Elkhart County Living Article

Vanessa Padilla • July 14, 2024

Koch House of Design

Goshen fashion designer worn around the world

BY VANESSA PADILLA |

PHOTOS BY GRANT BEACHY






Oftentimes it is easy to dismiss the potential of fashion and style in Goshen, thinking that a small town in Indiana could not have such potential, but indeed Goshen does have a platform if chosen to explore.


Fashion is alive now more than ever, from various boutiques to style gurus and designers. There is a world of fashion waiting to see light, and that is where Koch House of Design shines brightest.


Kevin Koch, master designer, tailor, and fashion connoisseur of Koch House of Design, has a studio-home all in one in the heart of downtown Goshen that was previously a church, or as he calls it his, “Chouse.”


Walking into the renovated church, now turned fashion house, is somehow still a religious experience. The mannequins draped with fabric, suits elegantly displayed, tailored button ups, and other custom items filling the room are awe-inspiring.


Koch, originally from Goshen, moved to Middlebury at 8 years old and where he eventually attended Northridge High School.


Growing up, Koch shared that he always had an eye for style and design. Both of his grandmothers had been industrial sewers and his mother also had mastered her sewing skills. This made it easy for Koch to create his designs and with the help of his mother, they would bring the designs to life.


As soon as he graduated high school, Koch began to work for Jean Lee Originals, making band and cheerleading uniforms, doing custom designs for surrounding schools, which was just the start of his career. He worked under a woman who was an artist from Chicago, originally raised in Goshen, who had studied under the Student Art League in New York, and at the time helped him learn the trade and guided him in the continuation of his passion for design and creating.


As Koch continued his work with the business, his technique and enthusiasm for the industry only grew and it was time for him to learn more. The designer he worked for made it clear that it was time for him to study with a master tailor. He thought to himself, “Where am I going to find a master tailor?” Lo and behold a few years later he found himself learning from Enrique San Juan, known as Henry the Tailor, who had a place above a department store in Goshen.


Koch nudged him for a while before San Juan agreed to teach him.


“He was truly a master tailor. He has been trained since he was 14 in Mexico City, the old school way.”


Koch remembers the experience being valuable and essential to his career but admits it wasn’t always easy, “It was crazy. He was a lot of fun,” Koch said.


“He was very playful, but he could also be very mean. So, I thought many times I was going to get thrown through the window. He was tough.”


During his time as a student he also continued his work for Jean Lee and doing work for Flair Interiors, while running his own business.


Although there have been many changes for businesses with the use of social media, Koch’s business still relies on word of mouth.


With that said, his relationship with clients is more personal and private.


“I would say that's the biggest difference between bespoke and custom made clothing, and just buying made-to-measure or even going into a store and getting off the rack, it's the relationship between the tailor and client,” Koch said. “I get to know them, I get to know what they like and I get to know what their style is.”


With clients from all over the world, the relationship is built on discretion and high level of respect.


“Relationships are really important,” he said.


“You just have to read the clients. Some clients want to come in, they don't want to talk, and I'm very, very discreet with my clients because we've done some really big names and they want to know that you're not talking about them or disclosing information, or who they are. There are clients that can get on their jet and fly into Goshen.”


Aside from the cherished relationships with clients, his art, and designs, sustainable values is where the heart of all his work begins.


“So we are very adamant about using natural fibers,” Koch said. “People are amazed when they feel the fabric and I tell them it's wool they don't believe me. We use natural cloth, linen, cotton, silk will they breathe. So I, as much as possible, refuse to use manmade fibers, polyester. That kind of stuff.”


Although Koch has his connections all over the world, he still wants to connect with those in the community who are interested in fashion and want to intern, be taught, and simply learn more.


“So I almost always have interns or apprentices from, during a semester and work on things they can’t really do in school, such as one project that will take the whole semester when here you’re working on perfecting all those little steps doing 10, 20, 30 of something in a row so you can get really good at it.”


