Step into Skyrts
One of South Florida’s best-known small farmers who started Paradise Farms in the 1990s, Gabriele Marewski has launched a new business: Story Skyrts, colorful skirts imprinted with her original images of places, nature, even tropical fruits like lychee, longan, monstera and tamarind.
This business may be new to Marewski, but her love of wearing skirts instead of jeans goes back years, when she started working for a county commissioner. "I was back in skirts again. I rediscovered the freedom and comfort of a skirt and have never gone back to pants," she says.
In 1990, after years of agricultural work, Marewski had the opportunity to purchase five acres of land next to her home. She became a full-time certified organic farmer at Paradise Farms.
"My first act as a farmer was to trash my pantyhose and make farm skirts that I could comfortably wear every day," she says. "Agricultural work in Florida requires lots of labor in hot weather and the coolness of a skirt was wonderfully practical. I happily farmed in skirts for over 20 years."
Marewski, who sold her farm in 2017 to move to North Carolina, says she got the idea to combine colorful imagery with comfortable apparel during her travels when she saw a field of wildflowers and imagined them on a skirt. "I had explored printing processes until I discovered a way to have my photographs dye sublimated onto a polyester blend fabric that is great for active wear," she says. The fabric is an eco-friendly post-consumer product.
“The material is 92 percent polyester from recycled bottles and 8 percent spandex. It’s moisture wicking, SPF 50, antibacterial and very soft,” she says. “They are so comfortable! I wear my Skyrts all the time, for hiking, biking, gardening, running errands, socializing,” she says. “When I bicycled the Continental Divide in 2019, I only wore my Skyrts.”
Today, her line includes Skyrts adorned with a variety of images from her camera – mushrooms, cannabis flowers, farm greens, salads, flowers, travel destinations, wildlife, baobab trees, even lemurs from a Madagascar trip. She can also design custom Story Skyrts for organizations and businesses.
.Find them at storyskyrts.com.
