GrandMother Goods

May 23, 2025

Ever since she was young, Stephanie Fleck knew that she wanted to work with clothing and create her own original designs. But she wanted to do so in a way that was mindful of the environment and didn’t contribute to fashion’s pervasive fabric waste problem. 

When she moved to NYC from Seattle, she started working at Buffalo Exchange — a bastion of secondhand apparel — and connecting with local designers like JWhite Original who gave her insight into starting a sustainable clothing brand. She also began piecing together parts of different textiles to create dynamic combinations. This patchwork technique allowed her to utilize salvaged clothing/material from around the city in order to make new aggregate garments. 

“I have always liked puzzles,” she explained of the process.

This led to the launch of her own line called GrandMother Goods, which pays homage to Fleck’s own grandmothers who helped foster her love of sewing and antique treasures. No two pieces are exactly the same and range from flirty keyhole tops, cool custom jackets, and “strip skirts” made with varying panels of fabric. The mixture of colors and patterns makes the pieces inherently playful, but Fleck’s thoughtful draping ensures that they are also fashionable and flattering.

Fleck says she receives great in-person feedback on her clothing from customers at vendor markets, which help her decide which ideas are working and which need to be tweaked. When designing her pieces, she says that her ideas are largely dictated by what fabric she is able to source, but that she enjoys these “boundaries,” that challenge her to be thoughtful about her construction. 

Along with local markets, Fleck’s pieces can be found at several shops throughout the city. She says she is mindful of scaling her work in a way that remains fun, fulfilling, and community-minded. She also recently moved into a larger studio which she hopes will allow for more event hosting potential.

More about GrandMother Goods can be found here.