People are still talking about the Duchess of Sussex’s sweet Instagram video, which she posted this week. Meghan detailed the story of meeting a mother and her teenage daughter who lost everything in the California wildfires, and what the teen girl wanted most of all was her Billie Eilish concert t-shirt. So Meghan used her contacts to get a voice memo to Billie, and Billie sent over a “care package” of signed merch for the girl. Meghan used the IG video to thank Billie and everyone who helped her get the story to Billie (including Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo). The reaction to Meghan’s video was split in two camps: normal people saying “how lovely” versus deranged maniacs screaming, crying and throwing up about Meghan doing something nice. The Daily Mail’s crashout was epic, as was the Daily Beast’s. But did you also know that Meghan’s video had another lovely bonus? In the video, Meghan wore a black sweatshirt embroidered with Archie and Lili’s names. That sweatshirt came from a Chicago small business called Club Chainstitch, and they’re currently getting a bonkers “Meghan bump.”
Meghan Markle’s latest Instagram post included quite a surprise for a Chicago business owner. On Feb. 4, the Duchess of Sussex shared a selfie-style video on Instagram in which she shared her excitement about receiving Billie Eilish merchandise for a teen whose home was damaged in the recent Los Angeles fires. Meghan, 43, was sporting a black crewneck sweatshirt featuring the names of her two children — Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3 — stitched along the collar. The product was from Club Chainstitch, a woman-owned small business that uses a 1920s chainstitch machine to create custom products.
Owner Ann Leachman tells PEOPLE she became aware of the Duchess of Sussex’s fashion choice when a friend sent her the video asking if it was from her company.
“I was so stunned. I had to do a double take and almost didn’t believe it was one of ours, even though the writing on her shirt is in my literal handwriting,” Leachman says.
Leachman says it was a “regular, random order” made through the shop in 2022. However, Meghan’s name was “nowhere on the order, so I thought nothing of it and never put the connection together with her children’s names as the text choice. That explains how surprised I was to see her wearing it over two years later! I’m not sure if it was a gift or if Meghan ordered it herself,” she adds. “Either Meghan loves to support small women-owned handmade businesses or she has great friends in her life who do. Likely both!”
Leachman was taking a break from her shop for maternity leave after welcoming her first child in November when the news of Meghan’s support broke.
“I was planning on easing back to work very slowly by opening the shop up a week from now,” she says. “But after I saw the reel of Meghan wearing a Club Chainstitch sweatshirt, I knew this was a game-changing moment for a small business like mine, and I had to open up early. It has been a wild way to come back to work, and I am so grateful for all the orders and support!”
She expressed excitement on social media, writing, “What a way to come back from maternity leave! I had planned to keep the shop closed until next week but decided to open up early because this is the coolest thing ever!”
Meghan’s custom sweatshirt sells for $73, with buyers able to personalize their design with one to three words, symbols such as a heart or moon and a choice of where to put their text on the clothing. Club Chainstitch also offers t-shirts, hats and bags, all customized at a Chicago studio.
This is so sweet and it’s honestly life-changing for a small-business owner, to have Meghan pop up wearing one of your items. This is why Meghan invests in small fashion/accessories businesses too – why rep for Dior when you could boost female-owned small businesses and actually invest in women? Apparently, there’s been such a huge interest in Club Chainstitch that now everything is back-ordered! Ann Leachman is going to have to hire some more people.
Screencaps from Meghan’s IG and Club Chainstitch (thanks to CB).
What a great story. Best of luck to ann leachman.
And, yet, the Brits now will not speak about Kate’s fashion. So short sighted and harmful to the fashion industry. In case Kate didn’t notice, Princess Diana did impactful work on various causes and held up the fashion industry! Maybe time to cosplay hard work and fashion.
The Mail ran at least 2 articles about Kate’s ‘non-fashion’ since her school trip, the most recent giving the name of the jacket designer (Viennese, so no promotion of Brit fashion going on there). The only way Kate gets out of this is she actually starts talking substance and stats and gives the press something else to talk about.
Kate was so determined to be non fashion she put dark brown and grey together, not a good look.
Agreed. My thoughts too were that “they” were trying to direct people to stop saying that Kate is mimicking Meghan. She is mimicking Meghan, but they don’t want anyone to say she is mimicking Meghan.
It’s a very sweet story and the amount of business and publicity that Ann is getting warms my heart. Small business help keep the world going and this is so cool. The Meghan Affect is real 🫰🏾🫰🏾
How cool!
Ann Leachman’s business is gonna go thru the roof!
This is so freaking cute. I love how she had no idea.
So happy for Club Chainstitch and all the other small businesses that have profited from being associated with Meghan over the years.
