Alicia Morrow’s table is covered with papers; everything from bills, ideas, notes and the next scholarship application.

A side table has a number of sweaters, t-shirts and hats all laid out and ready to be picked up. Her self-designed street-wear clothing brand The Comeback Society officially launched near the end of 2018.

Currently, the small brand is run out of her home and the clothing is a combination of t-shirts, tank tops, sweat pants, hats and sweaters with her own designed logo.

“I started the company by accident.” The 25-year-old Regina woman said it was supposed to be just for friends.

In September 2015, Morrow was in a serious car collision that injured her shoulder, left her with nerve damage, an injured pelvis, torn ligaments in her spine and permanent disabilities.

“My accident changed my world and my financial situation,” she said. “There was nothing I could do.”

“It was just like a creative outlet for me,” she said. She thought she could use clothing to remind people of her struggles. “I’m in pain everyday.”

Morrow, a university student, won a $1500 Rising Youth Grant for the first round of clothing from Taking It Global. The products are a collaboration of her designs printed onto clothing. Everything is done on a pre-sale basis for people to buy online then the inventory is made after the purchase.

She is currently not making a profit and said she doesn’t know when she would make one. Items range from $17 per t-shirt to $50 for ‘lounging sweats.’

Now, Morrow is in her final year of an Indigenous Studies degree at the First Nations University of Canada with a business minor while she attempts to keep up with the high demand for clothing and many people wanting to collaborate.

Jennifer Johnson, a Regina-based social media influencer,  said she’s noticing more and more entrepreneurs in the local fashion industry.

“There is a demand,” she said. “Because some of the local designers are great.”

“They are designing items people want and in turn people are happy to support local,” she said. “It is their attention to detail that makes them stand out.”

Johnson works as a model for various local companies in Saskatchewan.

Early in 2019, a Regina fashion staple, the Saskatchewan Fashion Week announced it was ending. This concerned some in Regina’s fashion community but Johnson said local support isn’t slowing down.

“I’m sure sad that it will be the last one,” she said. “I’m secretly hopeful that someone else takes it over.”

The number of entrepreneurs has increased in Saskatchewan over the past decade. Fashion designers are a portion of the small businesses.

In 2016, all small businesses accounted for 98.8 per cent of the business enterprises in Saskatchewan. They paid out over $6.2 billion in wages and salaries and places with four people or less makeup 86.9 per cent of all small businesses.

Wholesale and retail trade makes up 7.9 per cent of small businesses in Saskatchewan and they are mainly small employers. The majority of people who are self employed are between 24-35 years old.

Running a small business is something Dean Renwick knows a lot about. He’s owned a fashion design studio and a small shop in Regina for more than 20 years.

The studio has a wall of windows for curious onlookers to peek in from the street. Overhead hanging lights giving it a comfortable atmosphere. Pieces of fabric cover the counters and sketches are all around along with little reminders and order notes.

“It’s a good place you can come back to and start on your own here because we’ve got such a great entrepreneurship vibe here in the city,” Renwick said.

His designs are high-end comfortable clothing that he hopes will become part of a person’s everyday wardrobe. Renwick specializes in custom wedding designs and graduate dresses.

Renwick does see a gap left by Sask. Fashion Week for new designers.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen now,” he said.

Renwick pointed to the emergence of Sask. African Fashion Show and Indigenous Fashion Week as other events new designers can go and showcase their work in the city but said the Regina scene still has more it could do in the future.

“It’s not as evolved as I wish it was,” he said. “There are a lot of designers here but a lot of them are still working full time and doing this as a pastime.”

Renwick wants to see more support for local designers from stores and more people designing full time, he said. There’s also good and bad aspects to being a Regina designer.

“We don’t have access to great fabric stores or fabric resources so lots of time you’re paying full price, not wholesale,” he said.

“The one thing about being in Regina as a designer,” he said. “You are a bigger fish in a small bowl. Your competition isn’t so big.”

As for Renwick Fashion Studio, business is growing with more brides and grads, consignment and clothing than ever before.

“This is no longer fun, this is serious work,” he said.

His advice for new designers is to get outside of the city to learn their craft before starting their own business.

“Stand behind your work,” he added. “Stand behind who you are and stand behind your work.”

Alicia Morrow is currently working on a children’s line with her young nephew and is working on a $20,000 grant application for Indigenous entrepreneurs as beginning start up capital to expand.

The youth line is a guest design created by her seven-year-old nephew. She hopes for a mid-March launch.

Morrow is catering mainly to other university students and people her age in the 18-35 range.

“I think that there is a lot that I need to learn,” she said. “It’s a learning process through this whole thing…I’m spending my time researching fashion.”

“I just hope I can create something that stands out.”