Eddie Gist is pretty comfortable bucking the norm. He's a North Carolinian now making his home in Utah. He's a former collegiate wrestler turned fashion designer and tailor. And now, he's proudly bringing modest fashions into a world of belly shirts and mini-skirts.
Modest by Design Clothing Co. recently opened a new store in Murray, 252 E. Winchester, across from Fashion Place Mall. The move reflects the company's recent growth, which in turn reflects increasing demand for modest apparel, according to co-owner Heather Gist.
"Eddie's a convert to the LDS Church, and after he joined the church we found that there wasn't a lot of fashionable clothing that we could wear that fit our standards," Heather Gist said. "At the same time, we lived in upstate New York, and Eddie — as a tailor — was receiving requests from people to make shorts longer, fit a back into a backless gown, or put sleeves on sleeveless dresses. We saw this and kept saying to ourselves, 'There's got to be more we can do.' We knew there was a big enough market that we could do more."
Eddie Gist's dream of owning a clothing company stretches all the way back to junior high, when he took his first home economics class.
"The principal came into my typing class and asked for volunteers to transfer to home ec," Eddie Gist said in a prepared statement. "I thought, 'That's not a hard question.' I wanted to be in the class with the girls and the food."
Hormones and hunger pangs aside, Eddie Gist soon learned to love creating clothing — he earned a tailoring certificate in high school and sewed his own tuxedo for prom. In college, he earned a degree in fashion merchandising and went on to earn management positions in retail.
That job took him to Park City, then Palmyra, N.Y. — which was where the Gists decided to try their hand in business. They moved from New York to Utah in 1999 to start their business via the company's Web site, www.modestbydesign.com.
By 2002, the company moved out of the Gists' garage and into a warehouse, and then earlier this year to the Murray store.
"We started mostly with the LDS (Church member) niche," Heather Gist said. "But it has since grown quite a bit beyond that."
Customers travel from nearby states to shop at the store, and the Web site receives a lot of business from the South, she said.
"We've kind of been Utah's best kept secret until now," Heather Gist said. "Until this year, we did most of our business outside of Utah. This is the first year our in-state sales are topping out-of-state sales."
Modest by Design is seeing impressive growth. Sales last year doubled, Heather Gist said, and sales this year are expected to triple the 2004 results. The company focuses mainly on apparel for women, from shorts to gowns to missionary clothing.
"Just trying to keep up with demand is exhausting," Heather Gist said via cell phone from Las Vegas, where the pair was attending a bridal show. "But it's a good thing."
And the company has ambitious plans for growth: Modest by Design hopes to open one new store per year for the next five years.
"I moved here the first time because my company sent me," Eddie Gist said. "I moved back to Utah to make my dreams come true. And they definitely are."
E-mail: jnii@desnews.com