I know several people who ordered before she had to close her shop, to give her time to be able to catch up.
The funniest thing for me: all of the RF busying themselves, doing their oh so hard work, only to end up being overshadowed by an 80 seconds reel on Insta — and a sweatshirt.
Not close, it’s an 8 weeks wait for new orders to be filled.
That is so neat! I’m so happy for that woman.
You have to love Meghan’s Magic 🪄✨💫
What an uplifting story to start my day with – I love it!
I love the way Meghan has supported women’s small businesses and that her involvement helps them! A nice palate cleanser during much of the rest of the news.
Love this – especially because it’s something Meghan already had in her closet. It’s amazing that such a short clip has brought so much attention to this small business! Not going to lie, this makes me even more excited to see her Meghan’s series in March – her casual style is always on point.
It’s so interesting how Meghan uses quiet influence. She knows people will be parsing every frame of her video, so she doesn’t have to say anything about her sweatshirt – just sweep her hair to one side so people can see the embroidery and then let the world do its work. Kudos to her for supporting small businesses and congrats to Club Chainstitch!
You’re absolutely right, her sweeping her hair so her kids’ names were visible were absolutely intentional! She no doubt hoped people would ID the sweater so they could support the creator! Obviously she had no way of knowing the creator was on maternity leave but what a way to go back to work for her!
Wow that is a nice sweatshirt with the children’s names and great for the small business that makes and sells them. All she has to do is wear something and people want to do the same.
I just went to her site and it says:
Thank you for the love!
Our shop is taking a short break to catch up on all of the orders we’ve received.
In the meantime, please sign up below to be notified when our shop is back in stock. We appreciate your love and support for our small handmade business!
What a funny coincidence I just watched a video about how sewing machines work that introduced me to chainstitch sewing machines and their use in decorative stitching
Ann is the cousin of a good friend of mine. She’s been crying happy tears knowing she has this guaranteed income after taking leave with her baby!
Oh wow. Thank you for sharing this. I’m so happy for her.
I thought about ordering a sweatshirt with my dogs name on it and one for my neighbor with her daughters name on it, now after reading what you shared I’m definitely going to!!
That’s lovely.
Let her know that a lot of us are cheering her on!
Thank you for sharing this! all the best to her
The sweater looks so cute and cozy too!
If the reaction to an Insta reel is anything to go by, the upcoming Netflix show is going to be HUGE! So happy for Meghan! Congrats to Ann Leachman, who is surely dreaming of college funds for her baby!
Meghan is the modern fairy godmother! Giving a new mother a boost! Reminds me of the Welsh denim company and the Grenfell kitchen where Meghan gave a whole community a boost. It’s obvious of the “good” she does.
And someone on her team or in her circle ordered this for Meghan. She didn’t solicit a freebie. Although i always say I’d love to see her inundated with lovely things i suppose she is cognizant of her influence.
Now I want to see some prince archie and princess lily items in the background to drive the derangers mad haha
One of the cutest things about Meghan and Harry is how sentimental they both are. Harry wears his kids EKG readings as a necklace, Meghan has zodiac necklaces for Harry and the kids, Harry walks around with a work binder that says Archie’s Papa and now Meghan with this sweater her kid’s names. They both love out loud and are unabashedly sentimental, its just so sweet to see!
Even better then their sweetness is watching businesses getting a boost because of their sentimentality. Whether its the Ginger dress, the Husband Shirt or this sweater a lot of small businesses are benefiting from Sussex cuteness.
i think it goes to what Meghan said in the oprah interview – her most important title is mom. I think she and Harry are on the exact same page there.
Remember too Make Give Live, the co-op of hand knitters in New Zealand who made the cute pom pom hat baby Archie has on in the picture with Harry from their days on Vancouver Island. For each item you buy, they donate one to a person in need, and the co-op is described as a “social enterprise”, whose purpose is also to combat isolation and improve mental health among the (mostly women?) who get together to do the knitting. They got slammed when that picture – still one of my favorites – came out, and it’s on their webpage. No surprise, that hat is listed as their best seller.
Just to clarify, by “slammed” I meant, their business went through the roof – not the bot/troll kind of slammed (maybe that too, but it was five years ago, don’t remember).
I love this concept and I just bought a few things 🙂 Meghan’s influence there is still working even after a few years!!
What a great story. I checked out her stuff and it’s really cute. Will check back in a few weeks when hopefully things calm down a bit and taking new orders. Hope she gets extra help with all the orders.
I’m happy for the company.
Seeing women supporting other women always warms my heart. 👏👏
Meghan looks so young and has great skin, being happy suits her!