| Special to the Post
Patti Biggs started making her own clothes as a child, and today her coastal-themed dresses, tops, bottoms and accessories are sold in 150 specialty boutiques in 15 states.
Her company, Out of the Blue Collection, headquartered in West Palm Beach, makes women’s resort, golf and tennis wear in prints featuring starfish, coral, pineapples, banana leaves and more, as well as in bright solid colors.
Everything is handmade in South Florida from imported UPF 50 (ultraviolet protection factor) lightweight stretchy fabrics. The company ships an average of 500 garments a month.
“People want clothes that are comfortable and make them feel like they can enjoy themselves. Sometimes the right clothes can really make you feel good,” Biggs said. “I do great with anything in the blues and the pinks. I have to throw in a few neutrals for people who are scared of prints, or who have never worn prints.”
The line is popular at resorts and is sold at many including The Breakers in Palm Beach and the PGA Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens. The label is available at about 100 stores in Florida, with 20 or so of those in Palm Beach County.
“The customer on vacation is looking for something that makes you feel good. My clothes don’t wrinkle, and they dry really fast,” Biggs said. “I have brought in a bunch of golf skorts in real bright fabrics. Stores are loving those, especially the golf stores. They call it our Wow line because most golf wear is more traditional.”
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Biggs creates all the designs, including more than 25 dress styles, in three-quarter sleeves, long sleeves, off-the-shoulder, sleeveless and short sleeve, such as the “Jackie ‘O” fitted tank dress and the “Barbara” dress with its split bell sleeves and pom-pom trim. There are also leggings, yoga pants, capris, bellbottoms, palazzo pants, long pants, tank tops, golf polos and shorts, long-sleeved tops, tunics, skorts, masks, headbands and scrunchies.
She submits her own designs for the prints, and tweaks the prints from 9,000 available, changing background colors and having patterns run up and down instead of across.
The fabrics are produced in China and she buys them through an importer in Washington state. Synthetic fabrics are not produced in the U.S. because the manufacturing process results in emissions.
“As much as I would love to buy in the U.S., the fabrics are printed in China,” Biggs said. “What we say is, ‘Made in America from imported fabrics.’”
The fabrics are cut with industrial knives at Biggs’ workroom, then sewn by seamstresses in Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach and Pompano Beach.
“We drop off the cut garments, and in three to five days they come back finished, and we ship them,” Biggs said.
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The business grew out of Biggs’ love of sewing and creating her own clothing.
“I always made my own clothes because I didn’t see what I liked,” said Biggs, whose mother, the late Jean Knowles, taught her to sew at a young age. “I didn’t want my older sister’s hand-me-downs.
“My friends would ask me to make something for them. That was a good way for me to earn money. I am one of five kids,” said Biggs, who was born in Melbourne and moved to West Palm Beach at 14. She is a graduate of Forest Hill High and a third-generation West Palm Beacher. Her father Ellis Knowles, now retired, was circulation director of Palm Beach Newspapers, publishers of the Post and the Palm Beach Times, from 1969-1978 and worked there for 27 years.
“I didn’t do a business plan. I made a few for friends, then someone else wanted it and someone else wanted it. It just kept going, which is great because I love doing it,” Biggs said.
In 1975, Biggs, then 19, met Lilly Pulitzer through a friend. Pulitzer had started making her own famous tropical-print dresses in 1959. Pulitzer began buying Biggs’ T-shirts appliqued with palm trees, sailboats and other designs for her shops.
“I was selling to three or four stores. Then I met Lilly and went to 40 stores overnight. I started doing the Miami apparel show. I picked up stores and sales reps who lived in the Caribbean. They would send me orders,” Biggs said.
Biggs had been using other fabrics to make her clothes, but then Pulitzer provided her own signature prints. Even then, Biggs had a dream, inspired by the Lilly fabrics, of creating a unique fabric line for her apparel.
Biggs recalls meeting Pulitzer for the first time in Palm Beach.
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“I didn’t even know who Lilly was. She had her feet up on the desk, and she’s got her turban on. My friend said, ‘Patti, this is Lilly.’ Lilly said, ‘Did you bring your shirts?'”
Biggs was wearing one of the tops she made but went to her car to retrieve some photos of additional shirts, and Pulitzer was sold.
“Then I started expanding. I realized every time I went to see Lilly, she said, “What else do you have?” I figured out the more you have, the more you sell. She wanted coordinates to go with the shirts. I started doing shorts and wrap skirts, sundresses and other things you could put appliqués on.
“When I started doing the apparel shows, I started buying soft knits like Diane von Furstenberg made for one-size sundresses. They could be worn strapless. There was a sash that could be worn like a bandeau top,” Biggs said. “I was making a couple of dozen garments a week.”
Biggs’ life changed after she married and had four children. There wasn’t time for the clothing business, but she sometimes assisted in the dental office of her husband, Dr. John Biggs, who practiced dentistry in West Palm Beach for 43 years.
Around that same time, as she was raising her growing family, more malls opened and a number of mom-and-pop stores that had sold her clothing closed.
After her husband died suddenly in 2007, Biggs continued the dental business using contracted dentists for several years, then sold it. She began gradually starting up the clothing business, and eight years ago, she relaunched it full-time.
“I became a widow 14 years ago and was looking for a way to support my kids. I started doing the clothing and realized I had always loved it and wanted to do it again,” Biggs said.
She found the timing was right and the brands’ popularity has grown year by year. She employs sales representatives who take samples to stores up and down the East Coast.
Ellen Onofrietto, who owns She’s the One, a boutique with shops in Palm Beach Gardens and Wellington, said, “We have been selling Patti’s clothing for five or six years. People like the light, tropical feel of them. They feel very pretty in them.
“Her dresses are sexy and classy at the same time. Her tops are fantastic,” Onofrietto said. “You can dress up or down.”
Gabby Zywczyk, who handles buying and merchandising at Norcross Boutique in West Palm Beach, said customers of all ages love the fabric used in the collection. The styles are versatile, and the look can vary depending on the accessories.
“Some of her body styles are just a good classic to go back to. She has a lot and adds new ones. We also sell a lot of her joggers. Most of her tops we do in a solid color to pair back with other items,” Zywczyk said.
Suzanne Gleason, owner of Zero Dress Code in Islamorada and Dress Code at the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, said the Patti Biggs brand sells well to locals and tourists. She recently held a trunk show featuring the line where customers could order any style in any fabric. Dresses can also be made two inches longer or with or without pom-poms.
“The fabric is amazing. It has the UPF 50 in it. It doesn’t wrinkle and doesn’t take up any room in your suitcase. If you are out and about at the pool and it gets wet, it dries in a short period of time,” Gleason said. “Patti has been awesome to work with. She is top-notch.”
Biggs plans to continue on her current path and is pleased the apparel is filling a niche that is in demand.
If the line cannot be found in a local store, Biggs takes online orders at pattibiggs.com.
“I am really having fun,” Biggs said. “I am enjoying it so much.”
