Madison Plus had the privilege of interviewing Bobby G. Keith of PlusSizeSavings.com, blogger for The Plus Size Advocate, and owner of American Islander Garments Mfg.  Bobby’s blog was recently ranked as one of the top 40 plus size blogs.  We found Bobby’s interview to be captivating and inspiring as he explained his humble beginnings in the plus size fashion industry.  One can hear Bobby’s passion for life as well as his work throughout the interview, which further exemplifies why his work has been acknowledged in the plus size industry.

Enjoy the interview and let us know if you have any questions for Bobby!

Interview with Bobby G. Keith

How did you get into fashion?

Well…not in the conventional way that’s for sure. I was actually a real estate investor whose life was seriously changed by fate. My wife and I were in the Philippines when a little boy was dropped on our doorstep.  My wife saw him as a gift from God and I committed to sending support to him. We were back in the U.S. for about 4 month’s when I was awakened by my wife’s crying in her sleep.  When I woke her up and asked her what was wrong she just stared at the ceiling for a moment then replied “I miss Daniel” (our orphan boy).  Well, as they say, “the writings on the wall”. We made all the necessary arrangements and moved to Davao City Philippines to adopt him (Daniel) but the question was how to make a living in a third world country. We started by selling “Ready to Wear” (RTW) clothing online and then noticed there was a great need for fashionable women’s plus size clothing. So that was my extremely humble beginnings.

How did you get into the plus size industry?  What was your motivation?

Besides having a family to support, having an entrepreneurial spirit has probably been my greatest motivation. As I said before, we were selling RTW online and I realized at some point early on, there was real need to get more control over the entire process, starting from design.  I had learned a great deal about the special design needs for plus size women and was just not able to find clothing manufactured to fill those needs. So I started my own line at the end of 2004 called American Islander Garments Mfg.

You juggle many hats as a blogger, designer, and as a manufacturer.   Did one of these professions lead to the other?  How do you balance all of them?

I would say that the need for controlling the design process lead to manufacturing and the need to educate our market lead to blogging. For a guy who does not wear hats, I have to say I do wear many proverbial hats. I’ve heard it said before that “genius was once described as the ability to focus on the task at hand”. Now, I’m no genius, but when you are wearing the “designing hat”, you just need to wear that hat for awhile and try not to split your focus too much and the same goes for the rest of “my hats” hehe.   I have to add also that I can’t take all of the credit because I have an incredible team of people that help make it all possible. I also would like to add that the blog for me may not fit in the traditional sense of a blog to where one posts for an audience each day, but rather a place to teach and to learn. One of the goals that I have for “The Plus Size Advocate” is that it is a place where someone can find rich content on topics that effect the day to day lives and concerns of plus size women. I’m afraid that if I try to churn out a daily post that the content portion would suffer so I reserve my writing for a time when I feel passionate about a topic (usually).

Where do you get your inspiration from for designing?

For me inspiration comes from many places, I mean I can be sitting in a mall and see a collar or a sleeve I like. I like to watch the “outfit of the day” (OTD) like from fatshionista.com and a couple of other places. I feel like the best influences though come directly from plus size women themselves. One of the things I do a lot is talk to my customers and get involved with them.

I see from your blog that you are very interested in American History and describe yourself as “overly political and too highly opinionated”.  How did this strong passion for politics and American History come about in your life?

Simply put, a love for my country and the way it was founded. I realize that we, as people, are no better than our foreign neighbors, but what is remarkable about us is the way our forefathers wisely founded us. Americans have different ideas and they are free to debate those ideas in the arena of ideas without fear of retribution. In contrast, the people who live in the country that is my part-time home now, fear speaking out against the leadership. Political rivalries sometimes kill one another here.  We have freedom and in the past I took it for granted because it was all I ever knew, but as I’ve gotten older and more experienced in life I realize more and more how precious it is.

Do you have a favorite plus size model?

I don’t really have a favorite model and no I’m not just playing it safe, there is a lot of good representation out there. Plus size modeling is a growing industry and I believe it’s so important to changing the image of plus size clothing. Our own plus size model (JoAnn) is a real delight and works hard under extreme conditions so I have a lot of respect for what she does.

Do you have a favorite plus size designer or brand that you admire?

I watch a lot of people’s designs and if I had to choose one I would have to say Yuliya Raquel of IGIGI.  I think she puts a lot of effort into her work and as a designer I can tell she knows what she’s doing and takes it seriously.

A little about you…

Favorite place to relax and unwind?

Well at this moment it’s my patio. I’m currently in Davao, which is a beautiful tropical paradise and my patio is surrounded by tropical plants and the weather at night is so nice.

Favorite restaurant?

We have a wide variety of places we frequent, among them Japanese and Swiss but my personal favorite is Lyn’s Garden Chinese food.

What are your hobbies?

Playing drums (which I haven’t done in awhile), diving, and politics.

What do you hope to accomplish in the next year?  In the next 10 years?

We just increased our production capacity in November for our manufacturing facility (which we lovingly call our shop) and by May 2010 we will be increasing our U.S. distribution point to handle a wider variety of clothing and accessories. We will be slowly increasing our visibility of PlusSizeSavings.com to coincide with our increased manufacturing and distribution capacity. Our goal as always has been to offer fashions a little different than other companies and not be limited by conventional thinking. In the next 10 years I would like to see American Islander and PlusSizeSavings.com join forces with other aspiring plus size blogs, magazines and fashion shows to promote both our business and to advocate for plus size issues overall.

Finish the following sentence:

Always…be passionate about what you do.

Never…let what other people think detour you from being who you are.