April 2021

Page 30

Wearing their hearts on their sleeves What started online leads to a storefront selling T-shirts by Mike Ramczyk CORRESPONDENT

Quotes & Cotton is simple concept. Friends Megan Swederski and Allie Zusan sell T-shirts that are cotton, with quotes on them – “Support Local” to name one. The women, both in their early 30s, had a grand opening at their store in downtown Burlington in late February, 12 months after starting their business online. Thanks to social media prowess from Zusan combined with creative clothing designs from Swederski, Quotes & Cotton built a following. Slowly, word got around, and, according to Zusan and her husband Ben, the company generated approximately $40,000 in its first year. Not too bad for something two friends just did for fun. A little more than 365 days later, Quotes & Cotton was part of a downtown Burlington district, which has seen Low Daily, The Runaway, Hopscotch Cakery, The Loop Commons, Hansen’s, Rooted Hair Co., the Jean Dibble Portrait Studio and Rustic Roots all open their doors either right before the COVID-19 pandemic or during. It’s a good time to be a business owner in Burlington, and the hits keep on coming. Swederski and Zusan hope to ride the wave.

A chance encounter On a chance encounter, Zusan’s oldest child of three, Henry, needed a children’s photographer. OK, Henry didn’t need photos, but Allie was looking to do something nice for the family. All jokes aside, it turned out Swederski was a professional photographer shooting mostly children’s photos, and they hit it off during their photo shoot. “She booked me, and that’s how we met,” Swederski said. “We became instant friends,” added Zusan. In 2019, the women took a “girl’s trip,” and Swederski said that’s how the idea of Quotes & Cotton materialized. They drove to the Quad Cities in Iowa – Davenport, to be specific – because they like finding small, cute stores in different towns and shopping – like a lot of people like to do. “Specialty clothing,” Zusan said. “We want people to come here and find 30

Business owners Allie Zusan (left) and Megan Swederski recently opened their T-shirt shop at 615 N. Pine St., Burlington. The two started the business as an online venture a year before opening the traditional store. MIKE RAMCZYK Spirit of Geneva Lakes

something where they can dress up, they can dress down...it started as Simply Stated Tees, which started in February 2020.”

Storefront becomes reality “In Davenport, we were like ‘Gosh, we love this, we could totally do this,’” Zusan said. Swederski said they were just going there to shop for Christmas presents, and magic ensued. “We went to dinner and started drinking too much wine,” said Zusan, who was halfserious about the drinking but 100% about their passion for shopping. Swederski designs every shirt, and each one is inspired by a quote or some other simple message. All shirts that have words on them are designed by Swederski and Zusan. The stuff without words? They get those garments from a wholesaler. There’s been plenty of local love from APRIL 2021

other area businesses. Hansen’s Screen Printing of Elkhorn makes their visions realities, since Swederski uses Adobe Illustrator to create her idea visually and then sends it to Nate Hansen. “We couldn’t find a storefront back in September, we literally woke up one morning and decided we wanted a store,” Zusan said. “We are definitely taking a risk. No loans or anything, we are all selffunded.” The women rent the space from the Rizzo & Diersen law firm, located in the same large building but wrapped around to the west on Milwaukee Avenue. “We signed our lease Nov. 1, my husband painted, and it was a done deal,” Zusan said. “We had everything designed and ready to go.” Quotes & Cotton is at 615 N. Pine St., Burlington. You can find it on Facebook and Instagram, or on the web at quotesandcotton. com.


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