Meet Hannah Trim | Owner, Sew Alpine

We had the good fortune of connecting with Hannah Trim and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hannah, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
My professional background is in Outdoor Education and Mountain Guiding, where I routinely assessed very tangible and often life-or-death risks for myself and my team. This experience has proved invaluable in my business venture and I’m very grateful to have familiar frameworks to lean on for analyzing risks. Working in the mountains always gave me great perspective and helped me focus my priorities. In the rest of life, I think we live in a relatively risk-averse culture. It can be easy to over-stress about frustrating details and worry disproportionately about taking risks like those required in starting and operating a business. I’ve learned through my outdoor experience that avoiding all risks can be equally taxing and prevent any growth from happening. I try to leverage my mountain skills to balance my business risk assessment and manage each risk appropriately without getting too hung-up in the details.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I started Sew Alpine because I love making things and I was tired of buying into the over-working culture that’s so prevalent among non-profits and outdoor operations. I keep my values front and center in my business; I want Sew Alpine to be a sustainable workplace that fosters a healthy work-life balance, supports my community, and engages on important social and environmental issues. There are plenty of other makers producing diy gear out of their homes and garages, but these values are what set me apart.

I work hard to source my materials from USA manufacturers and distributors and I think intentionally about every purchase I make. I strive to use my power and privilege as a business owner (no matter how small) to fuel my community, so I look locally for everything possible. And I love that my efforts have helped me discover and support some fantastic local, independent businesses!

I also work hard to minimize my climate impact; I am in awe of the outdoor spaces that I’ve had the privilege to recreate in and it really weighs on me to see firsthand how much impact humans have on the world around us. I strive to inject intention into my production processes in an effort to steward these places. I minimize waste by producing items in small batches, I offer repair services for many different types of gear, and I try to create really high quality products that will last a long time and minimize the amount of ‘stuff’ that’s getting consumed in the first place. I also save and reuse all my scraps and packaging. It’s a wonderful creative challenge for me to think critically about the entire lifespan of an item.

I’ve been in business for just over a year and so far I’m proudest of how I’ve stayed focused on these values. I don’t have a formal business background and at times, this has felt like a massive barrier. But I’m also so grateful that I operate Sew Alpine through my own lens; I think it offers me the unique opportunity to ‘do business’ differently and make a more positive impact than if I were in it just for the profit. I’ve learned over and over again that it’s important to listen to my gut when making big decisions. Each time that I’ve made a less-than-conventional choice about how I operate, it’s come back around in a deeply supportive way. As an educator I learned that there are a million ways to teach any topic, but you’ll have the best outcomes if you can meet your students exactly where they’re at. The same has been true for me with Sew Alpine; I’ve had the best outcomes when I’ve been brutally honest with myself about where the business is at and then taken actionable steps from there.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m so lucky to live in this region; there are so many gems!

Durango:
Breakfast from Bread
A long bike ride at Horse Gulch
A walk along the river trail
Ice Cream from Cream Bean Berry
A stop at the Farmers Market
Dinner at Himalayan Kitchen
Drinks at El Moro
Music at 11th Street Station

Silverton:
Coffee from the Coffee Bear
A guided day of skiing or climbing with San Juan Expeditions
Apres on the roof of the Coffee Bear!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I owe so much credit to my parents, my husband’s parents, and many family friends who’ve given me really helpful examples of what it looks like to run your own business.

Website: www.sewalpine.com

Instagram: @sew_alpine

Image Credits
Hannah Wilson, William Berger, Danielle Nelson, Hannah Bercovici, Hannah Trim