This woman-owned business operates in the Fashion District in downtown Los Angeles and is a division of Star Pants & Coats Manufacturing Company. Sharon launched in October, 1992. “Oscar” and “Odelia” are her father and deceased mother’s respective middle names. The studio’s business motto is: “It’s not about fashion at all it’s all about style, your style!”

Her private clients include Keyon Dooling (Clippers), Stan Kurland (President, Countrywide Mortgage), Lou Perez (CEO Checkmate Staffing), Keyshawn Johnson (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Lamar Odom (Miami), Lester Conner (Associate Coach Philly 76ers) and Mrs. Stacy Conner, Jamal Sampson (Los Angeles Lakers),and many more.

Now one can only imagine who is under Sharon’s private wholesale umbrella where other Custom Tailors get the credit for what Sharon creates and produces. However, this is why she’s the “Tailor’s Tailor!” Just think, when the legendary Ray Charles was asked by Quincy Jones who was his Tailor, Ray Charles never gave up the information. Now of course, Sharon can tell Mr. Jones it was Oscar Odelia Custom Tailoring & Shirt-making!

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, Ms. Tobin routinely shares the information below on her professional background, obstacles and goals, plus related general advice.

Background in Tailoring

I began designing and sewing clothing at age thirteen when I needed a red skirt for a cheerleading tryout. My parents could not afford to purchase one for me, especially as there were six children in our family. My mother, who possessed basic sewing skills, instructed me on how to make a skirt, which I did, and the skirt pleased me enough, that I was encouraged to design and sew other garments.

Soon I was tailoring all of my clothing for church. I would obtain various patterns and tailoring books, read them, and learn to combine “pieces.” I would “sit, rip out and redo it, and rip out and redo again.” Ultimately, I had learned enough to begin teaching my mother how to sew garments.

While still in high school, I began wearing my clothes during weekend outings with my girlfriends. Typically, I also would wear a new outfit to each party or church service, which would prompt people to ask me where I had purchased my clothing. I would tell inquisitors that I had made them, and my admissions spawned a teenage female clientele.

After I graduated from high school, I majored in fashion design at Los Angeles Trade Technical Community College and received a two-year degree. Then I transferred to the California State University at Los Angeles and earned my bachelor of arts in family studies and consumer science, a fancy name for home economics. Thereafter, I decided to learn to tailor clothing for men and to develop a male clientele. I started reading books on designing and sewing men’s clothing and started getting male clients. I basically taught myself how to perfect my craft.

In 1986 I returned to Los Angeles to live with no job or money and 2 children. In 1987 an administrator with the Compton Unified School District, after learning of my skills, invited me to start an apparel design program in the district. I started a program and worked for the district for one and one-half years. Thereafter, Los Angeles Unified School District invited me to start and lead a design program in that district. For several years, I taught my design program during the day and handled my private design and tailoring business in the evenings, and in 1992 launched my company.

Professional Obstacles

I am the only African American female owner of a “Cut, Make and Trim” company in the United States, and my gender was and remains a continuous obstacle in the male-dominated tailoring industry. I also lacked financing for the start-up and initial operation of my business because banks would not consider me for a loan. I refinanced my house to obtain the cash that was needed.

As to operating her business, it is difficult to hire and train qualified employees because custom tailoring is a “dying” art. Still, Oscar Odelia has 10 employees, whom I found by mostly through referrals by present and former employee tailors. Each tailor must possess basic needlework skills on the date of hiring. Thereafter, I train each tailor to my shop’s system. Each of my current employees have been with me for quite a while, and my shop’s overall employee turnover rate has been low traditionally.

To enable me to personally serve clients, while I supervise the factory operations and employee activities, I employ a head tailor to supervise the coat department and a floor lady to supervise the pant department... I also have a personal assistant who is also the general receptionist for my factory.

Forward Looking Professional Goals

I’m working on achieving the professional respect and status of the elite fashion designers such as the late great, Edith Head (Hollywood's Best!), Donna Karin, Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani. I also will sell my best clothing lines through high-end retailers, such as Neiman Marcus, Saks, Barney’s and Lord & Taylor, as well as through a top shelf store of my own, which I want to open and operate under the name “Oscar Odelia.” I’m also planning on launching a perfume.

Advice to Aspiring Businesspersons

I have learned not to let professional obstacles stop me. The custom tailoring industry is male-dominated, and I have been shunned at industry conventions. Entrepreneurs launching businesses should avoid allowing persons who attempt to persuade them to change course from the pursuit of goals that the entrepreneurs determine are realistic for themselves.

Additionally, entrepreneurs must learn how to secure the trust of potential financial investors to the extent outside financing is needed to launch and operate their businesses. Entrepreneurs must have solid business ethics to secure and maintain the trust of potential investors and clients.

In my tailoring business, at times a retail clothier’s client will contact my wholesale garment making division and attempt to complete a below-retail price purchase directly from my wholesale division. I do not accept these purchase offers because I treat people in business and in life as I want them to treat me. This is the Golden Rule and how I live. If people have respect for each other, only then can honesty and friendship result.

Consistent with focusing on treating people fairly, I do not advise entrepreneurs to measure their success solely by their income but also by the positive relationships that they develop with investors, clients and others in the operation of their businesses. I most enjoy my work when I see a flat piece of cloth, and transform it into a garment for a client, who leaves my shop pleased and pledging to make future purchases.

Lastly, I encourage entrepreneurs to live a balanced existence that included time for making a home and nurturing relationships with family. I am married and have two adult children, a daughter who is a police officer, a son who is in the Navy and a stepson who is a case manager. My home is my favorite place it is where my relationships with my husband and children all meet in harmony. My home represents my family, friends and fun.