In Honor of Joe Dominguez – Interview with Laura Tanzer

This week we speak with Laura Tanzer internationally renowned clothing designer who operates of the historic depot in downtown.  We’ll chat with her about her new video education series providing sustainable practices and ways for all of us to preserve and repair our own clothes- 

Today is Jan 31st, my name is Tom Heath and you’re listening to “Life Along the Streetcar”.  

Each and every Sunday our focus is on Social, Cultural and Economic impacts in Tucson’s Urban Core and we shed light on hidden gems everyone should know about. From A Mountain to the U of A and all stops in between. You get the inside track- right here on 99.1 FM, streaming on DowntownRadio.org– we’re also available on your iPhone or Android using our very own Downtown Radio app.

Reach us by email contact@lifealongthestreetcar.org — interact with us on Facebook @Life Along the Streetcar and follow us on Twitter @StreetcarLife—

Our intro music is by Ryanhood and we exit with  Barefoot Truth

Sew Many Threads

The New York Times had an article on Tuesday with a headline – Time to rethink your wardrobe with an eye toward sustainability. The article cited stats showing we buy more clothes and keep them for less time than in the past. Our guest today would agree. Laura Tanzer is an internationally known clothing designer who operates out of the historic depot in downtown. Pre COVID you would see her at shows across the country displaying her designs with the statement of wearable, fashionable and sustainable.

We spoke with her by phone to get her story, how fashion became her platform to create a more sustainable world and how she as adapted to the COVID realities.

Transcript

Tom Heath
Good morning. It’s a beautiful Sunday in the Old Pueblo. You’re listening to KTDT Tucson. Thank you for spending a part of your brunch hour with us on your downtown Tucson Community sponsored rock and roll radio station.

Tom Heath
This week, we speak with Laura Tanzer, internationally renowned clothing designer who operates out of the Historic Depot in Downtown. We’ll chat about her new video education series providing sustainable practices and ways for all of us to preserve and repair our own clothes.

Tom Heath
Today is January 31st, my name is Tom Heath and you’re listening to Life Along the Streetcar. Each and every Sunday, our focus is on social, cultural and economic impacts in Tucson’s Urban core. We shed light on hidden gems everyone should know about. From A mountain to UArizona and all stops in between. you get the inside track right here on 99.1 FM streaming on Downtown Radio.org.

Tom Heath
Also available on your iPhone or Android by using our very own Downtown Radio app just head over to your App Store and put in Downtown Radio Tucson. If you want to get a hold of us on the show, our email address is Contact@LifeAlongTheStreetcar.org. You can find us on Facebook. Occasionally, you’ll see us on Twitter.

Tom Heath
And if you want to check out our past episodes do head over to our website LifeAlongTheStreetcar.org. Also you can find us now with our podcast on Spotify, iTunes, or I think you can just ask your Smart speaker to pay to play “Life along the streetcar” but you have to say it like that life along the streetcar. Just kidding.

Tom Heath
We’re going to start today with recognition for a hard-working team. The Downtown Tucson Partnership was recently honored by the Minority and Small Business Alliance of Southern Arizona and the US Small Business Administration with the Hero Award. This is for their commitment to downtown Tucson and their efforts to help those that are struggling in the Covid-19 pandemic. They have done tremendous amounts of work to raise money for the businesses to keep the streets safe and clean and they were recognized for this effort.

Tom Heath
Accepting the award the CEO of the downtown Tucson partnership Kathleen Erikson stated that she was very proud of her staff, their commitment and dedication is evident by the work they do every day to keep downtown safe clean and beautiful while concurrently helping business survive and adapt. And she went on to recognize one special member of her team and her words, “the staffs efforts this past year has been truly heroic. In August, we lost a valuable team member Joe Dominguez to COVID. We dedicate this award to Joe. He was a true hero and he is greatly missed.”

