Terry Kiskaddon 
John Kiskaddon
How It All Started..
Terry Kiskaddon knew she wanted to become a fashion designer by the time she was 10. As the only girl with four male siblings, clothing excited her. "I would whip up a new outfit at night and wear it to school the next day- then I didn't have to wear hand-me-downs from my brothers!" laughs Terry. A decade later, after studying fashion design in Atlanta, moving
to California, and obtaining a $30,000 SBA loan, she established her own clothing company Harper Greer. The name Harper Greer came from a baby name book and was choosen because Terry thought it sounded glamourous.
One Size Does Not Fit All...
Terry started out making clothes for women sizes 6-12, however that changed when she met her future partner, John, and his mother, Lillian, who convinced them to design some clothing for women like Lillian who are larger than a size 12. The Harper Greer line was sold wholesale to specialty and hi-end department stores throughout the nation for five years. Terry and John opened their first retail store in the SoMa district of San Francisco in 1989 and relocated to downtown San Francisco in Union Square
in 2007.
Style and Beauty for the Full-Figured...
Terry believes that any style can be made for plus size women as long as the are properly fit. How does a new design become reality? The first samples are cut in a size 16, tried on her fit models, and viewed with a critical eye before putting them into production.
Terry's Business Philosophy:
To make clothes with the best fabrics, style and fit possible and have fun doing it!
Contact Terry at terry@harpergreer.com or John at john@harpergreer.com
Harper Greer Press
Piedmont Designer Shines on Oscar Night
Piedmont Post
February 25, 2009
The Bay Area was thrown more than a little Hollywood gold dust on Sunday night. Not only did Pixar's "Wall-E", co-written by Piedmont residents Pete Doctor and Jim Reardon, win the best Animated Feature Award, but "Milk", a film about the gay-rights advocate and San Francisco Supervisor, Harvey Milk, led to a Best Actor award for Sean Penn as well as Best Original Screenplay for Dustin Lance Black. However, Piedmonters can take an extra bit of pride in the occassion, knowing that one of their own were working behind the scenes to make sure those in attendance were looking their best as well. Piedmont resident, Terry Kiskaddon dressed Harvey Milk's real-life campaing manager, Anne Kronenberg, for the occassion. Kronenberg has been a regular customer at Kiskaddon's San Francisco based store, Harper Greer, for some time now. "She came in and asked us to make her a dress to wear to the Oscars about a week before the event!" said Kiskaddon, who designed a black silk double georgette dress and matching jacket trimmed with Swarovski crystals. It was Kiskaddon's first time designing for an Academy Awards attendee. She and her family were thrilled to catch a glimpse of Kronenberg's dress on the red carpet that evening. "There were so many people coming down for awards, we only caught a glimpse of the shoulder of her jacket but we knew it was our dress." Kiskaddon said with a laugh. She and her husband John, who plays with a local group the JazzKatz, have owned the store formore than 25 years. Kiskaddon originally began designing for sizes 6-10 but switched her format to plus sizes (12-26) after her mother-in-law suggested it would be a good niche.
on the plus side: harper greer
Wed November 11, 2009
I love working with my plus-size clients because the before and after results tend to be so dramatic. My client Mary, a senior associate at a large Washington-based law firm, who falls between a size 16 and size 18, thought that covering up was her best strategy. While she was hiding her curves, she was also hiding from life. Accepting her body the way it is today not ten or twenty pounds lighter sometime in the future was the first step to her transformation. The second step was to visit the wonderful plus-size shop, Harper Greer, while on a business trip to San Francisco.
Knowing that Mary was going to be in town, I called ahead and spoke with Sales Manager John Kiskaddon about Mary's shape, personality and color palette. In no time John assembled a number of outfits Mary didn't just like, she loved them. She also loved shopping in a store where she didn't feel the need to apologize for not being a size 10 or 12.
Don't fret if you can't get to San Francisco to shop. Harper Greer does a fabulous mail-order business and provides fabric swatches on request. Below are a few sketches from their new suit collection available now in sizes 12-26.
