Signature Sewing: From skydiving gear to supporting a village

Shirley Harris is in tune with the pulse of the Clinton community at Signature Sewing.

By JACKIE KOCH

Clinton Local

From sewing skydiving equipment and making gear for Kronk Boxing in Detroit, to operating an anchor business in downtown Clinton that serves a multitude of local groups, organizations and individuals, Shirley Harris, the owner of Signature Sewing, has seen a lot of variety in more than 40 years in business. 

She got her start sewing for a skydiving company because of family connections. Her father taught the sport when she was a child and a friend of the family made skydiving equipment. When Shirley graduated from high school, she took her first job with that company and learned industrial sewing to create skydiving gear. 

After a while the skydiving company moved to North Carolina and she stayed in Michigan with her husband, using her unemployment money to buy her own sewing machines. That was at least 41 years ago. 

“I lived in Detroit at the time and my neighbor was a police sergeant, and he did a lot of traveling with the Kronk boxers and Thomas Hearns — he was a bodyguard for Thomas Hearns,” Shirley said. 

“He knew that I sewed. He said, ‘I need a gym bag for traveling with the boxers and I need you to put their name on the side and my name on it, and it needs to be red and gold, that’s their colors,’” she said. “And so I made him a bag and I still to this day am sewing for Kronk Boxing.”

Kronk Gym of Detroit, once led by trainer Emanuel Steward, was originally run out of the basement of the oldest recreation center of the city. The gym became a household name in boxing following the success and high profile of World Champion and Boxing Hall of Famer Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns in the 1980s. Named after Detroit City Councilman John Kronk, the training facility opened in 1921. The original site closed in 2006, but it reopened in 2015. 

Shirley operated her business at home in Detroit and eventually the family moved to Clinton around 1991. She continued to sew from home until their three children were all in school and then she opened a shop on U.S. 12, where she operated for eight years until moving to her current spot at 135 W. Michigan Ave. In 2026 she will mark 20 years there. 

While she doesn’t sew clothing or do clothing repairs, she has found many other ways to use her skills including making sailboat sails, but one of her assets is her ability to produce hundreds of heat-press decorated shirts for Clinton Community Schools PTO and items for the Clinton Music Boosters, Clinton Little League, the Captain’s Lounge pool league and countless others. Her main business at Signature Sewing is custom embroidery, including company logos on shirts, varsity jackets, monograms on towels, sheets and pillowcases, and more. 

Besides her business, Shirley is deeply involved in the community. She’s on Clinton’s Downtown Development Authority board and is a member of the Clinton Community Schools Board of Education. 

“I have three wonderful adult children that all went to Clinton Schools, and that is why I am still on the school board,” she said. “I’m very supportive of Clinton Schools.”

She said her husband of 45 years, Bob, is “wonderful” and is very supportive of the business. He also sews and helps out in the shop.  

Adrian resident Becky Fry had a lot to say about Shirley. “This woman is a very generous, thoughtful, giving person. She’s been on the school board I don’t know how many years, but she cares for individual children — she cares not only how the school system works, but she has in her vision kids and what’s important for kids,” said Becky, who shared that Shirley is often giving of herself and her resources behind the scenes. “People don’t realize how much Signature Sewing donates and gives time, and the hours that she puts in so she can get orders filled. … She’ll close up the shop to go to the school to help a teacher that needs a warm body in the classroom to help make an art project.”

Pat Sturk of Clinton, who serves as a member of the Friends of the Clinton Township Public Library along with Shirley, echoed Becky’s sentiments. “She’s a very successful, very generous business owner in town,” said Pat. “She volunteers to work at and run the Friends of the Library book sales several times a year.

“She has her eyes and ears on the pulse of the community, I think, and knows how to direct people where to get whatever help they need,” she said, adding that, besides volunteering in classrooms, Shirley continues to volunteer for the SeaPerch robotics events that Clinton High School science teacher Ron Shaffner organizes. 

Signature Sewing is open during varied hours, so the best way to get in touch is to call 517-456-4572 and leave a message, or email sigsewing@gmail.com. Her associate, Linda Gorte, will make sure Shirley knows about any incoming jobs. For more information on all Signature Sewing has to offer, visit signaturesewing.com. 

What does Shirley enjoy most about the business? “A lot of really nice people,” she said. “…I have a lot of wonderful friends I’ve made through Clinton and through school, and through the business.”