How a little hobby landed a local clothing artist's work on national TV

INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — It all started with an interest in embroidery and western fashion.

During his early fascination with western style suits, Jerry Atwood quickly developed an interest in the art of embroidery.

Atwood didn't go to school for fashion but was always intrigued by the western-wear that he saw being worn by country artists that he grew up listening to with his dad.

He spent years and years teaching himself how to sew and embroider and it became a hobby for him.

"I started doing this before a lot of information was available on the internet," said Atwood. "Now you can go on YouTube and find how to make anything but when I started, I was going to Half Price Books or the library and getting books about sewing."

He never imagined that he would go very far with this new hobby.

"I thought I would be working in a coffee shop and doing this kind of in my spare time and I thought well, maybe someday if I'm lucky, you know, a local band will get some recognition and will go on tour and will want me to make a couple shirts for them and I’ll be excited about that," Atwood explained.

Fast forward to Atwood in his 30s and that's when he decided something had to give. He couldn’t work in a coffee shop or a grocery store for the rest of his life.

He ended up interviewing for a wardrobe and sewing position at the Indiana Reparatory Theatre but showed up without a resume or portfolio.

"I didn’t really have anything to show him,' Atwood said of the interview. "I probably should’ve believed that I could get that job because I went in there not really thinking I could get it."

He later sent a follow-up email and sent photos of his work. After that, he ended up working at the IRT for three seasons and learned a lot more than what he was able to teach himself.

While Atwood was working at the IRT, he started to get a lot of requests from people wanting his work and because he was working full-time, he had to turn down a lot of that work.

"Even when I left that job, everyone in there said, 'oh come on, you’re going to leave here to become a professional western-wear maker?' and I mean, I certainly had my own self-doubts,' said Atwood. "I couldn't have dreamed that a few years later I’d make something for one of the biggest pop stars around. That blows my mind."

Then Union Western Clothing Company was born.

Now, fast forward again to November of 2017 when a stylist for an artist named Post Malone reached out to Atwood.

At the time, he had no idea who Post Malone was. Little did he know, the stylist wanted him to design a suit for the star to wear at the American Music Awards.

"So I go on YouTube thinking I'll find a video of a performer in Oklahoma playing in a little club or something like that. The first video that pops up has 300 million views,' said Atwood.

So how did a stylist for a big name like Post Malone find out about Atwood, a local clothing maker in Indianapolis?

The power of social media.

"I have so many friends who were kind of doing what I was doing, just working out of their basement, working out of their homes and doing this as a side gig making crafts or clothing or whatever, who got on Instagram and now they are successful artists," said Atwood. "It's unreal."

Back in August 2018, Atwood got another call from Post Malone's stylist requesting a suit for Malone to wear during an Elvis Tribute on NBC.

Although this will be the second time that Post Malone will be wearing something that Atwood designed, he still hasn’t reached that moment where he feels like he has to pinch himself.

"I take my kid to school, spend time with my girlfriend and come to work and so I don't really have a lot of time to think about it."

Atwood explains that while being self-employed sounds great, it's a lot of work.

"It's definitely a hustle all the time and you never feel like you have a day off when you’re self-employed."

But he's doing what he loves, so that’s all he could ask for.