While Mark
Sincere Bar-more spends most of his nights at the Schenectady City Mission’s
men’s shelter, he spends most of his days sewing at the Electric City Barn.
It looks like a typical designer’s
studio, and it’s not far from where Sincere — he goes by just a single name
these days — had his first fashion show last year, sending local models wearing
looks from his Sincerely Black fashion line down the runway. In the coming
months, he’ll be spending more time there than ever, designing and sewing for
his second fashion show in November.
It’s all a far cry from where his
career began.
“I started sewing in prison,
taking the green prison uniforms and altering them,” Sincere said.
Born in Freeport, Long Island,
Sincere moved to Schenectady in the 1990s. He attended SUNY Schenectady
Community College’s culinary management program for a year but didn’t graduate.
At the time, he was struggling with drug addiction and substance abuse. In
2002, when his son was born, Sincere realized he couldn’t be a father in the
way he wanted to and live with his addiction.
“I was in a crack house and I was
begging God to help me. If I wasn’t going to be a father to my son, I didn’t
want to be alive. I was really thinking about killing myself,” he said.
Shortly thereafter, Sincere was
pulled over by Schenectady Police after they received a tip about him. He gave
them his license and fled the scene, according to a Gazette report from 2002.
“I took Schenectady Police on a
high-speed chase and I crashed on Broadway,” Sincere said. After the chase,
police said they sprayed him with pepper spray and hit him with a nightstick.
Sincere threatened them with a box cutter, slicing the uniform of one officer.
Officers shot at Sincere 16 times. Eight bullets hit him, leading to serious
injuries, according to The Gazette report.
Shortly after the incident, he
filed suit against the city of Schenectady, but dropped it in 2004. Sincere was
charged with attempted assault and served six years at the Green Haven
Correctional Facility.
It was a wake-up call for Sincere.
It was also the place where he found his passion.
He started altering the prison
uniforms and making bow ties for fellow inmates. As one might expect, a
correctional facility isn’t the best place to find fabric, but Sincere used
whatever he could scavenge. That often meant utilizing the scraps of upholstery
the prison program would use to make chairs and other furniture.
Sewing was a way to keep busy. But
when he was released in 2008, Sincere turned his attention to making sure the
next generation didn’t make the same mistakes he did.
Working with Michael Arterberry,
whom Sincere met at Green Haven, he brought a workshop to the Capital Region
called the Power of Peace program, which helps kids and teens learn
conflict-management skills. Sincere and Arterberry wanted to bring the program
to the Hamilton Hill Arts Center and met with Miki Conn, who was the center’s
director at the time.
“It was the start of a
friendship,” Conn said.
While the program wasn’t the right
fit for the center, Sincere kept in touch with Conn and eventually began
volunteering there. Conn became Sincere’s mentor — and like a second mother.
“I had lost my son in a car
accident a few years before, and Sincere had lost his mom, so he called me
Mom,” Conn said.
For several years, Sincere
volunteered and worked with teens at Carver Community Center, Youth Voices
Center, Inc., and others. When it came to a day job, Sincere tried to get back
into cooking, but after his health declined, he had to quit.
It was Conn who suggested sewing.
Conn noticed how passionately Sincere spoke about it, and sewing seemed like
something that might be easier to make a career of, given his health and
financial situation.
“Every year for my birthday, Miki
takes me for brunch. She took me to Jo-Ann’s [fabric store] and said ‘Get what
you need to start,’” Sincere said. That was in 2018, around the same time he
started living at the City Mission. While he was there, he mentioned to Mike
Harrigan, associate executive director of shelter operations, his dream of
building a business with his sewing and designing skills. Harrigan immediately
wanted to help.
“They provided me with four sewing
machines and allowed me to sew, and the condition was I would do the Bridges to
Freedom program,” Sincere said.
The yearlong discipleship and
recovery program helps residents with whatever baggage they might have, said
Harrigan, whether it’s addiction or trauma. When Sincere started the program,
Harrigan made sure he could continue sewing.
“I think it’s important to
encourage people’s artistic expressions,” Harrigan said.
According to Sincere, the City Mission
did that, providing him space and equipment to sew. While he does most of his
sewing at the Electric City Barn now, he credits the Mission for helping him
get off the ground.
“They allowed me to utilize my
creativity. I couldn’t have [gotten] this far if it wasn’t for them,” Sincere
said.
Harrigan said allowing Sincere to
go after his passion has inspired others at the men’s shelter.
“It’s a great example to other
residents that being homeless does not stop you from pursuing your dreams,”
Harrigan said.
At the makeshift Mission studio,
Sincere created the designs for his first fashion show.
“I did it all from the City
Mission,” he said. “I was staying up all night sewing.”
“His fashion show was the first
event in the space,” said Erin Eckler, operations coordinator at the Electric
City Barn. Just a few weeks after the Barn was opened, nearly 50 people from
throughout the Capital Region came out to support Sincere and see the show. A
few months later, the Electric City Barn invited Sincere to become a member. He
brought his sewing machines and piles of fabric from the
City Mission to the Barn, where
he’s worked ever since. Sincere has also encouraged other community members,
such as photographer Jeffrey Johnson, to become members as well. Sincere’s drive
to create and turn his designs into a business make him the ideal Electric City
Barn member. The organization is both a community makerspace and an incubating
space for people who are trying to get small businesses off the ground or focus
on their art.
Eckler keeps track of
participation hours at the Barn to see how many people are using the space and
at what hours.
“[Sincere’s] hours are higher than
anyone else’s. They rival the staff hours,” Eckler said.
Beyond designing for his own show,
he also designed for Curvention, a local fashion show earlier this year. He
created 12 outfits for it, assisted by organizer Juliana Obie and tailor Adrian
McLaren. He’s also designed for students at Union College and Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute.
After close to a year of sewing
nonstop, Sincere feels as though he’s graduated to a new level of tailoring.
“[At] first, a person would tell
me what they [were] looking for and I would go look for a pattern for it. As I
started moving along, I started being able to manipulate the [patterns],”
Sincere said.
Over the past few weeks, he’s
worked on commissions for several prom dresses as well as graduation party
dresses. They’re all done in his signature, bright African patterns and combine
comfort with Sincere’s own flair.
“I have a bigger vision of where I
would like this to go. What I notice about a lot of my brothers and sisters
that are wearing African garb is that these things are not made in Africa. Most
of my fabrics are made in Holland,” Sincere said. “I want to be able to get
fabric wholesale straight from Africa, being more authentic and paying homage
and respect to my culture.”
To do that, he has to build the
business. He’s already received guidance from people at Electric City Barn, the
City Mission and friends. For now, he’s taking things one step at a time,
focusing on the upcoming show.
“Before it was just a fashion
show. Now I’m doing specific items for fall and spring,” Sincere said.
As he did last year, he’s casting
local models, with auditions from 3-6 p.m. on Sunday, June 30, at the Barn,
located at 400 Craig St. He hopes to cast roughly 20 people.
“The first one went really well
and I’m looking forward to him taking it to the next level,” Eckler said.
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