Susan Voelker

The Atlanta designer whips your old stand-by t-shirt into a piece of structured fashion

By Emily Anderson
Published: September 18th, 2006 | 5:55pm

Your favorite oversized t-shirt — the one you practically live in Saturday mornings, is high on comfort, low on aesthetic value. It stretches to accommodate both your knees when you're balled up on the couch, you spill cereal on it, you lie around pants-less in it. It never makes it past the front door. DIY designer Susan Voelker may force you to reconsider that. Dismayed by the ethical sketchiness of the fashion industry--sweatshop labor, manufacturing, and waste--27-year-old Atlanta-based Voelker returned to a more humane and earth conscious approach: Recycled materials. "Post manufactured materials provide the most earth friendly alternative, and working with skilled seamstresses independently beats having a factory. T-shirts excite me the most because I am a yoga instructor and the comfort and weight is perfect."

Inspired by your recycled XXL tees that spent half their days on your bedroom floor, Voelker launched her DropTROW clothing collection, making gorgeous garments from dresses to pants to hoodies with tried and true materials that were high on comfort and flexibility. "Yoga pants were my first design and they form the nicest shape on the body, accentuating a woman's curves and butt with the interior lines and body hugging and straight on the outside."Her clothes reflect the simple, comfy origins of the fabric, but through her use of vibrant colors and feminine but unfussy details, items such as her ruffle wrap dress transform Saturday morning lethargy into sexy yet understated Friday evening panache. The Ruffle Wrap, with one long ruffle following the natural curves of the body and a sash tied at the waist, is a DropTROW piece Voelker identifies as one of her favorites. "I love the ruffle wrap dress. Its cha-cha and yet simple. Simplicity is essential to me. I'm that girl who cuts the bows off of my bras. I love clean lines."

Voelker launched DropTROW in 2003. For one of her most recent lines, Voelker collaborated with the many other local artists and designers who make up GADA, (Greater Atlanta Design Alliance). "It would be safe to say that within the scene of artists and designers in Atlanta there are few boundaries. Knitters and painters are friends and at one time may have been in the others shoes. For one of my latest collections, GADA printed their designs onto a collection of dropTROW clothing and we had a one night show at local gallery and boutique YoYo in Atlanta."

In addition to DropTROW, Voelker also launched the Indie Craft Experience (ICE) in 2005 with fellow Atlanta designers Shannon Mulkey and Christy Petterson. "Shannon and I attended Stitch Austin a few months before that and were struck with the feeling that we needed to have a similar market in Atlanta. We joined up with Christy Petterson and the three of us decided to call ourselves the ICE collective and host market/fashion show/band night as well as share space at Renegade Craft Fair, Crafty Bastards, and other national markets." Recently voted "Best New Art Trend" by Georgia's premiere alternative weekly paper Creative Loafing, this summer's past ICE 2006 hosted 60 vendors, and included performances by 3 bands and a fashion show, as well as a thick, steady stream of shoppers throughout the day. "The space we chose was the Defoor Centre, a former gospel church with a large forum rotunda with stage, a cafe and bar and 3rd room of additional vendors. The space is pretty and unique with a bookstore housing rare books on site."

In what little spare time she has, Voelker dabbles in... vegan super-heroes. "My other crafty love is for the Protein Power Pals, named St. Soysage, Ill Tempeh, Fak'n Bac'n, and Seitan the Magnificent. They are felt dolls with their own comic book and I look forward to their growth. They bring me endless amusement."