Cindy Rienstra is one of the many local entrepreneurs utilizing ShareNet’s Thrift Store as part of operating a cottage industry.
Locals know Rienstra’s “Mack & Mama” line for its inventive spin on children’s clothing and “up-cycling,” taking an old or used product and making it better. The line is named for Rienstra’s son Mack, 7, and the nickname for her daughter Audrey, 5.
Rienstra gets great deals from ShareNet on items like wool sweaters, coats or men’s shirts, and incorporates parts of them into ingenious designs for children’s clothes, coffee cozies and hand warmers, ragamuffin flower pins, monster hats, and baby booties. Depending on what she’s making, she might need a sleeve, a collar, buttons, or just a piece of fabric.
Rienstra grew up in North Kitsap and has been in Kingston since marrying in 1998. Even as a student at North Kitsap High, she liked to acquire vintage fabrics for her own personal styling, even though she admits it wasn’t fashionable at the time. She is mostly self-taught, beginning with doll clothes.
One of her favorite finds at ShareNet was an electric blue boiled wool jacket which, after her special cleaning and shrinking process, was worked into a pair of pants and an embossed onesie. She has often purchased an otherwise unremarkable garment just for its unusual buttons, because it’s these special touches that make her clothes.
The idea started in 2009 when Rienstra and some fellow moms were sitting outside of Kingston’s Cup & Muffin, having coffee and shivering along with their kids. They noted the need for warmer but stylish children’s clothes, and from this thought Rienstra’s cottage industry was born.
Friends have always been part of the process: Erin Davignon came up with the business name, and Kacie Harley created her business card and Facebook page, which you can find at Mack & Mama Up-cycled Wear.
Awards company uses discount ceramics
Recently, Jim Bybee of Kingston Awards Inc. brought a whole load of coffee cups for ShareNet volunteers and employees, custom-engraved with their names. Everyone was grateful to have a nice cup they could easily identify as their own. Bybee had become acquainted with staff while receiving help from ShareNet and wanted to give something back in whatever way he could.
He also utilizes ShareNet Thrift Store to help further his business, picking up quality ceramics or glassware suitable for engraving at the steeply discounted prices for which the store is known.
After a career in custom engraving and many years of operating a business in Los Alamitos, Calif., Bybee relocated to Kingston with his son about a decade ago. He had planned on retiring, but finances didn’t cooperate.
“I was so glad something like ShareNet existed when I needed help. The volunteers and staff were good to me during a hard time,” he said.
It has taken a few years, but Bybee is getting back on track, and more of the community is coming to know his good work on trophies, plaques and other kinds of recognition awards. He has done work for the Kingston Chamber of Commerce and has a website in development.
— Mark Ince is executive director of ShareNet. Contact him at sharenetdirector@centurytel.net.
