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Many young women plan careers
in fields of law, science or mathe
matics and never consider the
household skills acuuired from their
mothers and grandmothers. But in
the life of Mary Porter, the skills she
learned at home are the basis for her
career.
During the past four years, Mary
Porter of Warsaw has designed and
constructed clothes for local cus
tomers. Last week, Mary mailed
2,000 catalogs of her first designs to
customers in all SO American states
and seven foreign countries.
Through the catalog, individuals can
purchase Mary Porter designs
custom fitted and tailored in her
shop, a recently-restored 1880's
bank building on Railroad Street in
Warsaw.
"With this catalog 1 am no longer
just a local designer," Mary Porter
said. "I am national and inter
national. It's all so exciting.
"I think one of the greatest things
with the catalog has been to witness
the excitement oiher people have
when they see it for the first time,"
Maty smiled.#'I am pleased that the
idea of a catalog for my designs
excites others and makes them
proud, too.
"I feel good about the collection,"
she said. "And I have so many more
ideas for designs 1 want to do. The
success of this line will give me the
opportunity to develop the new
designs."
The catalog offers Mary Porter
designs in women's evening and day
wear, along with one child's dress.
With the success of the first designs,
Mary says she expects to first add a
line of casual clothes and then
consider children's fashions. In five
years, Mary expects to have show
rooms in New York City, Atlanta and
Los Angeles.
"Already, I have worked four
years," Mary said. "I really think its
realistic to expect to have showrooms
in five years.
"I'm a dreamer, anyway," Mary
smiled. "Without dreams the world
wouldn't have anything, and I
wouldn't have my career or the
catalog. And, there is no other
catalog of designer fashion that
offers the service of custom fitting
like the concept I offer.
"I design to make the individual
look her most beautiful and feel she
is a very special individual," she
said. "And, I plan to offer that same
service through the catalog pur
rhav^
"I put a little bit of me in all the
garments I design and construct,"
Mary said. "When someone puts on
one of my designs and says, 'This is
just what I wanted,' I know I have
done a good job and feel good about
myself.
"God gives different people dif
ferent talents," Mary said. "I found
mine when I was 10 and have worked
hard to develop it.
"What I can say I am most
grateful for has been the support of
my family. I honestly know if it
weren't for them and my local
friends, I would never have ac
complished a thing," she said
Mary is a graduate of James
Kenan High School and the 1976
Miss Duplin County. She earned a
bachelor of arts degree in home
economics from Meredith College
after attending the University of
North Carolina at Wilmington and
studying mathematics three
semesters. Following graduation,
marriage and motherhood, Mary
began her business with a job to
design a pageant dress for a child. In
the past few years she said nine of
each 10 customers have been
pageant contestants which also
offered opportunities to design
fashions for their mothers, too.
Mary turned down possible design
jobs with well-known companies like
Saks Fifth Avenue and Lords and
Taylor to pursue the catalog sales of
her fashions. Through catalog sales,
Mary explained, she acts as manu
facturer, wholesaler and retailer of
her designs in order to maintain
individual attention for each cus
tomer.
In full operation, Mary expects to
employ six people at her shop in
Warsaw and after one year need
additional employees and work area.
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