MAY 12 • 2022 | 45

t age 57, Linda 
Schlesinger-Wagner 
found herself divorced 
and caught up in the 
2006 housing market 
collapse. “I was in the midst of a 
crisis, and my payment almost 
doubled,
” the now 74-year-old 
recalls.
Instead of giving up, 
Schlesinger-Wagner pivoted. 
The Jewish entrepreneur sold 
a longstanding children’s knit-
wear business that she’
d had 
for years to pursue an idea that 
came to her in the middle of the 
night, on an evening when she 
couldn’t sleep, for skinnytees — 
a women’s clothing company 
selling essentials like camisoles, 
that were both comfortable and 
stylish.
“I wasn’t a 25-year-old 
woman,
” explains Schlesinger-
Wagner, who had already 
worked in the apparel industry 
for more than three decades at 
the time. “I didn’t want to lean 
up or bend over and see skin.
”
Rather than creating tradi-
tional women’s tops, she turned 
to longer, more flexible pieces 
that would work for women of 
all ages, especially busy women 
on the go. They were one-size-
fits-most silhouettes, made out 
of smoothwear, and entirely 
seamless.

BUILDING A DREAM
However, Schlesinger-Wagner 
didn’t have the finances to bring 
the idea to life, so she borrowed 
$1,000 from a close friend and 
purchased one dozen tops in 
10 colors from a contractor to 
make skinnytees a reality.
After the tops arrived, 
Schlesinger-Wagner took them 
to Impulse Clothing Boutique, 
a clothing shop in Brighton, 
Michigan, where she says she 

PHOTO CREDIT

How an idea in the middle of the 
night led to a top-selling women’s 
clothing line.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A ‘Late 
Bloomer’

ABOVE: A tank dress from 
skinnytees.

continued on page 47

