Fashion Designer Maria Sjodin

She never considers the vanity of customers, not only because her customers do not have such worldly ideas, but also because she insists: "in the fashion world, we often need to create new needs, but there are real needs to be met urgently, and it is logical."

In most of the Protestant and other forms of denomination in the world, women can become priests or preachers.

Compared with 2187 male priests, Sweden has 2086 female priests, who pursue equality. In 2015, 34 new priests, 23 of whom were women.

In a jungle suburb of Stockholm, Sweden, there is a beige building. Maria Sjodin is busy in the studio, making the final touches for a group of fashionable clothes. This order comes from a group of unexpected customers: female clergy.

As a pioneer in this industry, Maria Sjodin has designed complex, ingenious and rigorous customized garments for women priests: tights, 7 point sleeves or horn sleeves or obvious architectural sleeves.

Most of them are black, but depending on the position of the wearer, there are other colors.

For example, the deacon of Sweden's Lutheran Church can wear a green jacket and skirt.

Maria Sjodin designs all her own clothes, and there are two female sewing assists from there.

The Casual Priest series she designed was the daily dress of the priestess. Most of them were jackets and skirts, but they were different from the sacred garments.

Beatrice Lonnquist, a female pastor in Stockholm, said: "the existing clergyman's clothes were originally made for male priests, and they were given to us when they were pruned."

It was reported that Maria Sjodin's design inspiration sprouted in 2002, and she found that no one specially made clothes for female priests.

"I had no religious background," she recalls. "I met a young female priest. She told me that the female priest had very few specialized clothes, and none of them was good."

So she designed and made a T-shirt with a priestess collar for the woman priest, which is also the starting point of her career.

Now, not only do we change the sleeves of our clothes, we also use new materials.

The first customer showed his new suit to his colleagues, and then Maria Sjodin received a steady stream of orders, initially in Sweden and Norway, and has now expanded to the United States, Britain, Australia and other countries.

Maria Sjodin smiled and said, "the best seller is me.

The first coat -- EVA.

Even some male priests contacted her, so now they supply a small number of male priests.

Maria Sjodin's clothes also support online shopping, with young, fashionable and slim models on the company's web pages showing her clothes, eliminating the stereotypes and stereotypes of the priests.

MariaSjodin, 46, is also wearing black when she shows her works. "My clothes are designed and made for the clergy, and I am passing a modern society," she said.

And her customers appreciated her more.

A customer commented on the company website: "it looks comfortable and professional.

It shows women's curves but not abrupt.

Elin Hyldeen Gartner has been wearing Casual Priest for more than 10 years. She explained: "on behalf of the Swedish church, I convey the will of Jesus.

When I do these things, I want to wear comfortable clothes, feel confident, and focus on my missionary work.

Lecturer at Stockholm textile school

Explained: "wearing Maria Sjodin clothes, the priest wants to show that they are ordinary people.

They do not want to take a long distance, but close to you.

Maria Sjodin said there were some doubters in the early days, but time proved that they were wrong.

She said, "time has proved that I have done something that satisfies the real needs."

Today, Maria Sjodin has 4000 customers worldwide, designing and selling works every day.

Most of the garments are currently produced in a factory in Portugal, but soon some of them will be produced in Italy.