Tom Heath
Well, thank you to the Downtown Tucson Partnership for what they have been doing throughout. Out the last five six years, but also especially with the pandemic and thank you to Joe Dominguez for everything you did in our sympathies and condolences to the family and the team at the downtown Tucson partnership.

Tom Heath
The New York Times on a Tuesday the 26th Tuesday of this week here the New York Times ran an article. That had the headline of “it’s time to rethink your wardrobe with an eye toward sustainability.” The article cited stats showing that we buy more clothes and we keep them for less time than we used to and this is creating some concerns in the sustainable world. And our guest today I think would wholeheartedly agree.

Tom Heath
Laura tanzer is an internationally known clothing designer who operates out of the historic Depot in downtown. Her shop is actually the the building where you would have probably purchased your tickets or you would have waited for the train and then walked out those beautiful doors to board the train. Now you had in there to see her beautiful clothes that she makes right here in downtown Tucson. Pre covid, back you member those days, you would see her at shows across the country. She was in New York, LA displaying her designs and she made a statement with her clothes. She made a statement that they were fashionable, that they were wearable, and that they were sustainable. Well, I spoke to her by phone recently because we wanted her story. Wanted to know how this East Coast fashion designer came to Tucson and how this platform came about to be her way of impacting our world to make it more sustainable. Also found out some really interesting things about how she’s adapting those those goals through the covid pandemic.

Laura Tanzer
I am Laura Tanzer and I make beautiful clothing and accessories and I’m launching a new business called Learn Craft Sew, which I teach the skills for crafting and sewing and all Associated stuff. Well,

Tom Heath
this is going to lead into a lots of different excuse the pun here but different threads. Of this conversation. So I am looking looking forward to getting to know more about your history to you and I have known each other for some time, but I don’t think I really know how you got started. What was the impetus for you to get into just fashion and clothing design?

Laura Tanzer
Ah, well that goes way back to when I was a little kid and my grandmother who grew up sewing because in her generation everybody sewed and she would make outfits for me and they were fun. She was a native New Yorker and she was very chic and she was very beautiful and she was always creating interesting outfits for herself, so she created interesting out for me and then I was around seven or so. She was she taught me how to sew we were making Barbie doll clothes and we just had a great time and I’m so I just sort of took it forward from there and coupled that As I Grew Older a couple that with my art because I was always an artist. I was born as an artist. I was always drawing things and creating things and making things with color. So when sewing came into it when the crafting part of it came into it it made everything three-dimensional and I really like that. I like sculpting. Yeah, so that’s sort of the beat the very beginning.

Tom Heath
So you still did you start in New York where you are you from New York and moved out here?

Laura Tanzer
So we moved around a lot. We went out west came back east. Ultimately, I decided to go and live with my grandmother and grandfather in New York. They were still there and go to school there at the Fashion Institute of Technology. I finally, you know around the age of 18 figured out that that was really where I needed to be so. Then no worked in the fashion industry for a while and the Garment Center and I went back to school at NYU to learn about business because you know being an artist is great and learning all the technical stuff for creating clothing and accessories is great. And but if you don’t if you’ve never learned about business you’re at a disadvantage, so I realized that getting that in from New York to Tucson. My adviser who’s a really great guy said that I should get a PhD and he wanted me to get a PhD in economics if he thought I had a good head for it. And I thought that would be just so boring.

Laura Tanzer
So but I was I had had my nerd in Environmental Management and I really saw that you know, this was the early 90s and I really saw that world was Moving in that direction and I I just thought no we’re going to have to manage. Our resources were going to have to Steward our behavior and I thought I’m going to get a PhD in natural resources so that I can learn about being more sustainable and I can learn about climate change and and and water that’s what brought me out here and And and my advisor understood it he wasn’t happy because he wanted me to continue at NYU but I was like no I gotta I got to go out west where you know, they’ve had water wars and not have all this great history and I wanted also personally I wanted to be warm and dry. I was I wanted to have sunshine, you know 360 days a year. I was just I was so tired of the gray and the dreary and The Damp cold of the Northeast. Not lift, you know most of my life there. I just I I was done and it’s just gone. So I applied out here.

