COVID to Clothing

Mae Burrows has been making clothes since she was four years old cutting up her mother’s clothes (which got her promptly enrolled in sewing school). It’s been in her blood even longer, stretching back to her Great Grandmother, Beulah Mae, a direct descendant of Betsy Ross, who also “cut things up to sew.”

Like many who found new direction or a purpose during the challenges and self-examination that 2020 brought us, Mae Burrows’ experiences pulled her childhood dreams into reality. A full-time firefighter and paramedic by day, she was able to launch a clothing design company in all her spare time — a company meant to make everyone feel better about themselves: Pangs Apparel.

When Corona hit, Burrows and her fellow firefighters started making masks as a department. When Burrows herself contracted the virus, it stirred some life-altering questions. “When it became serious and I ended up being hospitalized, I started getting my affairs in order. I promised myself if I made it, I’d start doing what I wanted to do. Simple as that,” she said.

“When I got out, I opened my own company, just doing masks at first. I donated a lot to local fire departments. I didn’t have time yet to make things I wanted to wear.” That’s when she recalled the advice she read in “The 50th Law” by 50 Cent and Robert Greene. “It said on your days off, you need to be working on what you want to do, what you wake up and want to do every day. So that’s what I started doing. When I wasn’t at the fire department, I’d put in a minimum eight hours — sewing, doing research, checking out fabric, learning how to use the machines.”

“I want to help create jobs in Savannah with a livable wage… I want to make clothes that make people feel good when they wear them knowing their money is going back into the community.” – Mae Burrows

Burrows is a one-stop shop when it comes to Pangs, which she plans to keep close to home even as it grows. She states in her bio, “I draw my own clothes, make my own patterns, and sew everything myself in Savannah, Georgia, USA.” She describes her motivation behind that saying, “I find it disheartening that people have to buy things cheap, not made here — I want to help create jobs in Savannah with a livable wage. I want to do whatever I need to do to help the community of Tybee — to be present and prepared when I’m on duty at the fire department, serving the public, and when I’m not, I’m working on this. I want to make clothes that make people feel good when they wear them, knowing their money is going back into the community.”

Her target audience? All women — especially women who “don’t feel they can easily find things that fit, feel good, and make them feel comfortable at the same time. I really want to make clothes for all shapes of women — clothes that look good and that you actually want to wear.” That’s the philosophy of Pangs Apparel, as Burrows states, “I believe clothing should make you look, feel, and be the best that you can be. Have confidence in who you are and in the clothes you wear.”

More than clothing, it’s a community-building initiative, meant to make people feel good on so many levels about health, fashion, and finance, investing back into the local economy with something Made in America, made in Georgia, and made in the neighborhood in hometown Savannah. Add made by a first responder for the betterment of all women, and Burrows has marked all boxes with her new and up-and-coming clothing co., Pangs Apparel.

Check it out at pangsapparel.com. 

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