Threadleaf exterior
A little over a year ago, an Alexandria-based lawyer was working for the Obama administration, but she’s recently turned over a whole new leaf.
Nicole McGrew, a former deputy general counsel to the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, fulfilled a lifelong dream when she opened a boutique called Threadleaf at 121 S. Royal Street in Old Town Alexandria in May.
“I didn’t want to be 80 years old and think, ‘I never tried that,’” said McGrew, a Georgetown Law Center graduate.
McGrew also has a design background and has long thought about starting up her own clothing store, but questioned the seriousness of a career in fashion.
When she saw how polluting fashion industry and that helped take away the feeling of frivolousness entering the industry, she said. McGrew wanted everything in her store – the clothing, shoes, handbags, jewelry and other accessories – to be responsibly made. This means none of the designers she carries – Hack with Design House, Fog Linen Work and Elsa Esturgie, for example – use child or underpaid labor, she said.
Photo by Rashmi Pappu Photography
Threadleaf boutique owner Nicole McGrew
The fabrics are also plant-based, she said. Even the store’s name, Threadleaf, comes from Threadleaf Coreopsis, a perennial native to the East Coast that thrives in a range of conditions. She chose the name because it reflects her commitment to being a socially responsible small business, she writes on the store’s website.
Some friends wondered why she would leave a successful career as a lawyer she liked, she said. To that, McGrew says, “know what you want, do what seems right to you.”Being a lawyer also helped navigating the business permit and licensing process, she said. As a lawyer, she solved problems for clients and is still solving problems now as a small business owner, she said.
She also knows the struggles and pain with dressing for work, having worked in corporate settings in the past. McGrew offers comfortable and good-looking clothes, she said, not clothes you want to pull off as soon as you get home.
McGrew envisions the store will be a friendly neighborhood space where one can come talk and listen to music. She also hopes the store host bookclubs in the future.The community has given her really positive feedback, McGrew said. She’s seen women clap their hands about the items they find in her store. One woman came in to show her vacation photos of her wearing a Threadleaf dress.
McGrew also has advice for other small business owners.“If it’s your dream, you can make it work,” she said. “Have a vision, plan it, don’t think of all the bad things that will happen because they will happen. Alot of life is just showing up and doing it.”
The store is open Tuesdays though Saturdays from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sundays noon - 5 p.m. and is closed Mondays.
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