October Customer Spotlight :: Claudia Cerrato of City Kid Style

Our October Customer Spotlight is about Claudia Cerrato of City Kid Style. Looking for the right way to express her creativity, Claudia started her own children's clothing company. City Kid Style started exclusively as a line of dresses, but just last month Claudia released her first full clothing line which includes one of a kind dresses, pants, tops, and more! Here is more about Claudia and her company.

About Claudia ::

Hi!  My name is Claudia Cerrato and I’m the owner of City Kid Style, a Seattle based girls’ clothing company.  I worked in the field of Early Childhood Education for many years and while I loved working with children and families, I always had an itch to be doing something a little more creative.  I’ve enjoyed sewing since I was a child and have always had a sewing machine in the back of my closet for projects here and there.  But when my daughter was born I pulled that machine out and started sewing girls’ clothing and I never really stopped.  It was an addiction!  I was inspired by my daughter to make clothing for girls that was hip and cool but still a touch girly.  I started scouring second hand stores and combining old fabrics with new fabrics to create one of a kind and limited edition items.  A big challenge for me was finding comfortable jersey knit fabrics with cool prints.  Which is why I was absolutely thrilled to discover Girl Charlee Fabrics. Stripes, florals, geo prints, motorcycles… I was in heaven!

At the end of my daughter’s first grade year I quit my “real job” in Education to focus on starting a business.  I officially launched City Kid Style in September of 2013.  I started out mainly offering one of a kind dresses, all handmade by me.  I got more and more demand to offer more of a full line including leggings, pants, tops, etc… But that was far more than I could handle myself!  Therefore, I recently enlisted the help of a few local sewists in the Seattle area to help me with my sewing, as well as a professional pattern maker to help me fine tune my designs.  Last month I launched my first full line and I’m thrilled with the results.  I’m now able to offer leggings, a few tops, pants and tunics.  And of course I have Girl Charlee to thank for all of the amazing fabrics!   And because I have help sewing most of the basics, I’m able to really be creative and still offer one of a kind items made from a combination of new and upcycled fabrics that I sew myself.

I absolutely love the creativity of this business.  I constantly have new design ideas swirling around in my head.  I used to lay in bed at night kept awake by thoughts of classroom budgets, school enrollment numbers, and big deadlines.  Now I lay awake thinking about new clothing designs and fabric choices... much better I think!  And best of all, this business allows me to work from home allowing me way more time with my family!

Visit City Kid Style online today!

We hope you have enjoyed reading about Claudia.  If you would like to be featured in our next Customer Spotlight post, email gcblog@girlcharlee.com and we will get in touch.

~ Heather & The Girl Charlee Team