You have a history degree, which focused on World War II. What from that period interested and inspired you?

Both of my grandfathers were in WWII and my dad was in the Army during Vietnam. My interest in military historydefinitely stems from this family connection and wanting to learn more about what my relatives experienced. I alsohad a grandmother-esque figure in my life starting from very early on who was German and came to the US after thewar, so that connection to Germany also influenced my interest in learning more about that time period.

Where did you grow up? What were you like as a child?

I grew up in a relatively rural area of New Hampshire and spent every moment I could outside exploring the forestsurrounding our house. If I wasn't running through the woods you could find me catching frogs bare handed in thepond on our property. My typical look as a kid was denim overalls, dirty knees, and pockets stuffed with salamanders.

You personal style is very vintage inspired, very woodsy and out-doorsy. Are you a tomboy at heart?

Most definitely a tomboy at heart. Menswear has always beenmore interesting and intriguing to me, especially when it comesto vintage clothing. I have a somewhat unhealthy obsession withbeat up old cotton tshirts (the kind that are so thin they're see-through when held up to the light) and old brown leather boots.Though I also really love to pair feminine pieces like vintagecotton dresses with more masculine items like old barn coats..when I was a kid I would refuse to wear anything girly, butthese days I enjoy combining the two. Oh and I also drive a 1988Toyota Land Cruiser, the best truck out there.

When did your love for flea markets begin? Which are yourfavorites?

My fascination with flea markets began at a pretty early agethanks to an older neighbor of mine who would frequent oneclose to our houses every week. I started going with her early inmy teens and it's definitely what had the most influence on mypersonal aesthetic. Her house was filled with beautiful old quilts,woven baskets, traditional New England furniture pieces.. and Ijust couldn't get enough of the finds she would bring home. I alsoreally loved interacting with the people selling old treasures andhearing their stories, that's always been a huge part of fleamarkets for me. My favorite will forever be the Davisville fleamarket in Davisville, NH because that's the one I grew up goingto … but I also love the flea market that I frequent most now, ToddFarm in Rowley, MA.

You have a great fondest for vintage army materials, grain andseed sacks and old Boy Scout backpacks. What draws you tothose items?

I have been drawn to military items for many years .. I used armybackpacks that I'd find at the flea market starting around middleschool and had a few great old army jackets around that timetoo (that were covered with punk patches of course). At first itwas the aesthetics that drew me in, I think. I've always beenone for simple, classic, practical items in neutral colors.. whichdescribes most vintage outdoor and military apparel.

I love the old logos that a lot of vintage grain sacks and feedbags have on them. The type and imagery used by the companiesduring the 1900's-1950's is unlike anything we have these days.

My favorite thing about these materials though is the personaltouches that have been put on them at some point in history. Ican't get enough of hand painted military duffel bags and oldBoyscout backpacks with a kid's name and drawing incorporatedinto the tag. These small details are what gives the materialsa real history to me. You can see that this piece of canvas wasimportant to someone 70 years ago and that they took the timeto carefully paint their name, serial number, and a portrait of apin up lady. I love being able to take those little snapshots ofhistory and incorporate them into my bags so we can see themin our current day to day lives and remember something thatmight otherwise be forgotten.

What other materials do you dig and feel translate well into yourwork? Who inspires you?

Other than canvas, my #1 love, leather is also a big favorite forme. There is nothing better than a simple, worn-in vintage leatherbag. I've long been inspired by the way leather has been used inbags and apparel throughout the centuries.. both on its own andpaired with canvas. Also linen has long been a favorite as well.There's just something about the way that linen feels and smellsthat evokes feelings of old New England.

I am so inspired by my friend Maura and her company, FolkFibers. She is one of the sweetest, most genuine people that I'vecome across and you can tell that immediately through her work.When you encounter a kindred spirit you just know immediately,and that's how I felt with Maura. The same goes for Amy Merrickwho does the most incredible work with flowers. I am also verymuch inspired by Ryan Rhodes / Caleb Owen Everitt and thework they do with LAND. These days when so much brandingand typography has a similar design aesthetic their work reallysticks out. And there are a few other bag makers out there whoI think do incredible work, like Chris Grodzki of Stanley and Sons.

Describe the first bag that you made.

I have a very vivid memory of the first time I realized I could re-work old military canvas into a new bag. I was at one of the fleamarkets I used to frequent in the winter of 2007 (it was in Lan-caster, MA .. but no longer exists) and came across a WWII duf-fel bag. I had been seeing and buying these duffels for manyyears, but on this day I just saw the material in a totally new light.I realized that if I cut it open it would be enough raw material forme to rework into something new and unique. I went home thatday with so many thoughts buzzing through my brain.. and thatduffel bag turned into a shoulder bag, which sold immediatelyonline (I had recently opened an Etsy shop a few weeks priorselling jewelry and small prints) .. and in that moment I realizedI had found something which had the potential to be a real busi-ness.