Tom Heath
Well, huh. Yeah, we’re glad that you made it to 2, so that’s for sure and that’s where sort of all three of these disciplines collided because you’ve got your your fashion industry your business Acumen and your your sustainable Mission and that really has been was permeated your your your business. How does what your tagline, you know sustainable wearable, none of that your tagline, but your but your your intent there sustainable and wearable. What does that mean when it comes to clothing?

Laura Tanzer
It means that from A to Z. I am trying to be as sustainable as I can. So so it starts with thinking about what my collections are going to be like from my sourcing or kind of fabrics and whom to store so I only source natural fibers because they’re sustainable. Why are they sustainable and man-made fibers are not because natural fibers are natural substances. And so they will eventually break down and return to the environment. As you know food for something man-made fibers are they basically extruded from polymers and you know, basically petroleum-based and they have you know, like half-lives of like, you know, five hundred thousand years, so they don’t really break down so readily and they contribute as well the process is to make them and to treat them and to finish them are much more toxic. And use a more of our resources.

Laura Tanzer
So I stick with natural fibers for my sourcing and I use everything so my manufacturing if you can call it that because it’s really small batch. I you know, once I have cut my Fabric and I put things into production and very careful about what happens with the leftovers some people call it scrap and they throw it away. I call it Remnant and I thought pilot and I sort it and I have you know piles of you know, black and red and you know this texture and that fiber and some of these bins that are all marked. No with the different remnants and I use those remnants to create a very Arty collection that I call from mental which is an Italian word and it just means Remnant from the plural is from NP, which is the plural remnants it is. And so much sexier and Italian so that’s my my collection where I literally I’m going back to being an artist completely and I’m sculpting. I’m just taking those remnants. I’m not cutting them. I’m not altering them. I am using them as they are to create these one-of-a-kind really cool wearable art. And completely sustainable garments.

Laura Tanzer
Not that my other garments are not completely sustainable. But these are the already want, you know, these are the ones that are you know, mom What is it somebody walks into the room and everybody turns to look because it’s this wearable art. So I do that. So my waste stream is pretty minimal the remnants that I can’t use that are too small. I just keep adding them to like, you know, a Trader Joe’s bag until it’s completely packed and then I donate it to local schools for their art program. So my waste stream is like almost really, you know, it takes me a month to fill up like a little bin, you know, or the size of the plastic bag from a grocery store takes me about a month to fill one of those was like, you know sort of threads and wow. Yeah do stuff like that. That’s that’s it. I’m a to Z. I mean I am I am really focused on being a sustainable as I possibly can using things reusing things. Yeah, that’s and all of the focus.

Tom Heath
All of this happens, then your manufacturing your design your your Creations your vision all of this sort of happens out of your downtown Tucson location right? That’s the one spot that you have. So you’re at the old historic Depot and if I remember correctly. Yeah, your store is actually where the ticket office used to be back in the day.

Laura Tanzer
Yeah, the pick it up either the ticket office or the just the open area where people sat in pews and waited.

Tom Heath
Okay, so they would get they would sit there and wait and then they would board the train out the what is now the back of your of your shop. Yeah, what what what led you to want to be downtown? That’s an interesting location for a for a fashion designer.

