Her clothing line was shuttered, but not her business spirit.

by Mike Kravinsky

"I'm not done yet" says Sigrid Olsen when asked about her latest venture Sigrid Olsen art  (sigridolsenart.com) started in 2008.

Her previous company Sigrid Olsen Fashion was a successful brand appealing to the baby boomer market. For those unaware of popular fashion trends Sigrid Olsen's fashion was a line started by her in 1984. The beach inspired clothing developed a strong, devoted following over the years. So popular in fact that in 1999, by then a 40 million dollar company, Sigrid's company was acquired by Liz Claiborne. "I was able to expand my understanding of how a larger business works," she says, 'I learned what I like about it,

and definitely learned what I didn't like about it." The business continued to grow peaking at $100 million in sales with more than 50 of their own stores and sales in larger department stores.

But the fashion industry being what it is, along with an economic downturn, the clothing line sales went down drastically and quickly. In the last 2 years of the company, sales plummeted.  It's believed Liz Claiborne, which restructured earlier this year, entertained offers to sell the brand but in the end opted to close the stores in 2007. Olsen admits that the last couple of months were pretty uncertain and when the end came her employees were shocked.

During the last four years though, Olsen had maintained a gallery in Glouster Mass. where she had been painting, making note cards and ceramics. Now, with the surprising shutting down of her stores and department store line, Olsen moved quickly to get back to an original passion.  "Having the time and open ended hours to work on my art", she says, "I never had that before."  When January 2007 came and the fashion business ended, Olsen admits that she initially missed the structure and friendship she had with her employees but, "My life is much more fluid and my creative life is much richer now because all of my creative energy is going into products that I choose to paint or create, rather than work around parameters that are handed to me on a spreadsheet."

Olsen now has two employees and customers who come in throughout the day, some of whom were Sigrid Olsen Fashion fans who have become fans of her current product line. "Large corporations pay a fortune for market research, and I have it right here", she says, "I ask people what their buying, what they want more of, you know all that good stuff." Sigrid's gallery is located in a very seasonal spot, Glouster Mass. "In the summer, I have a heavy dose of people, but in the winter, if we want to travel, I'm not stuck here."

When asked if she wants to make her current venture larger, she's quick to respond, "Oh yea, I have to, both financialy and my ambition is a little too big. But this is important, I want it to grow organically."