Elegant simplicity

Nation's Business, Dec, 1997 by Tim McCollum

Growing businesses share their experiences in creating and marketing new products and services.

Like many young brides-to-be, Amsale Aberra wanted the perfect dress for her wedding. But as she made the rounds of New York's bridal boutiques, she grew dissatisfied with the elaborate, ornamental gowns that were in fashion.

It was the 1980s, and Aberra, who was a design assistant at a New York City fashion house and had always made her own clothes, knew what she wanted: a simpler, more elegant gown. So in the weeks before her wedding, she decided to design and make it herself.

Aberra's experience made her realize that there could be a market for the classic-style gowns she liked. "I kept thinking, What about women who are in the same boat as me [but] who can't make their own dress?'" she says.

In 1986, she and her husband, Neil Brown, placed an ad in Bride's magazine, offering custom-made gowns; she provided only her name, phone number, and a picture of her wedding gown. "We wanted our dresses to be classic but modern, which is a very fine line to walk," says Aberra.

Soon after, her phone started ringing. Then her designs began to attract the attention of fashion editors and retail buyers.

In the 11 years since, Aberra's design firm, Amsale, has become one of the leading bridal-wear companies. Her privately owned company's sales are growing an average of 25 percent a year, says Aberra, who declines to disclose revenue figures.

Gowns made by Amsale have been worn by, among others, Katherine Gershman, wife of Ted Kennedy Jr.; Mpho Tutu, daughter of Bishop Desmond Tutu; and Joanie Zeck, wife of "NYPD Blue" star Dennis Franz. Amsale recently opened a boutique on Manhattan's tony Madison Avenue.

Aberra has come a long way since she arrived in the United States in 1973 from her native Ethiopia to attend Green Mountain Junior College in Vermont. Four months after she arrived, Communists overthrew Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and imprisoned Aberra's father, who was a high government official.

Suddenly cut off from her family and without money, Aberra moved to Boston, which has a sizable Ethiopian community. She enrolled at Boston State College and worked full time as a waitress and at other jobs to pay her way through school. She earned a degree in political science in 1981.

After college, she enrolled in New York's Fashion Institute of Technology. Upon receiving an associate degree in fashion design in 1982, she worked as an assistant to designer Harve Bernard and learned the fashion business.

Striking out on her own, Aberra set up shop in her loft apartment in Manhattan's fashion district, working with a part-time seamstress.

As word of her designs spread, buyers for retailers such as Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue offered to sell her gowns in their stores throughout the country. Aberra moved her operation to larger quarters in the same building; she now employs 40.

Amsale's gowns, though sold in retail stores, are made to order. A customer selects a gown from samples in a store, which takes measurements and places the order. Amsale then makes and ships the gown to the store, where adjustments are made. Gowns cost $2,000 to $4,000.

Aberra says the service that the retail stores provide is crucial to Amsale's success because of their direct contact with the gown buyers. To control the quality of that service, Aberra allows only two or three stores in any city to sell her gowns "I know it sounds arrogant, but we pretty much have to be selective," she says."The service is important. We have to make sure our stores can really serve our customers."

Moreover, Aberra has tried to manage Amsale's growth carefully so that she can retain control over gown design, quality, and distribution. She also decided against taking on outside investors, who she feared would want her to expand the company too quickly or into other lines of clothing.

"You need to grow, but it's hard to control the quality of your designs if you grow too much or too fast," Aberra says.

Yet Amsale is beginning to build upon its bridal-wear success. This past fall, Aberra brought out her first line of evening wear, designed for formal occasions such as weddings, society functions, and award ceremonies. The designs follow the style Aberra set with her wedding gowns, and she intends to market them with the same care end patience.