Laura Tanzer
I had Some friends who were at the other end of tool Avenue your stone in the old warehouses and that’s why I started actually I started in an actual closet a ten-by-ten closet there was a door and a light bulb hanging from the ceiling and no window and I made them cut off hole in the wall to put a window in because there was no light but I was in that warehouse at the end of the other end of tool Avenue and I started and I was there because there were photographers. Furs and models doing stuff in the big open space and there were artists in other closets. Basically we were like, you know, the Arizona equivalent of the artists in the attic and so there was a lot of energy a lot of really creative energy and Cool Stuff happening and I just thought well, let me be a part of that and it was really cheap in the warehouse because you know, there’s no heating. There’s no cooling place is crumbling, you know, you just like it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter. We were all just like creating stuff. With each other and it was a lot of fun and and then my business started growing and I realized that I needed a more space and my clientele. Warren still comfortable some of them were but some of the Tony or want or feel comfortable coming to this, you know warehouse and you know changing in the bathroom across the hall kind of thing and this time I realized I needed yeah, so then I found this place and and it has really nice light have light for I didn’t have that for had a lightbulb.

Laura Tanzer
So and I like this building and you have lots of Windows in your spot. Yeah have lots of Windows. I like the building. I like them still downtown and think you know things have changed the energy has changed over time. And then this past year it’s changed a lot.

Tom Heath
Yeah, we are in the middle of our interview with Laura tanzer, Fashionista. And a sustainable Warrior trying to save our world. One Clothing Design at a time way back to the rest of this interview in just a moment. But first I want to remind you that you’re listening to Life along the streetcar on Downtown Radio 99.1 FM and available for streaming on downtown radio dot-org.

Tom Heath
And we are back with the second half of our interview with Laura Tanzer. Your business has grown quite a bit. And I know you know pre-code that you you were traveling New York La. I mean you did shows yet International shows. So it’s not like you were just sort of sitting downtown waiting for people to come to you you were you’re out and about selling across the country?

Laura Tanzer
I was yeah and then on you know, March 12th, everything just stopped.

Tom Heath
That’s where everybody were talking to. That’s the phrase right then they had to Pivot. They have a new normal. They had to reimagine their their business plan. And that’s kind of what you’re doing right now. You’re about to launch the you talk about the opening learn crafts. So that’s that’s kind of a pivot, but it’s also carrying forward that that sustainable mission that you have. Can you tell us a little bit about this project?

Laura Tanzer
Yes, it came about because of the pandemic, you know, we all had to just sort of stop and reconsider who we are who we are and what we’re doing and you know, some of us were on certain trajectories and you know, maybe those were sustainable and maybe not and and I I started out just sort of sitting back for a couple of weeks in back in March and I thought well, what am I going to do? And then I realized oh, I need to make a mask. Oh, maybe my friends need some masks and I started making masks for our people and I put a little Posting on Facebook just to my friend saying hey, I’m going to make a few math and you know anybody need one and all of a sudden before I know it. I’ve got orders for like, you know, 300 masks. I ended up making almost 700 math total and and I realized there was this this meat and then I you know, and I reached out and I said listen, I can’t make all of these by myself. I need some help can anybody come and help and all of a sudden people just came out and said, yeah, you know I can do this. I can do that and some people said I don’t know what I can help you with, but you point me in the right direction and I’ll do it and I was like Wow Community, you know is so much about community and I thought This is you know, this is perfect. This is just perfect that and it again energy its People’s Energy. It’s the communal experience that I love being part of and so I made a whole bunch of math and and everyone swallow.

Laura Tanzer
He still see somebody out there wearing a mask, which is great. And then from there I just thought Wow, this is you know, what? Can I do next and a several of those people asked if I would teach them sewing skills or some pattern making skills and I thought okay. Well, let’s give this a try and I’ve always taught. I mean I taught at the University, I taught sustainable business practice at the University for almost 11 years, and I’ve been teaching textiles and I’ve been teaching social responsibility at the University for the last few years, and I thought well why not do some one-on-one so I took on three or four private clients and have been teaching them a variety of skills and everything evolves and I’m you know an opportunist in in the way that I just say. Hey, you know, here’s a new way of being part of a community contributing to community helping people learn some skills and and you know, just feeling like I can I can contribute something positive to the community not just make you know, beautiful art, but but contribute to you know, better understanding of whatever.

