CAMDEN — Two new clothing stores, Barefoot in Denim and Fat Face, opened recently on Bay View Street in downtown Camden, with plans for the Page Gallery and Zen & Company to open in May.
BAREFOOT IN DENIM
The new store at 24 Bay View features affordable denim under $100 for women and teens, vegan leather jackets, purses and bags, dresses, shirts, sweaters and more.
Owner Jennel Johnson Pendleton opened the business in March, as a go-to, year-round shop for women and teens to find jeans in a range of styles, from shaping and flattering in softer denims, to classic Levi 501s to distressed finishes and the new frayed, “v”-cut and “shark bite” hems.
She offers nine different varieties of Levi’s premium jeans. These fashion jeans are not what you would find in a department store, Pendleton said, and include a four-way stretch that sculpts and molds, is “super-comfortable” and “never bags at the knees,” and another shaping jean that “tucks and holds everything in.” She carries Lucky Brand, Kut from the Kloth jeans in a range of styles and lengths, and Hidden jeans and denim jackets, with distressing, frays and hem cuts.
For accessories and jackets, she chose vegan leather purses, bags that are “beautiful and simple, with great details,” and jackets, including a black vegan leather jacket, “that never goes out of style.” Pendleton was attracted to vegan leather, which she feels are a good fit for Maine, where people are more aware of the environment.
Barefoot in Denim “came to fruition because my basic style is laid back, jeans and T-shirts and barefoot,” Pendleton said. That said, she also “loves a beautiful dress,” and throughout the store she carries dresses, sweaters and tops, that can be carried “year after year.”
Pendleton lived on Islesboro with her two daugthers,until moving into a “tiny house” on the mainland more than a year ago. With one daughter in high school and another in college, and a degree in retail merchandising from Virginia Tech, she enrolled in “My Next Career Move,” a class offered at the Camden Public Library in partnership with New Ventures Maine. She visited apparel markets last summer to see if the affordable and fashionable jeans she envisioned for dressing adult women existed, and found there were many choices.
Nationwide, the trend in retail is going back to “mom and pop” shops, instead of big box stores, Pendleston said, “If you go into a big box store now, they are trying to make each department feel like its own little store,” she said. Owning a store where customers can come in and relax, chat and find jeans with their perfect fit, in Camden, which is known for its unique, locally owned stores, is exactly where Pendelton wants to be. Store hours are Mondau through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.. For more information, visit barefootindenim.com.
FAT FACE
Naomi Saura, the store manager for Fat Face’s Newport, R.I.,store and Camden store manager Barbara Schrade were welcoming customers April 1 at the newly opened clothing store at 10 Bay View St.. Saura is helping Schrade get settled over the next week, before heading back to her store.
Fat Face sells “anything from basics, jeans, T-shirts, shorts in the summer, skirts, dresses and amazing knitwear and sweaters for women,” Saura said. Much of the merchandise for women, men and kids is made from 100 percent cotton, she explained. “Everything has been washed in happiness, meaning the majority of it has been pre-washed and preshrunk,” she said. So if care instructions are followed, “you are going to get a genuine size, which will stay what it is.”
The store is decked out in spring mode, with some shorts and cropped pants for women. As the weather warms up in May, and people are putting on their flip-flops and sandals, swimwear will arrive, she said.
Saura talked about the versatility of dressing up the clothing for a special occasion, and how much of the women’s and men’s clothing can be worn by someone in their 20s or someone in their 70s.
Men can take the button-down shirts, press them a bit more, add a tie, and be good to go, she said. “We have a basic black dress that you can definitely make into a cocktail dress, which every woman needs,” she said.
“The store doesn’t target a certain age, Saura said. “A 12- or 13-year-old girl can wear a cardigan in a small size, all the way up to ‘any age,’ if it works for their style,” she said.
Schrade talked about the quality of the clothing in the store, which is all the Fat Face brand. “The reason I’m here,” she said, “is I love the quality and the extra details. For me, it’s all about the fabrics and the colors and the care they take in making their clothing.”
“I really respect the company and the work they do,” Schrade said. The company is working towards 100 percent sustainability by 2020, uses organic cottons, and “they really care about having a small footprint in the stores and in their manufacturing all around the world.”
Schrade came in to Camden March 28, and put the store together with a team of managers from other locations. Items were taken out of boxes and put in place, clothes were steamed, handbags were stuffed, socks put on their racks, she said
“A lot of care was put into it and it was done very quickly, in two full days, and Saturday we were open,” she said.
Skiers in Camden might be interested to know that Fat Face started in 1988 with “two guys” on a ski slope, which happened to be in the French Alps. As the story is told on the corporate website, they were running out of money, and decided to print sweatshirts and T-shirts to sell at night, while they skied during the day. The name Fat Face comes from one of their favorite ski runs, “La Face.”
Fat Face has 16 stores in the United States, with the majority in New England, and is opening two new stores in New York. Fat Face has more than 230 stores in the United Kingdom. Most of the stores are small in size, similar to 10 Bay View, and located in “active-living communities like Camden,” Saura said, “with lots of things to do in town, great restaurants and great shopping.”
“Portland is one of the best-selling stores in the U.S. right now,” according to Saura, and has “a year-round following.” While most of the stores in the U.S. are located in tourist destinations, the company appreciates the locals who come out and shop, “who keep us doing what we love to do in the off-seasons,” she said. “It’s nice to build relationships with the people who live here year-round. That’s what we’re here to do.”
The store is currently open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the telephone number is 230-8593. Hours may change, and will soon be posted on the website https://us.fatface.com/stores. Information about the company and products is available at fatfacecorporate.com.
PAGE GALLERY
The Page Gallery is moving into 23 Bayview St., with an opening reception planned for May 9. The gallery will be a first for well-known painter Colin Page, and is managed by Kirsten Surbey.
In a recent interview, Page said the gallery will put on several group shows over the summer, showcasing “some of the art and artists we are most excited about,” and will have a good selection of his own work on display through the summer season.
Page first appeared in Midcoast Maine as a young plein air painter more than 15 years ago, and still does the majority of his work outside working from life to capture the light and atmosphere of his subject matter. Page shows his work in Maine galleries, has recently had solo shows in California and South Carolina, and has taken part in group shows internationally. For more information, visit thepagegallery.com.
ZEN & COMPANY
Also coming sometime in May to 6 Bay View St. is Zen & Company, which owner Sue Gordon said is a celebration of cultures around the world, with a focus on spirituality, clothing you might wear to a music event or a yoga class, singing bowls, crystals, candles, bath and body products, and books. “Anyone who is a spiritual seeker will find something that calls to them or takes them to the next step of their spiritual journey,” she said.
Gordon has had a Zen & Company store in Kennebunk for 10 years. In the Camden store, she will have something new, a room for for practitioners to hold a reading or teach a class, she said.