Bushwood Tailors Opportunity Shop opens in Kilburn Mill – SouthCoastToday.com

NEW BEDFORD — A longtime New York tailor who has worked with brands such as Gucci, Marc by Marc Jacobs and The Children’s Place is now sharing her upcycling and fashion expertise inside the Kilburn Mill.

“I want people to appreciate handmade things; things made by local people, rethink the way that they shop, maybe just slightly,” said Claudia De Sousa-Baptista, owner of Bushwood Tailors Opportunity Shop (also known as the Opp Shop).

“I’d like people to appreciate things that are artistic and creative and to rethink what is waste and what’s garbage and what’s trash. Is everything really trash?”

Sousa-Baptista calls the Opp Shop “experimental slow fashion,” because it’s one-of-a-kind expressive pieces built to last. The entire store features several artist’s work with differing views and their interpretation on trending fashion.

The daughter of immigrants from the Azores, Sousa-Baptista was born and raised in Boston before moving to Taunton. She became obsessed with fashion at a young age when her aunt would take her and her siblings to the fabric store.

“I was the only one walking around and touching everything. While all the other kids were waiting by the door,” she said.

Sousa-Baptista said she was always interested in what she was wearing and followed all the “What’s In; What’s Out” trends. At 14, she learned to sew.

Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology

After graduating Taunton High School, Sousa-Baptista attended the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City.

From there, she worked as a tailor in a few big box stores learning about the industry and how it truly functioned so she could do the same thing on her own. In 1996, Sousa-Baptista opened the clothing company Cubika in Brooklyn, NY. 

“It was an amazing experience, very difficult, but awesome nonetheless,” she said.

After 9/11, Sousa-Baptista said she started to feel burnt out. She closed her shop and instead worked as a freelance tailor. A friend, who worked as a set designer, introduced her to the world of custom alterations for photo shoots, commercials, fashion shows and events.

“I started altering her like Prada and Gucci and like all this really great stuff,” Sousa-Baptista said.

She worked on ad campaigns with companies such as Marc by Marc Jacobs, The Children’s Place, Macy’s, J.Crew, L.L. Bean and Club Monaco.

Falling in love with New Bedford

In 2012, she and her husband, Danny Baptista, created the tailoring agency Bushwood Tailors featuring some of the best talent in on-site tailoring in the New York City and Los Angeles area. The agency’s clients include Alexander Wang, Ann Taylor, Coach, Isaac Mizrahi, Kate Spade, Old Navy, Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford, Tommy Hilfiger and Vogue.

In 2017, her parents moved to New Bedford. While visiting the area, Sousa-Baptista said she fell in love with the city.

“For the first time in 24 years, I was like, Oh my God, I don’t want to go back,” she said.

While managing Bushwood Tailors and being the mother of two children, Sousa-Baptista said she didn’t have plans to open another shop until she was inspired by upcycling fashion during the pandemic.

“I was ready to do something creative again,” she said. “I started to see on social media, all this interest in crafting, and upcycling, and I care deeply about the environment.”

Sousa-Baptista said that also during the pandemic, many companies in the fashion industry were finally exposed for their terrible practices such as sewing sweatshops and how the supply chain was completely opaque.

Inside Kilburn Mill’s Opp Shop

Sousa-Baptista said she thought about slowing down and exposing people to what it really takes to make a quality garment and how time-intensive it actually is.

“I felt inspired to just do something different about the injustices within the fashion industry,” she added.

Inside Sousa-Baptista’s Opp Shop, which originated from what Australians call “thrift stores,” customers can find several clothing items and accessories designed by different artists who recycled materials to make new items.

The shop features light fixtures made out of old baskets, colorful egg crates on the wall and vintage rugs at art.

Working with the company PlayWood, a furniture and woodworking shop that does modular and DIY fixtures, Sousa-Baptista designed the shop to be easily interchangeable for whatever new pieces she need to put on display. She also has a dressing room. 

Sousa-Baptista, who also offers tailoring and mending services, will also work with clients who might have a piece or a garment they like but doesn’t quite fit and may want to work with her to upcycle. 

“It’s one of my favorite things to do in this shop, mainly one of the reasons I opened this up,” she said. 

“We’re giving new life to things.”

Standard-Times staff writer Seth Chitwood can be reached at schitwood@s-t.com. Follow him on twitter: @ChitwoodReports. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today