Story

Keep it Simple

Make a quality product with a strong attention to detail and be friendly. With that in mind, I handcraft quality accessories in my Oak Ridge studio with love and care. Sure, it takes longer this way, but quality and character are the ideals, not mass-production. I suppose I’m old-fashioned that way. I just truly believe there is something to be said for knowing exactly where something was made, and by whom.

History

This business was born of the experiences of two solo bicycle trips that I took over the summers of 2007 & 2008. The first was about 2,000 miles up the Pacific coast, from San Diego to Canada. The second took me 3,500 miles from Tennessee to Rhode Island to Montana and Colorado to New Mexico and beyond. It was on this second trip that I became enamored with the idea of creating useful and beautiful objects.

In the winter of 2009, I moved to Nashville, Tennessee, intent upon learning the craft of making custom clothing, and took a job at a local tuxedo shop. My experience in sewing was minimal, but I was determined and hungry, so I started teaching myself as well as apprenticing with a local tailor. That June I was asked by a coworker (and daughter of the owner) to make neckties for her father and brother for Father’s Day. I had never made a tie before, but I gladly took the commission. The ties were a success, and within a couple months I was receiving commissions to make custom neckties for weddings. Soon, word continued to spread, and in the spring of 2010 I filed for a business license, secured a wholesale account, and began my own line of handcrafted neckties. Within a year, I added a few more wholesale accounts, built an online store, quit my job, and jumped into this business full-time.

Soon, more products were added, as well as employees. With the gift of good press, along came more attention and more opportunities. That led to more employees and more disconnection between me and the product. After a few years of being considered a "fashion brand," I decided to make a pivot and return to my original intent: to be an artisan and maker of fine goods. So I slowly dismantled much of what I built up, shifted my focus to making caps (which was always one of my original intentions, as caps are a big passion of mine), and eventually left Nashville for a quieter setting. Now I design and make caps and bow ties and other accessories in my home studio on Black Oak Ridge, in East Tennessee, and ship them all over the world.