Designs on Grandma

Written by Joe Volz | Download Original Article

Karen Keith, a Tulsa, Okla., TV anchorwoman, was hav¬ing a devil of a time finding some easy-to-wear clothing for her 83-year-old grand¬mother, who was suffering from Parkin¬son's disease.

"I just looked everywhere," Keith said recently. "I didn't find anything which had everything. I had to tear it apart and put in Velcro. And my grandmother need¬ed something that opens all the way down that she didn't have to step into."

So Keith called her uncle, Harley Featherston, a real-estate salesman in Salem, N.H.

FEATHERSTON came up with some money, and Keith, 37, founded her own company, Senior Fashions Inc., which manufactures clothing for customers with physical handicaps. Featherston, 63, is vice president. The company produced some samples last January and was selling clothing by April.

The idea, says Keith, is "to make at¬tractive clothing that does not have a medical-gown look to it."

Senior Fashions' Silver Label manufac¬tures dresses, slacks, pantsuits and blouses ranging from $30 to $65 and trousers and shirts for men in the $20 to $40 price range. Keith notes, for example, that a day dress is not only comfortable and attrac¬tive but also is easy to get into when fas¬tened by Velcro on the back. Longer sleeves and extended dress length provide added warmth. Even arm holes and pock¬ets are designed with the senior figure in mind.

FOR MEN, Keith has denim overalls with a drop seat available in lightweight cotton.

Senior Fashions has turned into a fam¬ily enterprise. Grandma Emma Feather¬ston is the test model. If Grandma likes it and can slip into it easily, then Keith makes it.

Keith says, "My younger sister quit her job and does everything from doing fash¬ion shows to actual sewing." Their mom, a high-school principal, will retire in a few years, and Keith hopes to recruit her full time.

And, of course, there is Uncle Harley, who rounds up the money. "I'm the agent, and I have some venture capital coming in. I go to conventions and call people."

Recently, for example, he had a com¬plete line of the fashions on display at the Gerontological Society of America conven¬tion in Boston, trying to line up interest among the experts on aging.

KEITH FIGURES she has a big mar¬ket among caregivers who have older par¬ents living at home. Estimates are that there are at least 3 million such families nationwide.

Although this is Keith's venture into running a business, fashions are not new to her.

"I used to make all my own clothes as a kid," she recalls. "When I started college at Oklahoma State, I thought of having my own TV sewing show, but opted for the news instead."

In fact, Keith, who says at 37 she is getting up in years for a female TV an¬chor, looks upon the company as job secu¬rity for her future.

"I look younger than I am," she says. "Most people think I'm 32." But, she says, the day may come when somebody says she is too old for TV.

SO EVERY MORNING she works at her Tulsa-based company and then rushes off to anchor three evening TV shows.

"Everything I do is within a mile — the station, the business, my house," says Keith. A self-described workaholic, Keith is single. "Who would have me?" she asks with a laugh.

"It's been real enriching starting the business. Talk about people making me feel good."

And with the changing demographics — the first baby boomers turn 50 in five years — she figures she is in a growth business.