\nSeattle Post Intelligencer
\nSmall Retail: For the love of Indonesia
\nZamboanga features batik from the nation where owners met<\/p>\n
By NOEL LYN SMITH
\nP-I REPORTER<\/p>\n
While browsing the apparel at Zamboanga, try checking the label, because it may offer some encouraging words: “The most important day of your life is … today.”
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\nThis statement can be found on Zambowear, the store’s clothing line of shirts, dresses, skirts, pants, tops, shorts and hats, made from rayon batik.<\/p>\n
Batik is a wax-resist dyeing technique that originated in Indonesia, a country that carries a personal connection for store owners Julia and Joe Ensley.<\/p>\n
Both store locations, on Bainbridge Island and in West Seattle, stock a variety of Zambowear, and each garment is dyed and sewn in Bali, Indonesia.<\/p>\n
“We are absolutely known for this batik clothing,” Julia said.<\/p>\n
They travel each year to Indonesia to submit new clothing designs and search for items to stock their stores.<\/p>\n
Creating the batik clothing requires a batik master to build a stamp from copper strips that are bent into the shape of the design and attached to a handle. Then the stamp is dipped in melted wax and pressed onto the fabric until the wax is saturated into the material before it is dyed.<\/p>\n
Areas covered by the wax adhesive retain the fabric’s original color. A heated roller removes the wax and the fabric is dried.<\/p>\n
The most popular Zambowear is the “skull” Hawaiian shirt, with its pattern of white skulls on a black background.<\/p>\n
Julia said it is not unusual for her to hear from a customer who bought a Zambowear item several years ago and is looking for another one because the fabric is beginning to show wear.<\/p>\n
“They don’t want us to change anything about the style, except the color,” she said.<\/p>\n
Besides clothing, the store sells many other items — wooden masks and decorated mirrors from Bali, soaps imported from France, jewelry, wind chimes, hinged trinket boxes and home accessories.<\/p>\n
Popular gift items are the Pig Catapult, a hand-held device that shoots small plastic pigs, and Fat Animals, spherical plush pillows with names like “Frankie Frog” and “Miss Ladybug.”<\/p>\n
“I think you have to find a niche and stick to it,” Julia said about the merchandise.<\/p>\n
Another characteristic of Zamboanga is the upside-down Christmas tree that hangs each holiday season from the ceiling.<\/p>\n
It started as a way to save space, but has grown into a store tradition.<\/p>\n
“Most people love it. … Some of the small kids don’t like it at all, (they think) we don’t know it’s upside-down,” she said.<\/p>\n
Julia is a native of Brighton, England. Her grandparents, Jack and Lois Wade, owned the W.J. Wade department store in Brighton.<\/p>\n
A black-and-white photograph of the department store hangs above a painting of Zamboanga in the Bainbridge Island store.<\/p>\n
She remembers exploring her grandparents’ business as a child and making more than one visit to the store’s Santa Claus.<\/p>\n
“So, I suppose having a store was always in the back of my mind,” she said.<\/p>\n
Joe grew up on Bainbridge Island, where his parents, Marjorie and Harmon Ensley, owned a riding stable for years.<\/p>\n
Joe and Julia met while riding a bus in Sumatra, Indonesia — where they were both visiting at the time, she from Switzerland and he from Alaska.<\/p>\n
Julia relocated to Alaska. It was Joe who wanted to start a business selling imported items from Asia.<\/p>\n
Soon the couple was selling silver jewelry from Thailand at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer.<\/p>\n
They started Zamboanga in 1987, opening the Bainbridge Island store in 1994 and the West Seattle store in 2003.<\/p>\n
Throughout the Ensleys’ retail adventure, they’ve made the journey to Alaska to sell at the state fair before making their final appearance in 2014.<\/p>\n
Locally, they sell Zambowear each year at the Northwest Folklife Festival.<\/p>\n
Both stores keep them busy, but they manage to operate Bainbridge Buttons, which specializes in wooden, bone, shell and coconut buttons.<\/p>\n
“I think often if you are suited to retail, it’s like an acting profession,” Julia said. “Retail is your stage. You can’t envision doing anything else.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seattle Post Intelligencer Small Retail: For the love of Indonesia Zamboanga features batik from the nation where owners met By NOEL LYN SMITH P-I REPORTER While browsing the apparel at Zamboanga, try checking the label, because it may offer some encouraging words: “The most important day of your life is … today.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n