A huge addition to the Tribeca Design District: The couple behind the former Brooklyn boutique Thank You Have a Good Day, Alicia Yates and Gary Smith, have opened an atelier at 15 Vestry, and are now creating their own collections of one-of-a-kind and limited edition pieces using salvaged textiles and all of it — the space, the clothing, the details — is spectacular. The shop is only open by appointment, but everything is also online.

They are also hosting the rare open house this coming Sunday, Dec. 15, from noon to 6p; in addition to their own collections, they will have an edit of pieces from the city-based sustainable knitwear brand Eolas and a curation of vintage Levi’s and French workwear.

There was a lot to take in — this could have been a Loft Peeping as well as a feature on a new shop — so enjoy the slideshow.

Yates and Smith first opened a boutique of curated items — jewelry, home goods, clothing — in Fort Greene in 2019, moving it to Red Hook not long after. She was for the first half of her career a retail manager for luxury fashion brands (“That helps me do this sort of thing without completely falling on my face.”) and he is a practicing artist as well as an art director in advertising and software (“He is boundlessly creative.”)

The idea of their own collection started during the pandemic: “We found an industrial sewing machine on Craigslist and made some really embarrassing pieces of clothing at first,” Alicia said.

But then the concept took hold. Everything is made by Gary from upcycled textiles — antique clothing, vintage blankets, deadstock, ends of rolls. They buy extra fabrics from an upholsterer in the Navy Yard; leather samples from a showroom in Williamsburg. And the fit, construction and detail is collaboration between the two of them. “We design and source together — it’s very conversational,” Alicia said. The shapes are loose and unstructured; they rarely line anything so the underside of the material can be celebrated as well. Coats made from antique blankets still have the original label; leather might have the stamps from the manufacturer.

Their idea of fancy dress was a caftan made from 1930s gauze woven with a Greek key pattern. The blanket coat, still with the fringe, is made to wear six different ways, with a shearling collar and mismatched buttons that attach to the vest or the coat or both.

The atelier is also a chameleon. They wanted the space to host not just their production area and home, but also serve as a spot for hosting clients, buyers, and dinner parties. And Tribeca was an easy pick. “I’ve always loved Tribeca — it’s a neighborhood of creatives and there is magically still a sense of discovery. We wanted to be Downtown in a space large enough to function well as live/work.”

There is one real downside. “Most of the stuff we do is one of a kind and it just goes and that’s it,” Alicia said. “That is the idea, of course, but it’s hard to let go sometimes.”

Thank You Have a Good Day
15 Vestry | east of Hudson
By appointment only
+2023611631
alicia@thankyouhaveagoodday.com
gary@thankyouhaveagoodday.com