DESIGNER INTERVIEW: MOGUL THERESA ROEMER TAPS INTO THE FASHION INDUSTRY

Good Morning Live Life in Style Readers! This week I have a bunch of interviews for you! Yesterday I featured my interview with Black Halo Fashion Designer, Laurel Berman, and today I have for you a local designer, Theresa Roemer! Theresa Roemer is no stranger to publicity! She’s the CEO of her own company, Theresa Roemer, LLC, philanthropist, and a motivational speaker, This year Theresa is taking on a new industry: Fashion!
Theresa, how did you come to design your own collection?
I think it all started when I was a little girl. I had to wear hand me downs because we were so poor. (laughs) I became totally infatuated with clothes because I was like “Oh my God, I can’t wait to buy some new clothes!” As a growing teenager, I had totally fallen in love with fashion and all the fashion magazines. Even though I’m a Texas girl I’m very much a California girl. I’m from Orange County. I find myself frustrating sometimes because my style is California chic and I don’t dress like the normal Texas woman. I’m always putting together my own look. I’m a huge fan of Donna Karan and Michael Kors but I thought, “I need to take care of myself and my own look. I think I need to come up with my own California chic line”. And there we go, True and Real was born.
I know you’ve been working with David Peck on your collection, can you tell me more about that collaborative effort?
It actually started a little over a year ago. I actually wanted to start with a fitness line because I’m a huge fitness person. I was in his [David Peck’s] studio one time and I had brought over some clothes to get altered that he had made for me. I started talking about putting a fitness line together and said, “I think I’ll just do it over in China.” and he said, “No! Don’t do it in China! You have to do it in the US”. We started talking about it and he started investigating. I really wanted the fitness line to be like Lululemon because I really like their style and that’s what I live in. The cost to create a fitness line was rather atrocious because of the specialty sewing machines required. I put that on the back burner and decided to start out with a Ready-to-Wear collection and maybe within a year of being in the clothing industry I’ll get to do my fitness line. We are debuting True and Real right now and hopefully, in Fall of 2015, there will be a fitness line also.

Shows you how much I know! I never would have thought that a fitness line would be more expensive than a RTWcollection. I just feel fitness clothes are just tanks and spandex!
Well, I love Lululemon and Lululemon is a very unique brand of it’s own. I told David, “Unless I can do it to the standard of Lululemon I’m not going to do it because I don’t want cheap clothes”. So we started researching and he said, “Do you realize that just one of Lululemon’s jackets requires nine different stitches? And each stitch requires it’s own sewing machine and each machine is around $5,200?” So, $5,200 times nine is a huge investment and then you don’t even know if you are going to sell it. Why not first get my name out there and get my clothing line out there and once my brand is going strong then we’ll start the fitness line.
Does your collection feature a lot of Fall pieces?
Yes, right now it’s ready to wear and for Fall. Unlike some designers that are focusing on their Spring collections right now, I’m more into what we can wear right now. I’ve already started designing my Spring collection which will debut this February.
Makes sense to me! That’s a huge investment! Please clarify for myself and my readers, is your brand called True and Real or is that just the collection name and the brand is still Theresa Roemer?
The collection is called True and Real by Theresa Roemer.
What’s the color palette of your collection?
My clothing line really caters to your basic looks and your basic colors. Right now, we are very into blacks, greys and sand colors. My line is a basic staple that you can start a look from and add to it. We have a lot of go-to pants and a lot of go-to skirts. Every year, we’ll just keep adding to that collection. It’s very classy and very sophisticated. I travel a lot so I love clothes that I can just roll up, un-roll and hang them on a hanger. They don’t need to be ironed. My collection features a lot of jersey knits that travel well, wear well and they don’t wrinkle. You can take them out and shake them. I like that my line can go from day to evening without having to change. You can take the basic white dress and wear it to the office with just a little bit of accessories. Then, get ready to go out for the night by changing out the accessories. One of the hardest things a woman has to do is wake up and look at her closet. Everyone says “Oh my god, what am I going to wear?” My pieces will mix and match. I actually came out with a line of sixteen pieces, but you can put 39 looks together.

I really like the fact that you’re able to do that with your collection, going from day to night and the mix and match! I’m always on the go and I usually don’t have time to change.
Exactly! You hate going to some events at night because you feel underdressed. The line is great because you can wear it to the office with very little accessories and at night change out the shoes and throw on some jewelry, grab your purse and BAMyou have a great evening look. And also, I have best friends that are 5 ft and weight 90 lbs. and I have friends that are 5’6 and they’re a size 12 and 14. All my friends would say, “Please don’t forget about us when you do your line.” The good thing about my line is that I go everywhere; from an extra small which is a zero to an extra large which will be the average size of a woman in the US.
People do tend to forget the average size of US women is a 14.
I know! I always think, how can you forget about them? That’s the average size of an American woman! You can’t forget about that. Another great thing about my clothing line is that an eighteen-year-old to an eighty-five-year-old will want to buy these clothes because they are not age prohibited.
Sounds like you have a diversified group of women that your clothing that work for! I’m very excited to see your line. Where can people find your collection if they want to buy? You can find it on my website which is: True & Real.com and you can view the collection around town at different trunk shows I’ll be hosting. Jose Sanchez, on Shepherd, will start carrying my line here in Houston. Jose Sanchez creates mainly leather and fur pieces but he finds that my collection goes well with his offerings. It doesn’t take away from his leathers and furs; it actually compliments. My clothes are sophisticated enough that you can put on a leather jacket and they compliment each other extremely well.

I find it amazing that even though it’s so hot here in Houston, women will still find a way to wear a fur coat. I know! I own like thirteen fur coats and my husband just says, “Really?”. I say “Yes! Whenever it gets to 40 degrees I need to wear that to my dental appointment.
Haha! We have to do what we have to do! So tell us a little bit more about Theresa Roemer, LLC. I know you have your own line of truffles, so what else does Theresa Roemer, LLC do? The truffles are now carried at Saks Fifth Avenue. People can also order them for special events because we completely make them your own (your own logos and your own name). I also have my True and Real candle line which comes in nine different scents. They are all natural soy candles, and triple scented. They are just delicious; Neiman Marcus is actually looking at them right now. And of course the fashion line. I’m also a motivational speaker. I speak to different organizations. I’m just trying to change the world.
That’s amazing! I don’t know how you find the time to do it all! And on top of that, I believe you were also in charge of the Fashion Woodlands initiative?
I am!

I know it was postponed due to an unfortunate circumstance.
Yes, it was postponed. Unfortunately, the founder and director of the foundation that we were benefiting passed away and we were unable to do the fashion show the same day as his funeral. But because our ticket holders were so understanding we’ve also come up with a VIP Sneak Peak Preview Event on December 11th. Any ticket holder for the fashion show, which has been rescheduled for March 12th, who purchases their ticket before Nov. 1st will be able to attend both events.
That’s a great way to keep everyone uptempo for the upcoming show in March! It’s very sad and unfortunate that the director passed away! How untimely!
It is so sad! I have a lot of respect for the family.

Well, thank you, Theresa, for your time today in chatting with me! I can’t wait to feature your interview on Live Life in Style!
Thank you!
DISCOVER THERESA ROEMER
Website:www.theresaroemer.com
Blog: www.theresaroemerceo.com
Facebook: facebook.com/theresa.meyersroemer
Twitter: www.twitter.com/theresaroemer
Instagram: www.instagram.com/theresa.roemer