Courtesy of Conjetta Designs
The Conjetta Designs team, including Connie Bourgeois and Dayne Lewis (center)
Connie Bourgeois, CEO and creative director of Conjetta Designs, says people think there’s no fashion industry in St. Louis—and they’re wrong. Bourgeois should know: She’s spent a decade working in various technical, creative, and production roles at companies in the fashion industry in St. Louis that she reports were “making millions of dollars a year…working with huge brands.”
In February 2020, she turned that experience into a business of her own when she and her husband, Dayne Lewis, launched Conjetta Designs. The company provides a range of design and manufacturing services to help other designers bring their ideas to life. When a client approaches them with an idea or initial design, they provide the expertise on all the technical aspects of manufacturing garments, such as finding domestic and overseas factories, making the final sketches, compiling all the information that factories need, sourcing fabrics, and handling any necessary importation fees or cargo insurance.
“We take care of all the things that a designer doesn’t think of, might not know of, doesn’t have time to deal with,” Bourgeois explains. “We take all of that off their plate so they can focus on designing their next collection or building their brand.”
It’s exactly the kind of know-how that Bourgeois needed when she first struck out on her own after college. When she couldn’t find a job in New York or Los Angeles, she began designing her own line and soon found there was a lot she had to learn about running a fashion business. Now, 10 years later, Conjetta Designs has more than a dozen clients—many of them are local—who are working on headwear, swimwear, activewear, and niche garments.
During the pandemic, Bourgeois realized that being a freelancer was actually advantageous for her. Even though many companies were laying off staff, they still had projects that needed to move forward. “We got quite a few calls from larger companies that didn’t feel that they could hire someone to take on a project and wanted to outsource it,” she says. “So, that ended up being better for us than what I would have anticipated.”
Over time, the team has grown to eight employees who work out of an office in Lafayette Square. Bourgeois doesn’t do as much designing these days, but she appreciates the ability to give other young designers the chance to succeed.
In May, Bourgeois and Lewis branched out by launching Gyal Bashy, a line of apparel and accessories that draws from Lewis’ Jamaican heritage and Bourgeois’ experience in the fashion industry. The travel-inspired line is designed to be comfortable, inclusive of different sizes, and sustainable. All of the fabrics are recycled, organic, or biodegradable, and they only use factories that have been audited for ethical labor practices.
“It’s been so fun to combine his culture with my experience and create a unique perspective that appeals to a wide range of women,” Bourgeois says, noting that new pieces are planned for this fall and next spring. Look for Gyal Bashy to begin appearing locally at Paperdolls, Zee Bee Market, and Whole Foods Market.