Teaching isn’t for everyone, but Koch enjoys it and it sees it as an opportunity for people like him who needed someone and led them in the same direction he was led in.


“I like to teach,” he said. “I know I have very close friends who are tailors in other cities, Chicago, New York, who are terrible teachers. I know that. They know that.


They don’t like to teach. They want to sit down and do their work. We’re not all cut out to be teachers, but I had some really great teachers in embroidering, tailoring, and in cutting. I was very fortunate, especially being in Goshen.”


There is a process in making the clothing and Koch emphasizes that he is not alone in the process and will keep doing the work for as long as he can. He won't stop training those who share his love and passion.


“I will constantly keep training my people to do more and more and they do beautiful work,” he said. “I'm very happy with them and it's a multicultural business. We speak Russian and French here every day. We have people of all walks and you would think we'd be speaking Spanish every day, and we've had that.”


The work that Koch has done, the time and value in teaching, the connection with his family and those who work for him, and his hope to build a larger camaraderie with the community, he wants it to be known that this is too the place for style and fashion.


“The Midwest has a voice in fashion. It is not just New York or Los Angeles.”


In the foreseeable future, Koch and his team plan to bring the fashion scene and more opportunities to Goshen, encourage fashion dreamers, and remind the community that this is where their journey began, and it will be the start for others too.

Koch House of Design Invites You to A Bespoke Approach in a Fast Fashion World

July 25, 2024
Originating in 17th century Europe, the term 'bespoke' emerged as patrons personally chose fabrics for their garments. These selected fabrics were then considered "spoken for," signaling the commencement of the tailor's task to meticulously craft a completely personalized piece for the client.  In our current era of fast fashion and outsourced production, the concept of bespoke tailoring is often perceived as an ideal reserved for fashion capitals and glamorous runways. Koch House of Design not only challenges this narrative, but actively reshapes and redefines it.
Kevin Koch, Master Tailor

