Wyatt Miller moved from La Ronge to Saskatoon four months ago to find further success with his company Sparked Apparel. (Submitted photo/Wyatt Miller)

By Derek Cornet

fashion

Clothing designer from La Ronge setting up studio and office in Saskatoon

Apr 12, 2022 | 5:00 PM

Wyatt Miller, 19, is finding success in the world of fashion after relocating from his hometown of La Ronge to Saskatoon back in December 2021.

Earlier this month, he was named as a recipient of a $5,000 non-repayable microgrant being offered by the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies as part of the Indigenous Innovation and Entrepreneurship accelerator. Miller explained the funds will assist him a lot with getting his brand Sparked Apparel to where he wants it to be.

“That is the biggest blessing yet and the most meaningful thing anyone has done for me so far,” he said. “I have gotten support from everyone and all, but for someone to just go out of their way and give me $5,000 means a lot and I am really going to be smart with the way I spend it.”

Miller has been sewing for a little more than a year. He had asked his mother for sewing machine for Christmas in 2020 and he started by cut apart and sewing back together his own clothes. That’s when people started giving him positive feedback about his creations and he moved on to sourcing clothing from second-hand stores to continue his work.

Miller created a hybrid line from flannel shirts he bought at those stores and he said he didn’t expect it to work out as well as it did.

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“I’ve moved from buying second-hand clothes to buying the clothes brand new at this point, so it’s not shrunken or anything,” he said. “I do still do the cut and sew aspect of everything, but it’s going very well. I do plan on making shorts from scratch this summer.”

Wyatt Miller is a member of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation and he grew up in La Ronge. (Submitted photo/Wyatt Miller)

Sparked Apparel began in the basement of Miller’s parents’ home in La Ronge. For a short time he worked from home in Saskatoon, but in February an architecture company reached out to him after learning about him in the news media and offered him space in their building free of charge. That news coverage also landed Miller more business as he is now shipping clothes across Canada and even as far away as Australia and Germany.

Miller noted those interested in his work should keep their eyes out for his next product launch as it will be a change from what he has been doing. He has been able to upgrade his sewing machine, he just purchased a screen printing kit and some of the grant he received will go towards buying a computerized embroidering machine.

“That is currently helping me a whole lot as I’m almost done setting up my office and I will be ordering clothes for the Napatāk Ramble that will be coming up in the next couple of months,” Miller said.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno