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Meet Paul Simmons and Amber Hochbein of Posa Apparel

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Simmons and Amber Hochbein.

Paul and Amber, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
We are Amber Hochbein and Paul Simmons, and we are the co-owners of Posa Apparel. [Amber] When I was a kid, my grandmother and mom taught me to sew. I would spend sick days from school at my grandmother’s house making stuffed Teddy Bears or pillows. In college, I started to make more of my own clothes or alter clothes I would buy. My mother passed away in 2001 when I was nineteen-years-old and butterflies became a symbol for her with our family and friends.

Just two months after her passing, I moved from my home in Pennsylvania to Gunnison, Colorado to finish college. Two weeks after being in Gunnison, I had the opportunity to pick a puppy from a wagon. I chose the one that the girls said, “no one ever picks,” and I named her Posa, short for Mariposa or butterfly in Spanish. She was my companion for fourteen years and brought me back to life in those early years without my mom.

I had not sat down at a sewing machine after my mom died until I sat down to make the first Posa. The Posa came from the idea of being able to open up a scarf to expose your face. I played around with several prototypes attaching two sides of a scarf with a central zipper and added the straps to secure the sides. Because at the time I worked two jobs in education and had very long days, I didn’t really do much with the prototypes or concept.

I met Paul in May of 2013, and we’ve been together since our first date.

[Paul] That December I was going to a birthday party for my teenage niece and I wanted to give her a scarf. Amber pulled out these prototypes and offered one of them for me to give her. I was like, “What are you doing with these?” Since I have a background in Theater and learned costume construction, I took a look at the design and refined it into the product that we have today.

[Amber] We filed for a Design Patent in 2014 and were granted the patent in 2016! Posa Apparel is our company with the Posa being our signature product. When we thought about what our company and our product should be called, we kept gravitating back to Posa. The product itself is a transformation of a traditional scarf. Our lives have grown and transformed, and at the heart of it is an amazing woman and mother and a dog who saved my life, so Posa was the perfect name.

[Paul] We are a Denver-based company that has sold our signature products in boutiques from Denver, to Pittsburgh, to Frisco, as well as our online store. We have produced a larger run of products through a local Denver manufacturer and I continue to hand make our custom or smaller orders.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
We have had challenges along the way. Like many startups, we did most things ourselves like building our own website, creating the content, and figuring out eCommerce. I would say that our biggest challenge has been exposure opportunities for the Posa. It’s really a product that people need to see on or see how it works. So continuing to have opportunities to share the Posa and how it’s worn is really important for us.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Posa Apparel – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
As a company, it is our goal to create inspired designs and products that are unique and functional. We currently sell the Posa, which is our signature product. It is a reinterpretation on a traditional scarf. We hold a patent for the product because it is unique both in how it looks and functions.

We are really proud of our product and believe that it is something that everyone needs in their wardrobe! It makes us so happy to hear customers rave about their Posa and how it keeps them warm or how people approach them and ask what it is and where they can get one. We believe that it is a product that is for the fashion-forward as well as people who just want to stay warm. What sets us apart from other cold-weather accessories is that you don’t have to sacrifice fashion for warmth.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are looking forward to continuing to expand our sales to other cold-weather regions in the US and beyond. We truly believe that this is a product that would have traction internationally. We will continue to build on our momentum and seek further ways to get the product out there for bigger and bigger exposure opportunities.

Pricing:

  • Products range in price from $55-$250. We use fabrics from cotton, to wools, to even leather and fur custom Posas.

Contact Info:


Image Credit:
Paul Simmons

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