purchase the pants wholesale for retail sales. Soon her cottage industry outgrew her home and Lambert began to look for space to lease.

wo years ago, Lambert’s retail space grew to include “Haystacks” on Main Street in Leland and The Pixie Room, located in adjacent space in the Leland Courtyard Shops. This spring, Lambert added a fourth retail outlet, “Haystacks by the Bay” in Suttons Bay. All stores and her website www.haystacks.net, offer her original clothing line, plus complementary clothing appealing to shoppers from all walks of life with different clothing budgets.