The East Bay Monthly
April, 2004
Women who are not size 6,7, or 8 but rather 16,17, 18, and beyond are having an easier time finding attractive and chic clothes than they did in the past. Only a few decades ago ample women had only two sartorial choices: Look like a frump in a tent dress or learn how to sew.
Twenty-six years ago, Terry Kiskaddon started Harper Greer as a wholesale business for "average-sized" women. By the way, the store name came from a baby name book. "I was 20 at the time and I thought it sounded glamourous," she recalls. Six years after she had opened her wholesale business, destiny came along in the form of a new husband, John, and a mother-in-law, Lillian. A luxury-sized woman with a keen sense of fashion, Lillian had a difficult time finding clothes that were both stylish and beautiful. That's when the Kiskaddons realized they had found their niche.
Harper Greer was transformed into a retail shop for ladies size 14 and up. Their first location was in San Francisco's fashionable SoMa district.
Terry Kiskaddon, and excellent seamstress since childhood, designs all the clothes. "Customers are really impressed with the quality of the fabric," she says. "We use wool, tencel, rayon, linen, cotton, and Indian silk (called dupioni). We also have a wonderful in-house tailor and pattern maker."
Besides the lovely, unique clothes, Harper Greer's success is built on its exemplary service. "We got a letter from someone who purchased something from us years ago, they had lost a button," explains Kiskaddon. Luckily for the customer, the store keeps an extensive database of customer's purchases and preferences and replaced the button. "The woman was impressed. We do things like that everyday."
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Customer Testimonials
"The staff are the most friendly and helpful I have ever met.
I have never been "sold" anything in their store.
Instead, they have helped me create wonderful outfits
for
work and special occasions.
I've seen women come in in the
typical "fat uniform" of sweat pants
and tee shirts,
heads down too ashamed to ask for help.
They longingly look at the racks thinking these
clothes are
too pretty to fit them after years of shopping
in the tent departments
of other stores like Neimans, Saks, etc.
Harper Greer's staff gently coax these ladies into trying
on a blouse or pair of pants,
maybe a skirt and
soon you can see their look change.
No longer do they hide behind the racks afraid to look at the clothes
for fear something so lovely would never fit, now they eagerly
coordinate outfits,
swirl in the mirror and even
make acquaintances with the other ladies in the store
finding out that they can be just as pretty as the "skinny girls".
Harper Greer is not just a clothing store for larger women
who want "tradionalist" clothing.
Harper Greer is a store that gets it.
They get that every women wants to look great and feel great.
Every woman wants stylish contemporary clothes
in rich elegant fabrics, not the polyesters pleats of the past.
And every woman wants to feel special when she shops-
she wants to know that when the sales person
tells her the dress looks good on her she means it,
not that she needs the commission.
That is what you get at Harper Greer. "
Kathee Colman
Walnut Creek
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A famous move line "you had me at hello", is an apt line for my experience at Harper Greer. when I walked into their looking for a suit for my daughter's wedding I had been to so many stores and just could not find anything. You greeted me warmly and said "Have you visited our store before... I think you would wear a small!" You helped me that day for several hours and I found my beautiful silk suit for my daughter's wedding and a black dress and jacket for my other wedding events. Thank you to you and John and all of the warm, friendly helpful people at Harper Greer. You all are the Best.
Sincerely,
Gail
You certainly know how to design clothes for women with real (not fashion models') bodies. I've never seen so many interesting, well-designed, well-made clothes in great colors and fabrics. But almost as important as your clothes are your people. Your staff know how to make us feel comfortable and -- yes -- attractive. For most of us, its been a long time since we could say that after being in a fitting room!
Cordially,
Charlotte
When I walked into Harper Greer for the first time I felt as if I'd died and gone to heaven. Now, after experiencing the level of customer service and care you provide (on top of the fabulous attention of your sales staff), I have vowed never to diet again! I don't want to take a chance that I have to shop anywhere else.
Sincerely,
Gael
All I can say is Oh... my... GOD! It is the YUMMIEST thing -- more beautiful than I imagined! You were so right about it -- and the fit of the XS is just right! Even makes me look like I have a waist (sort of -- illusion is a beautiful thing).
Janet