Susan Hoyle, gender-conscious tailor

Local fashion entrepreneur Susan Hoyle talks in breathless tangents and looks fly as hell. Last summer, Hoyle launched her e-commerce shop, Strapping Fit, and since then, she’s hosted pop-up shops at LinkedIn headquarters, a boutique in the East Bay and Oak Park’s La Venadita. Formerly a retail buyer, she’s now a one-woman clothing production studio, designing masculine clothing that fits smaller frames and ripping up gender restrictions, one seam at a time. While wearing a sleek burgundy button-up, she shared her sartorial philosophy, in between nibbles of a croissant and squeals at passing dogs.

Why did you launch your store?

For my wedding, I couldn’t find a shirt that would fit my neck for my bow tie, everything was bunchy, the chest area didn’t fit, it was just kind of a nightmare. … I said, “Screw this, I’m not going to wait for somebody to make something that fits me, I’m gonna do it myself.”

Do you make the clothes yourself, or do the mice from Cinderella help out?

They totally do, and they’re wonderful. They make all the patterns, but … No. I don’t make all the clothes myself. … I would probably still be at home making them.

But seriously, who makes them?

I do manufacture my clothing overseas, mainly for price point. I tried to do it domestically and I couldn’t get that price under $115 for a shirt, and it was really important for me to get that lower price point. … It’s always one of those things you feel bad about saying that you’re manufacturing overseas. There’s something about it that feels wrong because you don’t want to take jobs away from the United States, but unfortunately we haven’t quite figured out how to compete with them, and I feel bad, but my intentions are hopefully good.

Where did you used to shop?

I shop at the Gap … I’m a very nerdy, nerdy white person. … It’s an everyday struggle to find something that fits.

What makes it so hard?

You can be someone that’s masculine and wear a female-made pant, but your confidence kind of goes down, especially if you’re a trans male or a shorter guy. I have a lot of trans male friends that shop in the little boys section because they want to shop in a masculine department, but they also want it to fit. So it’s kind of demeaning to them that they have to go to a kid’s department to find clothing, and that they see a 4-year-old or 5-year-old wearing the same shirt or sweater as them, which is kind of horrifying. … If you’re someone who likes masculine or is masculine-of-center, it just feels really awkward, and your confidence and your happiness go down.

That’s a good point. I didn’t think about how that would affect your psyche.

It really does amplify your confidence when you’re wearing something that fits your spirit. And I’m still waiting for them to make men’s skirts! Make some skirts for the guys. Come on, it’s fun.

What celebrity do you wet dream about wearing your clothes?

I really like Ellen Page’s look … maybe even like Kristen Stewart. … They give off this feminine energy, but they do dress masculine, which is kind of cool. I like people that are androgynous and float both ways. Obviously, Strapping Fit is more masculine; as far as clothing, I have to pick one.

Why do you have to pick one in the clothing industry?

I was thinking of doing something gender-free that fit everyone, but it’s almost like a potato sack at that point. … I’m trying to de-accentuate breasts and hips and give more of a masculine look.

How is the neck shape different?

It goes up higher, it’s tighter. And then the plackets are on the same side as a male shirt, so, buttons are on the right, placket on the left.

And for women it’s the opposite?

The opposite, yeah. There’s a fun fashion story for that. So I don’t know when this began, but back in the day, when women didn’t dress themselves, they ended up putting the placket on the opposite side. … It’s almost empowering to put the placket back on the left side, buttons on the right, because it’s telling you: Yeah, I dress myself, hello!

Does a pop-up shop emerge from the sidewalk in a smoke bomb?

It does! It’s like magic. I keep a little something in my pocket—I won’t tell you because it’s magic. I show up to an area and: Bam! Pop-up shop!