Revival By Rylie

Sonia Yost, Reporter
December 11, 2020

Senior Rylie Whitaker started her business, Revival by Rylie, at the end of October.

“My grandma taught me how to sew when I was little. Two or three years ago I made my first evening gown, and I continued making clothes. I wanted to continue making clothes but wanted it to be good for the environment, so I started this,” Whitaker said.

Whitaker is part of the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, a class that teaches students how to start and run their own business. Students meet with other business owners and meet once a week to discuss the ins and outs of running a business. At the end of the course, students pitch their business to Blair County Chamber of Commerce, similar to “Shark Tank,” to ask for investments.

Whitaker’s business focuses on updating items found in thrift stores and sewing items of her own design.

“Whenever I make something original, I take my sketch and find the fabrics that I want. Then I’ll do a first fitting, put it on the dress form and then make a second fitting with any alterations. For revivals, I buy clothes from second hand shops and then alter them in some way so that they are more modern. For example, I bought some flannels of similar sizes from a store and cut them apart and then patchworked them together so that they are more updated,” Whitaker said.

Whitaker operates her business on Instagram @revival.by.rylie and Etsy.

“I’ve put a website together four times. It’s a lot more work than I thought it would be. I thought it would be pretty simple, but running the website and writing the business plan is kind of overwhelming. But now I feel like I’ve got a control on everything because I know what my strengths and weaknesses are,” Whitaker said.

Whitaker hopes to expand her business in college to include evening gowns and prom dresses.

“It really does take a lot of time to make something and that really isn’t something that I have a lot of right now. Hopefully in college, I’ll have more time. I want to make evening gowns and prom dresses for other students, but obviously with everything going on right now, prom is up in the air and people aren’t really buying dresses,” Whitaker said.