Laura Tanzer
Then I started thinking well, how am I going to know maybe make this a little bit more steady than just, you know, three or four people and how can I deal with other people who want to do it, but we’re all in a pandemic and can I do it online? And you know, you just you start thinking about all of those different things. And and in the meantime, you know, I was transitioning away from making your basic math to looking at what people were doing with gnome and thinking oh, you know people are in their PJs and you know, People are like well, I don’t want to get all dressed up and love love of why can’t I just throw something on that people are going to see you know on top and I thought oh, well, you know, I’ll do that and then other people are like I’m going to learn how to do, you know nice little hand stitches and so I’m making kits and I’m doing creating these workshops and I’m going to run the gamut.

Laura Tanzer
I’m just like I have it all mapped out, but I got my spreadsheet where I’m that, you know priced out what these kids are going to be and I’ve got my spreadsheet saying I’m going to have a workshop on this ski Jill and that’s still in this other skill and I’m going to put tutorials up in there going to be you know, some of the tutorials are going to be, you know, three tutorials long. They’re going to be really simple and some of them are going to be, you know, five tutorials long and they’re going to be a little bit more advanced than some setting all of that up and and in the meantime, I’m trying to figure out the technology, you know, I have to get the right lighting stuff and it’s like okay, it’s a whole different, you know, you can’t it’s not just not just, you know people sign on and they come into your space because they don’t you have to create this sort of artificial space that they can just click on the button and you know, follow what you’re doing and I have to have you know the right I have to have my camera in the right place so that people can see you know what I’m sewing and see my hands and see how I’m manipulating threads or how I’m manipulating a machine and this is fantastic. It’s a challenge and it’s fun and this is all coming out of you know, just how the pandemic has made us stop and sit and relearn Andre. Orient ourselves. Wow.

Tom Heath
So how do people find out more about you? What are some of the I know you’ve got a couple different websites working. Now what what are some ways people can get a hold of you?

Laura Tanzer
Yeah. My original website is still going strong and that’s the LauraTanzerDesigns.com and that’s where people can buy, you know, sustainable wearable art clothing and the new one is called LearnCraftSew.com and it’s not quite live yet. Planning on having it live this week, but I think it’s not going to happen till the end of this month, January still fussing with putting stuff in there. And and I have both of those entities are on Facebook and both of them are live on Instagram. On Instagram is just Laura Tanzer and the other one is LearnCraftSew.

Tom Heath
Back to your original original business of the clothing you Do a lot of your sails still in person just by appointment only your…

Laura Tanzer
Yes they do, and they can call the the studio number or the store number. It’s all the same place is 520 981-9891 and I will always call back and you know talk to you and find out what your needs are and then we can set up, you know, either a zoom appointment or an in-person appointment wearing our masks.

Laura Tanzer
So yeah fabulous, well Laura thank you for your time. We’ve been speaking with Laura Tanzer, internationally known designer of wearable and fashionable clothing and launching her new venture to teach the world how to sew there we go.

Laura Tanzer
That was Laura tanzer and I’m going to watch her video series because I got a pair of shorts and I got a button and those two are not together. So I’ve got them sitting to the side there. And as soon as I can register for one of her classes, I’m going to learn how to get that button on those shorts.

Laura Tanzer
My name is Tom Heath and you are listening to Life Along the Streetcar on Downtown Radio 99.1 FM and available for streaming on Downtown Radio.org. Well episode number 136 has come to a close, tune in next Sunday, we’ve got someone I’m excited to have on the air here first time. Fletcher McCusker, the chair of the Rio Nuevo District, he’s going to come in and talk to us about what’s been going on with COVID and and how does the future look for downtown and the Rio Nuevo District?

Laura Tanzer
Well, we are thankful to have Laura Tanzer on the show today and in honor of her time with us. We are going to wrap up the show with a little music from a band called Barefoot Truth. This is from the 2010 album threads and the song of the same name. Hope you have a great week and I hope you tune in next Sunday for more Life along the Streetcar.