She's driven by fashion

By Dick Hughes  

FEBRUARY 20, 2011 1:18 p.m. (0)

When she arrived from Colombia nine years ago, Maritza Hernandez “found everybody loves the Colombian jeans,” so she imported them for friends and friends of friends, literally starting a business out of the back of her car.

From that modest start, the 34-year-old Hernandez is approaching the third anniversary of her own store, Medefashion Boutique, in a strip mall on Wade Hampton Boulevard in Taylors.

She specializes in jeans made in Colombia and Brazil, blouses designed by her and made by her sister in Colombia, body shapers and dresses.

In April 2008, Hernandez approached Charles Tremonti about renting his vacant building in the condominium Gallery Centre. She found a landlord and a partner.

“I asked her about her business because you want to make sure they are going to be successful,” said Tremonti, 54, a real estate investor who “knew nothing about jeans” but saw promise in Hernandez.

Tremonti said he was impressed by her enthusiasm, work ethic and experience. As a teenager while in school in Colombia, she worked part-time in a bridal shop, became full-time and eventually came to own the shop before coming to America.

“I said, ‘I think this is going to be a big thing and would you mind getting a partnership going? You don’t have much to invest in a place, you are just starting. I’ll let you use the place here and see how you can do.  I know nothing about jeans, but I’ll keep myself out of here as much as possible.”

Despite the difficult economy that slowed consumer spending over these three years, Hernandez has been able to support herself with a clientele that comes to her not only for her lines of clothing but also for her fashion advice.

“They ask what kind of jeans I should wear, what’s the right blouse. They call, ‘Maritza, I have a wedding today, what should I wear? When they go out and get compliments, they say, ‘Maritza was right.’”

Click, a monthly magazine for Hispanic women, sends “models here to pick up their clothes,” and Hernandez contributes articles on fashion for this and other Spanish-language publications.

Tremonti says the business has stayed viable because word has spread about Hernandez’s lines of clothing, her customized tops and her reputation as a fashion stylist. “She has people come down from Asheville. She has people come up from Columbia. People are driving quite a ways to come here.”

Along the way, on a personal level, Hernandez became a legal resident and is two years away from becoming a citizen.

From the beginning, Hernandez was successful with Latino women familiar with the cut and blend of cotton and spandex in stretch jeans made in Colombia and Brazil and who like jeans that “fit perfectly to the body.”

“We had a hard time attracting the American market,” Tremonti said. “We advertised in several publications and spent a lot of money but for some reason they didn’t catch on, but now more people are coming into the store.”

As well as she does with an ethnic clientele, Hernandez knows that if she is to grow her business, she must attract a wider base and for that reason she now emphasizes the quality, fit, style and price of her jeans rather than their origin.

“I don’t think it is a good idea to say Colombia jeans or South American jeans because I want to get American people. They don’t care where they are made.”

To spread the word, she is building a presence on Facebook and on a Web site to get across her message that her jeans are comparable to designer jeans from True Religion or Guess at a third of the price.

“$70 is our highest jean, and this jean is comparable to a $200-jean anywhere else,” said Tremonti.

Tremonti and Hernandez looked at places in the Haywood Mall but found the rent beyond what they could afford while remaining competitive against stores selling high-end designer brands at deep discounts and those like JC Penny selling lesser quality at cheap prices.

So, said Tremonti, Hernandez will stay put for now in the Gallery Centre, where she runs the only retail store among several service businesses and recently a barbecue restaurant.

But, acknowledges Tremonti, “It’s not really a retail location so anyone who comes here is looking for this store.”

As for Hernandez, as much as she dreams of a mall store, she takes comfort in knowing that women who take the time to find her and drive to her shop are going to be motivated buyers.