Angelrox
“I was taught to sew at the age of eight by two of my five grannies and and it just instilled an immediate passion for making things and and of course, you know, just I already had a passion for clothing. I remember my favorite thing as a little bitty girl was you know, Easter morning of having a dress that was all swirly and just twirling round and round and round and looking at my skirt slide around me,” says Roxi Suger, fashion designer of Angelrox and Suger.
Roxi brought her fashion collections, cut and sew skills, entrepreneurship and positive vibes up to Biddeford, Maine where she designs and manufactures her Angelrox and Suger collections. She is known for her sustainable, plant-based fashion and the versatility of each piece that she crafts so precisely and her customers, also known as “angels”, love her for it. Her journey had its ups and downs.
Courtesy of Angelrox
The Flirt is one of Roxi’s top-selling items as it is versatile and made from the softest plant based fibers.
“We started increasingly looking towards Maine and how we could possibly relocate our lives here. And it was not easy, because at the time, Angelrox was very, very tiny...so that was immediately following sort of the whole market crash, right. And so, you know, it was, I was sustaining it but it certainly wasn't at a level to support our family. And so we were still very reliant on him (Roxi’s husband) having a full time job, and he was looking around here but opportunities were hard to come by,” says Roxi.
After settling into their new hometown of Biddeford and growing their business from Alfred Street then to the Pepperell Mill, their family was able to buy their dream home down the road from their business and Julian, Roxi’s husband, now works with her. Roxi’s design process is quite lengthy and it takes a team to truly bring it all together.
Courtesy of Angelrox
Roxi crafts all of her pieces in the Pepperell Mill located in Biddeford, Maine.
“I've always found design inspiration comes from a multitude of places. And for me, it's not only being aware of, you know, the historic, history of current trends, although that's, I almost have tried to avoid those to some degree because that's not what we're about. We're about trying to really develop signature pieces and I committed early on to be, to approach a little differently and to not be a collection that appears in one season and out to the next, but to develop pieces that would just have longevity in customers’ wardrobes and pieces, they would come back to seek to get new ones when they had worn that, and so that has been really a wonderful, it hasn't always been understood in the real fashion industry, you know that our trend chasers?” says Roxi.
Courtesy of Angelrox
Roxi’s opera sleeves are worn by the famous Diane Keaton and her customers adore them as it adds an extra layer of comfort and style.
Not only has Roxi’s community supported Angelrox by loving and demanding more of her pieces, but she is giving back to them as well. Angelrox puts an emphasis on hiring immigrants looking for jobs and teaching them the art of cutting and sewing.
“One of our sewers let us share her story through email - just so humbling and so inspiring, I mean, she was a lawyer in her country in the Republic of Congo and had to flee for her life. Leaving five children behind while she was pregnant and landed here in the US totally alone with nothing. She has managed over the course of eight years to retrain herself to stitch when she's a super intelligent lawyer, you know, and has managed to bring her husband, all five of her children over, they're all reunited. They're all here living in Saco,” says Roxi.
Roxi enjoys being a part of and contributing to the local economy and business network and will continue to grow her business to ensure it is a long standing staple of her beloved community.
“The people of Maine are just a huge draw, like, just the spirit to me felt the most southern of any New England areas I've been. And coming from Alabama and Oklahoma originally, that made me feel at home. Just some, you know, good, down home sensibility and kindness to others and just a real spirit of hard work and go to and gung ho and I think that's a testament to what we found in our team and our team members and what we're so grateful for and what's allowed us to be able to, to build and grow is, of course, the strength of the workforce that we have to engage with and work family, as well as how much the women of Maine have adopted us as their designer and support us in so many beautiful ways, says Roxi.