I love your small collection of vintage knifes you use. Can you de-scribe them?

I've always been fascinated by knives and had a drawer full ofsmall Swiss Army knives when I was growing up. I spent so muchtime outside and did a lot of traveling to far away places when Iwas a teenager so having a knife around was always a necessity.I have a tendency to collect the old things that I'm fascinated by,and since knives are something real practical I was able to justifypurchasing the ones I would find and fall in love with at the fleamarkets. I also started collecting more knives as I started gettingto know some of the flea markets vendors better. One vendor inparticular became a buddy of mine and he taught me a bit about

military knives and would put aside the ones he thought I wouldbe interested in, so I couldn't say no.

What keeps you inspired and moving forward?

Since the heart of Forestbound is the old fabric that the bags aremade from, constantly discovering new materials to work withkeeps me going. Just when I think I've found the most beautifulhand painted WWII duffel bag I come across something like anold, hand patched denim work apron in a barn that totally blowsmy mind and I realize that there's just so much out there to un-cover. The best part of what I do is coming across all this materialthat people have just been storing in their barns, garages, base-ments etc. and giving it a new life. I love being able to share a lit-tle piece of history with my customers through the fabric that Iuse, and knowing that I have the ability to keep on doing that justas long as I keep seeking out the fabric is so motivating for me.

What would your ultimate cabin in the woods look like and wherewould it be located?

I daydream of an old New England one room schoolhouse thathas large windows, french doors, and a big cozy fireplace. Aporch big enough for a few rocking chairs, sprawling herb andvegetables gardens, and a swimming hole nearby are necessitiestoo. My brother and a few friends have a piece of land in a beau-tiful part of central VT, so I'd like to build something close by. I'vebeen looking at land in Vermont on and off for the last few years,but haven't found 'the one' yet. But my dog and I are most defi-nitely ready for a quieter, country life.

You all jumped into this company with different, but not entirely dissimilar backgrounds. Describethe roles you all play in Knickerbocker.

AJ: I'm the first contact with clients and I deal with the brand and fabric sourcing. I work on the graphic design for thecompany as well, with help from designer Sonya Kazlova. She's amazing.

Kyle Mosholder: Dan and I deal with production end of things.

Daniel McRorie: I manage orders, our employees, stock components that we carry. I'm also working on the leathergoods that we produce.

AJ: Dan loves doing all of our monotonous stuff. He loves doing visors. He'll sit there doing visors all day, and will justhave the biggest damn grin on his face.

Daniel McRorie: Haha, yea, if I've got a minute I'll just jump right in there and sit down, stitch some visors.

AJ: Both Kyle and Dan do so many components of the hats. They really understand the machines, the fabrics, andthey know right away if something will work or not.

What has it been like going from small, independentcompanies to production manufacturing?

McRorie: To me, its really fascinating to approach somethingwith the point of view of a manufacturer. Before, I made every-thing one piece at a time. Its a slow process, and its veryexpensive to work that way. You have to charge a lot for thattype of work. And then to come here, and see how we can makea really nice product, as quickly and efficiently as possible with-out losing any of that quality. Its a whole different way of lookingat it, and I'm loving it.

Mosholder: It's been a new learning experience for me,because with a bag, it doesn't necessarily have to fit your body,it just has to fit your lifestyle or your aesthetic. So that's beeninteresting, to go through all the old patterns, see how to workon the fit, the silhouette.

McRorie: I've worked at factories before sewing. With shoesand other certain things, you're making a 3-D product from a flatmaterial, so whether its a shoe or a hat, its kind of the same thing.So its been really fun to switch over to hats and apply all thatpast experience.

What sort of clients have you worked with so far?

AJ: Mostly East Coast clients; smaller independent brands,boutiques, and a few larger brands as well. People have aconcept, they want to just try something out, and they can withus. This one guy did this military cap, it was really funky, andhe got to test that product out here; no where else would'vebeen able to do that for him. Some caps we've made havebeen more like art than a product. Already, we've had theopportunity to work with some really cool people, some reallyawesome projects.

McRorie: Our minimums are low - just 25 hats. So, it allowspeople to do multiple styles, where as before there were higher

minimums and maybe they wouldn't even have been able to doit at all.

Mosholder: From my past experience in having caps made ford'emploi, it was really hard to be a small company and havethings produced in a reasonable time frame. That is integral toour plan for Knickerbocker, keeping low minimums and quickturnarounds.

AJ: People will ask "Can we do this....?" and we'll answer "Yea!Of course we can do that." People aren't used to be able to haveoptions. Things were so closed off in manufacturing before, andits becoming so much more open now. I think the key to successin our business is accessibility, and allowing people choice.

Mosholder: It's a way to open up the possibilities for people.If they don't know whats possible, you show them. Or, if they do,its about revealing something else to push the work, raise the bar.All this new equipment has opened up so many options for us,and then in turn for other people.