Meet The Designer

By Joel Snyder • November 11, 2022
In the summer between my junior and senior year of high school I began doing reupholstery and I learned a little bit about commercial sewing. As a result, when I graduated I secured a job working for a local manufacturing company in Goshen, Jean Lee Originals, which made custom band uniforms and cheerleading uniforms for high schools. Jean Lee was a second generation company that began as the House of Harter, which dealt in sporting goods and had a storefront at Jefferson and Main street. I started out on the line as a sewing operator, but when they discovered that I had majored in Art in high school, they moved me into the embroidery room and also opened the door to a mentorship by their designer, Sonia Love. For 2 years I pushed my curiosity through every department and facet of the company, absorbing everything I could about the clothing and fashion business. Sonia had studied fine art and fashion illustration in Chicago and New York, and eventually lived in Washington D.C., and Louisville as well. She took me very much under her wing and eventually gave me what I consider the most valuable career path advice. Sonia told me a lot of people with no authoritative knowledge or experience will want to give me their advice. She said, that whatever it is you really want to do in life, find someone that has already succeeded at it and learn everything you can from them. Learn from their successes and from their failures. If you want to learn how to make clothes properly, find an apprenticeship with a master tailor. But, I lived in Goshen, Indiana, and my situation did not allow me to move away from Goshen in search of a seasoned tailor. What should I do? So, I began to ask around and low and behold, to my great fortune, I found out that my father once had a custom suit made by a master tailor in Goshen. Enrique San Juan was already past retirement age when I found him above the old Maley’s store on Main street. Henry the tailor, as he was known, had taught and worked with many tailors from various countries before arriving and opening his own Goshen shop in 1956. However, it took several years of persistence and relationship building before he would agree to teach me. And again, fortunately for me, he gave in to my nagging and we had a 22 year relationship before his death in 2004. There is a tradition among master tailors to pass on their sheers to their favored apprentice and successor. In the mid 1990’s Henry bestowed his on me. Now I want to make a clear key point here, and maybe even a challenge. I believe very strongly in the apprenticeship model of education and artisan succession! There is an old African proverb that says, “when an old man dies, a library burns.” When we are not intentionally teaching what we know, our craft will die with us. I encourage you to provide a safe environment for your own craftsmen and tradesmen where they can teach and learn from each other. Look within your place of business for those precious craftspeople. We often complain about the workforce and difficulties in finding “good help” when the answer may already be in our midst. Look within your businesses and factories for someone you cherish and provide a non-threatening venue for them to birth the “good help” that our companies are looking for. As for the products produced by artisans, in a society where things are mass-produced and instantly acquired, there has been little room for carefully crafted, handmade treasures. Yet, I see an enormous hunger building for the renaissance of artisan craftsmanship in this country. Unfortunately, the resources of such craftsmanship are at near-extinct levels. I nearly always have an active apprentice in our workroom. Whether locally from the high schools, or from University level, or enthusiasts of any age. Last year we had a fashion student from FITNY interning and the year before a fashion student from Parson School of Design, also in New York City. We currently have some amazing craftspeople working on staff and we have birthed other artisans into their own businesses and aspirations. If you want to dialogue more about the subject of apprenticeship education, please feel free to contact me directly. I need to talk briefly about the luxury market aspect of my business. Coming from the financially conservative midwest and the surrounding subcultures in which I cut my entrepreneurial teeth, it was rather conflicting for me to embrace a market of luxury and the evils of excess. I would always champion the underdog artisan, but I also felt the need to shun certain aspects of wealth that might appear extravagant to my own community. How could I reconcile spreading the gospel of grassroots artistry for the common man with my heretical passion for making beautifully detailed and costly things? Until one day, the revelation hit me that if the luxury market dies, the artisan dies! We need both. Furthermore, I could not spread my doctrine against disposable consumption without introducing luxury items that are crafted to last far beyond one season! And artistically, how could I look at a world that is created with the extravagant beauty of nature and not be inspired to create beautiful things with my own hands? To be honest many of the things we craft in our workroom are financially out of reach for some people. But if you assess your own private arsenal of techie tools, you will quickly realize that yesterday’s luxury item is now today’s common staple. In my workroom we have coined a new phrase describing the extra details and features we craft into our clothing. We call them “beautifully unnecessary!” I am passionate about details and perhaps the most dramatic change in my artistic expression was that realization. I now know that it is okay to celebrate who I am and what I am passionate about. So creatively, I released myself to aspire to be the Fabergé of clothing and once I did that, things began to come closer to fruition for me. When I am designing, or consulting on design, I am always looking for that inspiration that will take my work far beyond just “good enough.” In design I love to take the humblest common garment and bring it into a place of fashionable glory. This was my thinking behind our AngryAmishJeans line that we have been playfully designing for a couple years now. Similarly, I like to take an extravagant item, such as a decorated military uniform or the formal tuxedo and style it in a way that could be worn casually around town during the day. We did a project for a firm in Kentucky where we made a Carhartt style sport coat that could be worn on the construction site and then directly to the boardroom… Many of you may recognize us as the supplier of Collegiate and Varsity Jackets for some of the local schools and may have even worn Letter Jackets that we made. It may seem strange that we would make jackets that are so far apart in the fashion spectrum from luxury clothing, but it is very intentional. It is important to me that some part of my business touches a need in my home community directly and communicates locally who we are and what we do. When parents bring in their student for a school jacket, they don’t just buy off the rack. They get to experience having a garment made to fit them, from scratch, and even choose some custom options if they like. I enjoy so much seeing them light up when they pick up their finished jackets! It’s some of the most satisfying work I do. I have made suits for Washington insiders and tuxedos for New York’s finest. I have clothed executives from Chicago to L.A. Not bad for a simple tailor from Goshen… I was born and raised in Goshen. Admittedly, I spent much of my life trying to get out of Indiana in fact . But in the end it doesn’t matter if my label is not a household name. Nobody really knew who Fabergé was outside the Royal circles.