CULTURE
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[CRAFTINESS]
Getting Creative Closed for more than a year due to COVID-19, Philomena + Ruth thrives by taking its artsy wares online Written by
JACK PROBST
A
small town like Waterloo, Illinois, might seem like an unusual place for a shop like Philomena + Ruth to be found. The hip, artsy clothing store feels more like a place you might frequent in the Delmar Loop or over on Cherokee Street than on the cozy streets of the quaint municipality. But as it turns out, this seemingly quiet city is a hip place to be. And that’s thanks, in part, to Philomena + Ruth owner Elizabeth Hahn, who opened the shop in April 2015. The business boasts original, handmade clothing, including designer tees, and other handcrafted items made within the shop and sourced from likeminded vendors across the country. The store was named after Hahn’s grandmothers as a reminder of the connection within community and tradition. As detailed on its website, “P+R believes in the power of good vibes, cat cuddles and changing the fucking world!” It wasn’t a straight line that brought Hahn to this point, though, but rather a winding journey that included a change in career, a position in the Mafia no, not that one) and even a retail space in a decidedly less hip, now-dying monument to consumerism. “I have my degree in fashion design and advertising, so I thought that I wanted to work in corporate fashion. I went that route for a couple of years, but it wasn’t really what I wanted,” says Hahn. “So I got back into creative mode and started my own line of handmade accessories and some clothing. It was called Just Live. I started
Elizabeth Hahn’s store Philomena + Ruth has become part of a new vibe in Waterloo, Illinois. | JACK PROBST that in 2007, and through that I was able to hook up with the St. Louis Craft Mafia, which doesn’t exist anymore. But we were this band of misfit crafters who put on craft shows and things like that, so I met a lot of people through that. And I had partnered up with a friend of mine on a store called the Foundry, and that was in Chesterfield Mall.” While the Foundry had a similar vibe to Philomena + Ruth, it was mainly a consignment shop, Hahn explains. The experience helped Hahn shape her ideas on how she wanted to run her business moving forward. “Immediately, I started looking for a building. I wanted to open up a store in downtown Waterloo. I wanted to do the dream, you know, where we live upstairs, I have my studio, and all that,” Hahn says. “And luckily, we were able to make that happen. So in October 2014, we purchased this building, and then April was when we were able to open the doors. So it was really cool to be able to make that happen. And also, at the same time we were opening, Hopskeller Brewery was opening,
Stubborn German Brewery was opening — it was like all this sort of newness was coming to downtown Waterloo. It felt like a really great time to open up down here.” Things were great — and then COVID-19 came along. On March 15 of last year, Hahn and her team had to shut down the brick-andmortar operation, uncertain how long it might be closed. But Hahn would not be deterred from her dream, so after taking a couple of weeks to figure out what her next steps would be, she dove headfirst into ramping up her e-commerce game. Pre-pandemic, the store’s site was home only to some of her designs — not the store’s entire inventory. Since last year, the site has gone through two redesigns; the most recent best displays the mantra and mission of the brand and store. It’s colorful, charming and, crucially, contains the entire inventory of what the store has to offer. Even with its doors shut for the time being, the inside of Philomena + Ruth brings plenty of smiles. The displays that hold the product that lines the store during regular times are among boxes and boxes
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of the new items set to be added to the website’s inventory. Most of Hahn’s best-selling graphic tee designs — some funny, some displaying messages of hope — hang up on a wall of shirts: “HUMAN,” “FEMINIST,” the colorful “DON’T BE A DICK,” and “BLACK TRANS LIVES MATTER” are all currently on display. Sadly, the customer favorite “HARDWORKING STONER” is missing from the wall, due to the fact they struggle to keep it in stock.) Philomena + Ruth is constantly adding new items from vendors all over the country, and now that marijuana is recreationally legal in Illinois, Hahn promises new weed-related items are on the way. Some of Hahn’s favorite vendors include Pennsylvania’s Three Potato Four who make a bandana that says “FUCK” an infinite number of times on it and another that says “LOVE” in a similar fashion), the Five15, a Canadian illustrator that is all about empowering women and people in general, Kansas City-based candlemaker Untamed Supply and local crafter Flare City Supply Co. And Hahn
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