Olive Loom Business Model Attracts Harvard Students

Local clothing manufacturer Olive Loom recently entered into a partnership with a group of students at Harvard Business School’s entrepreneurship program to produce a line of men’s boxers called Bandits Undies.

The team discovered Olive Loom on Maker’s Row, a website designed to connect businesses with American manufacturers, and was attracted to its unique method of drawing upon local needlework talent to make its clothing.

“We believe in supporting businesses that make a positive difference in the world,” said Camille Kolstad, an MBA candidate at Harvard Business. “Olive Loom’s dedication to empowering seamstresses in its local community is unmatched.” 

Olive Loom operates out of a 1,300-SF space at 4083 Shiloh Drive in Fayetteville and offers a flexible arrangement for its 25 “Loomineers,” who sew from home in their spare time.

Mother-and-daughter team, co-owners Lou Sharp and Leah Garrett, started the company in 2010 and won the NWA Startup Cup in 2012.

Olive Loom helps its staff hone skills and learn to use a variety of equipment with the help of Jenny Osborn, chief instructor, who is nationally licensed as a Martha Pullen teacher.

In addition to completing its own work, Olive Loom is building a skilled workforce that could prove beneficial in bringing more clothing manufacturing to the area, said David Bradley, chief marketing officer. Along this vein, the company offers free sewing workshops to the public, the next of which will be scheduled for the fall. 

The Olive Loom team is adept in streamlining patterns to make them more efficient for manufacturing, a skill Sharp developed working for Levi Strauss & Co. years ago. This sort of know-how has helped the company parlay into consulting.

Olive Loom’s business model gives them agility. For example, it can do smaller runs and work in a shorter timeframe than most manufacturing companies. Most large companies won’t fill an order of less than 100,000, but Olive Loom agreed to meet the Harvard students’ initial request of 400 pieces, Sharp said.

Olove Loom’s own line is sold at Fayetteville’s Farmers Market, various boutiques throughout Northwest Arkansas and on its recently relaunched website, www.oliveloom.com.