As hundreds of people file into the ballroom and an anticipatory buzz surrounds the temporary runway of the Woman’s Club of Evanston, a small blonde woman darts through the crowd. A nearby group catches her eye, and she sweeps over and nods her head sheepishly in response to the “congratulations” and “good lucks.”

“I’m not the talent,” she said. “They are.”

She resumes her rounds, her black dress with white trim flowing behind her. She smiles at the DJ, waves at her friends and disappears behind the curtain. The “Threaded Stories” fashion show is about to begin.

After five decades in the fashion industry, 63-year-old Pam Kendall, the owner of cloth + home embarks on a new journey: highlighting the makers behind the clothes and accessories she sells while weaving together a community of local creators and consumers through events at her store.

“A lot of times, people shop without really thinking about the fact that human hands made the garment,” Kendall said. “It’s all about the person who made it and the story behind it.”

She plans on continuing to do so in South Evanston after closing cloth + home’s Chicago Ave. storefront and re-opening on the Main-Dempster Mile in May.

At 14, she landed a job in gift wrapping at a local Indiana department store and worked her way up to the children’s clothing department. Kendall said the store’s buyer saw a spark of enthusiasm in her and invited her along on purchasing trips to the Apparel Center in Chicago. Just like the clothing she would later stock, she was sold on the industry.

“I loved my first experience because it was a local department store,” Kendall said. “It was small, yet you could access everything there. I have that longing for what was and recreating it more today.”

Kendall attended Indiana University, where she majored in fashion merchandising with a business minor. In one of her marketing classes, she chose to create a boutique.

“It looked very different than it does right now,” Kendall said. “I’ve gotten very much into supporting independent designers and the sustainability factor, which really wasn’t talked about that long ago.”

After graduation, Kendall found herself back in Chicago, this time for good. She noticed a market opportunity — to create a sustainable T-shirt. She used a light and breathable “modal” fabric, which comes from a beech tree, with a patch of vintage fabric hand-embroidered by a refugee woman. The idea caught the attention of Chicago Fashion Incubator Executive Director, Anna Hovet Dias, who encouraged her to apply for the program. After a Zoom interview and a presentation of her shirts, Kendall accepted an invitation to the CFI, where she built up her fashion line. She named the collection Qui, or “who” in French, to highlight the hands that created the garments.

The concept stuck with her. Her new goal: to start a shop that uplifts designers and shares their stories. In 2022, Kendall and her business partner, Linda Johnston, opened cloth + home with the tagline: “reimagining brick and mortar.” She reached out to local designers with a sustainability focus and decided to focus on curating, rather than designing.

“It’s her forte,” said Andrea Reynders, local designer.  “She’s so personable and has such a good rapport with everyone. I think that’s a gift.”

After meeting each other through the CFI, Reynders has sold her garments with Kendall since the inception of cloth + home.

After four years at the shop’s Chicago Avenue location where Johnston chose to retire, on May 14, cloth + home moved to a space on Dempster Street.“I have been looking at spaces down on Dempster for a while,” Kendall said. “It will be nice to be around other like-minded shops and owners.” She said that she believes cloth + home operated as a destination for shoppers in Downtown Evanston, something she wanted to change on Dempster.

“I have already seen a big increase in foot traffic, new customers,” Kendall said, “so many people that never knew I existed in my old location.”

Sights from inside cloth + home’s Chicago Ave. location. Photos by Halliday Mafrige / North by Northwestern.

Kendall said she enjoys interacting with people the most — both customers and designers — and swapping stories with them. She has customers who will stay in the shop for two to three hours at a time, just talking with Kendall and swapping stories. In her new location, she looks forward to creating a space where people can bring a library book or computer, sip a cup of coffee or tea and soak in a space with beautiful things.

Kendall frequently hosts community events at the store, open to all Evanston residents, including trunk shows and seasonal parties where designers can meet who buys their clothes and customers can meet who designed the clothes they wear. Kendall said this increases the community aspect of her work and gives the customer opportunities to suggest what they would like to see next. This tradition will continue on the Main-Dempster Mile.

“I will never sell off the website,” Kendall said. “It takes away from what I’m trying to do here, and that’s share the story and interact with the people.”

About two years ago, she started tracing this concept into Chicago Fashion Week with “Threaded Stories.” Initially, she wanted to line her shop with chairs and ask local models to strut down the center of the space. She contacted fashion show veteran Hovet Dias with the idea and asked for help.

Hovet Dias said she thought it was a big undertaking, but Kendall’s passion and determination convinced her to join the project. “I think we make a really good team because we both have the same mission and values within this industry,” she said.

But the plan hit a snag when Kendall approached Reynders, who said the shop’s size would limit the show’s capacity. Reynders pointed out that if each of the nine planned designers brought five people, they would have no room for the rest of cloth + home’s community to attend. A disappointed Kendall understood — but rallied. She said the Women’s Club of Evanston ended up being the perfect venue.

“I have several sponsors who are so excited because we’re doing something fancy in Evanston,” Kendall said. “It’s really important to me that Chicagoans realize that Evanston isn’t, you know — we’re not in Iowa. We’re part of Chicagoland. I worked hard to get the Chicago Fashion Week to put us on the map. We have fashion here too.”

The show’s format differs slightly from its contemporaries. After each designer shows their collection, they step onto the stage and answer a few questions about their story or process. All their garments shown then can be purchased immediately following the show, with leftovers brought to cloth + home. In addition, Kendall donates a portion of each ticket to Bundled Blessings Diaper Bank, an Evanston nonprofit organization serving families who struggle to afford diapers.

The show sold out both years, and while publicized to a broader Chicago audience, many who attended this year’s event went to support Kendall and her mission. Kendall said the shows have been among her proudest accomplishments.

“It’s really amazing for the designers to be able to have this platform so they continue to be able to sell their pieces and put them out into the world,” Kendall said.

While there will not be another installment of “Threaded Stories” this fall, customers can look forward to more community events, a new menswear section and the revival of Kendall’s Qui Collection at her Dempster Mile store, where new customers seem to already be connecting with her mission.

“It feels really good that they’re embracing what I’m trying to do in terms of sharing stories and thinking about what you’re purchasing,” Kendall said.

Reynders called Kendall a “pioneer” in the industry, saying that smaller independent designers have an inherently harder time in the field since they need to find buyers, small-scale producers and more. Reynders said, “Pam broke the ice in that pattern when she took a chance with people.”