A small but mighty workshop devoted to the delicate craft of garment finishing, Super Rush Trims, is located in New York’s historic Garment District. Rolls of fabric line the walls of the studio, and in the center of it all stands Sulé Griffith, founder. “I really just needed a job,” Sulé recalls from when he had just arrived in New York from Guyana, laughing softly. “Someone that I knew offered me a delivery job at a trims company. And that was the way I got in.”

That entry point—an errand job years ago—became the first stitch in what’s now a ten-year enterprise. After more than a decade learning every step of the process, from smocking to piping, Sulé was laid off. By then, he had already begun taking on “small orders here and there” for finishing projects, he says. “I just bought the first few machines and got started. And now, here we are.”

Super Rush Trims has since grown into a trusted finishing house for the city’s women’s ready-to-wear market, a sector that makes up about 80% of the domestic work they get. Bindings are their specialty—the clean edges and structured seams that give a coat its contour or a dress its polish. “Bindings are the way you finish a garment to make edges look clean and nice,” Sulé explains. From spaghetti straps and piping to bits of quilting, each detail is crafted to ensure that the piece looks and feels right when someone picks it up in a showroom.

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