She has been stitching since around the age of 8, when her grandmother gave Kristen her old Singer sewing machine from the 60’s. She learned the basics of the machine, and Kristen began teaching herself to sew. Growing up in a very small town, the nearest fabric store was 30 minutes away. Luckily she was the youngest of 3, and was able to upcycle her old clothes into purses and eventually took the leap into making clothing.

After years and years of sewing and developing her own techniques, Kristen knew she needed to learn more. She wanted to learn everything about sewing clothing, so she went to sewing school at MCTC. In school, she learned the industry standards for garment construction, draping, pattern-making, alterations, and how to work with specialty fabrics. In the textiles class Kristen learned that polyester has the same chemical make-up as PETE 1 water bottles. We recycle those bottles, but not the fabric, and it dawned on her how wasteful the industry really is. Many items in stores are not made to last, so we need to go buy them again and again. The industry has adopted the “disposable” mentality. In addition, so many of these garments will take over 200 years to break down in the landfills. Kristen stubbornly made a decision: she would make ALL of her designs out of secondhand and deadstock fabrics.

In 2009, Kristen moved to Washington DC with her now husband. Shortly after in 2010, she opened Ginger Root Design with one of her best friends, Erin Orfanon (then Derge). It was the home of the duo’s tailoring business, specializing in revamping/recycling garments, in addition to basic tailoring. It was also a place for the 2 friends to sell their upcycled designs and feature other local artists in DC.

After an amazing 5 year run, both Erin and Kristen decided to close Ginger Root and began their individual home businesses as they both prepared for expanding their families.  In 2015, Erin launched Confetti Tailoring (a tailoring service for bridal, formal, and vintage). Kristen launched RETHINK Tailoring with the main goal of making recycling a legitimate shopping option for one’s professional and casual wardrobe.

After her daughter was born in 2015, Kristen took a pause from tailoring to invent a concept she dreamt about for years: resizable baby clothing. She was shocked it didn’t already exist! After a very fun and challenging process, Kristen invented and started producing a dress that fit from 3 months through 4 years (or longer). Ginger Bean Clothing was officially born. Kristen moved back home to Minnesota with her family in April 2017. She continued work on Ginger Bean, and her son was born in early 2018.

During early summer of 2019 Kristen took a pause from sewing to spend time with the kiddos and think about her next steps. She realized it was time to reboot RETHINK, in Minneapolis, but this time with a storefront where she could teach. Kristen began taking on clients out of her home studio in September of 2019 as she prepared for the buildout of the new studio at 3449 Bloomington Ave in the Powderhorn neighborhood in Minneapolis.