Ginger Root Closing First Floor Boutique on U Street in mid-May

1530 U Street, NW

Ginger Root’s first floor boutique opened up in Sept. 2010.

From an email:

Ginger Root Design announces that their local artisan boutique will be closing. In an effort to focus on their clothing designs and tailoring shop, the lower-level boutique will officially close in the middle of May 2013.

“Erin and I have been doing a lot of really hard thinking the last few months, and we have realized that we can’t do it all. We finally acknowledged that we would have to choose between being retail store owners, or being clothing designers and tailors. As much as we have loved and enjoyed our local artisan boutique and helping cultivate that community in DC, our hearts are telling us that we want to be clothing designers,” said Kristen Swenson, co-owner of Ginger Root Design.

Moving forward, the 2 owners, Kristen and Erin, will be focusing on the other half of their business. Deep down they truly believe that they can make much more of a difference in DC through their locally-sewn designs, and showing the public what modern tailoring can be. Swenson and Derge have not been able to produce a full line of clothing designs in the last year because their focus has been split between the different parts of their business. As sad as the two friends will be to say goodbye to the boutique, they are very excited to have the time to design and get back to their main passion again.

The 1st floor tailoring shop will be open regular business hours after the shop closes, with the possibility of extended hours. Erin and Kristen plan to release their newest, complete collection for Summer 2013. The line, which will continue to be eco-friendly, will be available for purchase in the tailoring shop, in their online store and at various markets and pop-ups throughout the summer.