Golden Stitches on Varet Street. What do they sell? — Photos by Mimi Luse
From outside, the enigmatic store-front of Golden Stitches Embroidery (GSE) projects an assortment of mixed messages. The playful neon sign looks like it houses a skateboard/surf shop. A tattoo-free Suicide girl-type bearing the company’s name dominates the mural to the left of the door. Proximity to attractions like Ad Hoc Art and Café Orwell may mislead many a Bushwick stroller into thinking it was something, you know, a little more “alternative.”
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But for better or worse, the store sells only clothing, hats and accessories bearing the Boar’s Head logo. Judy Sarmiento, manager of the decked-out custom embroidery store, explains that young people staying at the nearby New York Loft Hostel see the shirts and sports apparel in the windows and walk in thinking it’s a retail operation. While the tourists may be disappointed at the lack of variety, the store itself, filled with neon lights, Boar’s Head collector’s items of all sorts, two parakeets and three large aquariums, is certainly an experience in itself.
The 17-year-old locally based GSE has been in Bushwick for six years now, and many of the regular customers — friends and employees of the neighborhood Boar’s Head factory — will stop in during the day to take an espresso break and play a quick round of pool. Those seeking an authentic piece of Bushwick would do well to purchase some a bit of gear to mark their visit to the Boar’s Head facility — itself a blight or an institution, depending on your point of view.
Owned by Giuseppe Parasole, GSE is the national uniform supplier for that ubiquitous deli meat company. This keeps GSE busy when they are not doing custom embroidery jobs, which account for a lesser portion of the company’s earnings. Sarmiento says the process is fully automated. Using software and machines, the company can translate a JPEG into an intricate piece of embroidery, whatever the size. “We can do 1,000 stitches [the size of a monogram] up to 100,000 stitches [the back of a jean jacket].”
People have tried to have a single shirt made with something funny on it, and while Sarmiento has made exceptions before, in general the store prefers to do larger orders given the ordeal of setting up a new job. Nevertheless, standing next to a gigantic embroidery loom garnished with golden streamers, one gets the sense that Golden Stitches is fairly welcoming place.
Golden Stitches
257 Varet Street | 718-456-3621
