Global fashion designer pauses in Columbia to share unique designs

Stoi Galindez, on most days, works in a room that isn’t entirely hers. 

In the small space in Columbia, South Carolina, rolls of fabric are leaned against the wall, some wrapped in plastic, others meticulously sheared and reconstructed on a cutting table. A sewing machine hums just a few feet from a neatly made bed. Handwritten notes are taped up nearby – small reminders, placed not for clients, but for her mother-in-law, who shares the space.

This hasn’t always been the case.

For five years, she had a studio at Femme X, but a year ago, she moved to provide more hands-on care for her mother-in-law. 

This is her studio now. 

It is far different from the international fashion capitals where she once built her career. But for the past year, this room – part workspace, part living space, part caregiving environment – has become the center of her work.

Galindez has been interested in fashion since she was in her early teens. At one point, though, her life was headed in a different direction.

“At 13, I started cutting up my clothes and making them into shorts or a shirt,” said the independent fashion designer. “Fast forward, I was supposed to enroll in law school, but I changed my mind a week before.”

Instead, she moved to California and enrolled at the Art Institute of Los Angeles, trading legal briefs for fabrics.

Despite being in school, she landed an internship with Italian designer Jacqueline Jarrot.

“I learned a lot with her, and I ended up working with her for like 10 years,” Galindez said. “I want to say right at my 10th year with her, she got me a job with a friend of hers in Tokyo.”

From there, her career expanded. She moved her work to London, Montreal, Texas, Alaska, New York and now South Carolina. 

It was in New York that Galindez met her life partner, Soul.

“So I ended up meeting my wife, which, mind you, I did not want to go to New York and meet anybody,” Galindez said. 

Six years ago, her new life changed location. 

“Truthfully, it (the move) could’ve broken us,” Soul Galindez said. “Caring for my mom, who has dementia, was and still is hard. But our love for one another and our faith shield us.”

The couple moved to Columbia to help care for Galindez’s mother-in-law. They now live together in a modest home, where Galindez’s studio occupies the same space as her mother-in-law’s bedroom.

“She only sleeps in this room because she’s always with an aide or with us or even in our room watching TV,” Stoi Galindez said. “But when I’m in here sewing with her, she loves it.”

Local limitations

The relocation has had its ups and downs for Galindez. 

Columbia, Stoi Galindez said, can feel limiting. Not just geographically, but creatively. She describes a kind of ‘Southern fashion’ standard – one that doesn’t leave much room for the experimental and personal designs she creates. 

“I have a love-hate relationship with Columbia,” she said. “You have these stylish women who love your designs, but then you have this thing where they all want to wear florals and little poofy dresses, and I’m just not that person.”

Her designs are custom, and that comes with a price point. But in a culture where fast fashion dominates, that value isn’t always understood.

There have been moments with customers when conversations about pricing have turned tense, leaving her wishing more people understood the labor that goes into her custom designs.

“Sometimes I think clients don’t understand what an independent designer like myself goes through,” she said.

For those like Stoi Galindez who don’t have a backer or a sewing team, independent designers tend to have to “do it all.”

Her work sets her apart from other designers in Columbia because she only designs custom pieces tailored to fit whoever is wearing it, with no sizing constraints or duplicates.

“I want women to be like ‘Oh, I don’t know what size it is, but it looks good on me, so yes,’ you know?” she said.  

Each piece is distinct, made with a specific person in mind. Together, they feel almost out of place in a market that often prioritizes speed over individuality.

Why she stays

There have been moments when Stoi Galindez has considered stepping away from it all.

What keeps her grounded is the network she has built around her –friends, family and the people she gets to work with.

“A lot of elements keep me here,” she said. “I have really good friends, I love and respect all the models I’ve had a chance to work with.”

While Galindez has adjusted to the slower pace of the Columbia fashion scene, she doesn’t see herself staying here long-term. 

Her goal is to build something bigger again – a studio where her creativity isn’t restricted by space. 

“Success for me in the future is to have my own studio,” she said. “I don’t want to limit myself as a designer, and I don’t want my clients to be limited either.”