Today we’d like to introduce you to Jemal Mizan.
Jemal, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’m from a dressmaking family, I picked it up from my dad in Ethiopia. I love dressmaking since then.
I moved as a refugee to Dallas in 1982, and I ended up working in the eighties for Victor Costa as a pattern maker, and from there on I’m still making dresses.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Since I’ve been in Dallas and getting into this clothes-making business, most of the places I worked at ended up going out of business. One goes out of business, I move on to someone else, and that goes out of business. Then, I decided to have my own business, and I bought Richard Brooks Fabrics in 2006. I’ve been making clothes for Dallas’ society women and selling high-fashion fabrics at the same time.
Please tell us about Richard Brooks Fabrics.
Richard Brooks was the well-known design house and fabric store in Dallas for more than 57 years, and I just continued the culture of Richard Brooks Fabrics, providing dressmaking and then selling fabric for different designers in town.
I’ve been maintaining the name for this long, and I’m going to keep going on, the name, the brand.
The difference between us and other designers in town is that we have the fabric in our own hands, so we don’t have to be running around looking for fabric.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have done what I did: clothes-making. I love it so much.
When I was a child, I wanted to be an architect or something. Still, it’s the same thing: it’s kind of putting together things.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1645 North Stemmons Freeway, Suite C 2, Dallas, Texas 75207
- Website: http://richardbrooksfabrics.com/
- Phone: 214-739-2772
- Instagram: richardbrooksfabricsofficial
Image Credit:
MB2 Productions
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