AJ: We're new. We're still discovering possibilities too. Its like,everyday, theres a light bulb - BING!

McRorie: All the time!

So you’re not only manufacturing for other labels, butyou have your own label as well. Tell me about this.

McRorie: We're creating small capsule collections that aretheme based with limited numbers. These little collections arereally cool, because they aren't season based, so we can reallyhave fun and experiment. The next collection will be a completelydifferent idea, a different concept.

What is the collection coming out this November?

AJ: It's a 13 piece work-wear inspired collection, called theBorn to Dig Capsule Collection. We've been working with heavycanvases, woolens, fine cottons. We're doing a hats, a tool roll,some roll-top bags with d'emploi and some nice chore coats,button downs. We're trying to take traditional work-wear stylesand make them current - really functional in the fabrics and styles,but with better insulation, different details. It's a good platformfor all of us to showcase the type of work we can do. It reallyworks out perfectly, everyones individual focus comes together,we all have a hand in all the design. We're all from such differentplaces (California, Pennsylvania, Canada), so naturally, ourbackgrounds give us really different inspirations. Its so fun tobounce ideas off of each other.

Mosholder: And with these capsule collections, we're notlocked into doing a version of last seasons thing this season, itdoesn't have to be anything in particular. Its a great platform,because whenever someone throws out an idea, and it resonates,we have the freedom to just run with it.

What are some other projects that you’re excitedabout?

AJ:We're doing a series of short films highlighting other makers,independent artists, called The Artisan Series. I'm working withfilmmaker Jason Filmore to put those together. We want to show-case these people and bring our network to theirs, their networkto ours. Its good to grow this, bring the making communitytogether. Everyone loves seeing someone really passionate aboutwhat they do. Its rare.

McRorie: We're also starting a weekly project called One-Off

Wednesdays. As we were working, we were finding theseamazing materials, but only enough to produce one or two hats.But, because the resources are right here, we just starting makingthem. It gives us a chance to try a new clasp or a new fabric. So,we Instagram the finished hat, and the first one to reach out tous, snags it.

AJ: The last one sold in 40 minutes!

Where do you see Knickerbocker down the road?

Mosholder: There are a lot of other quality brands that we arealready working with. So we hope that as they grow, we grow.Ideally we'll be a symbol of quality. When people see a productthats come out of this space, they can trust that we've put a lot oftime and intention into all of that.

McRorie: Right now, we're all doing almost everything here. I'mexcited for the future, when we can bring in people to help uswith certain things. We want the line to grow without sufferingon the manufacturing end. If instead of cleaning the toilet, orrunning to the post office, we can spend more time designing,running the ship, I'd be happy.

AJ: I'd love to continue to branch out, have a store front, keeppushing our own boundaries. To design, create, and to make aliving off of it - now thats the dream!

I noticed you all hugged on the way into the factorythis morning. Is this the norm?

All: Yea! We hug on the way in, the way out. Hell yea, hugs allaround. We love hugs.

It was clear upon meeting it's founder (Dare Jennings) and it's creative DNA (Carby Tuckwell) the immediatekinship would result in more than the usual high-fives of passing fellowship. It's hard to articulate that kindof connection…I almost feel like if you can, there's no real magic, so I'll just leave it at that.

Deus isn't only about 'things'. Actually, it's more about what you do with said things. The things themselvesare not bad - it's the excessive desire or obsession for them that screws other companies up. Chasing everytrend and fashion moment steers us in the wrong direction. A brand culture strengthens us more than anarsenal of clothing, accessories, *insert your trapping here*. For me, Deus' core message represents "not arace for what is next, rather, an appreciation for what has come before and how it's applicable today - inthis moment". That and a healthy dose of faith, humility, integrity, love for others and moderation in allthings could be the recipe for a happy life. The Deus disciples' life is not primarily about the acquisition offine material things that define them, rather, defining themselves by the life they live and the passionto experience it. It's an uphill battle with lots of backsliding along the way - but it's that knowledge andunderstanding that's "the juice", ultimately.

Dare, what’s in your pockets right now?

Not much, as I'm wearing overly tight jeans. Looking forward towhen the fashion swings back to more generous proportions.

What modern day (or not) invention do you like most?

Mobile telephony would have to be in the blessing and curse cat-egory.

Last book you’ve read?

I have just reread James Elroy's American Tabloid. It blew meaway, just as much as it did 12 years ago

Seems like you’re almost always in a different timezone, when traveling. What single item is ever-pre-sent?

Sadly, my old person's medication bag.

What was your first motorcycle?

When I was 18, I bought a clapped out WLA Harley from a localhoodlum. It was most educational.

Last time you wore a tie?

To a wedding of someone I didn't like very much.

What word(s) would your children use to describe you?

Overweight, balding and old.

Having been raised in rural outback, fondest memorygrowing up on a fram?

Loading up the family car for a trip to as far away from the farmas possible. Preferably the coast.

Being a music lover & former independent record labelowner, what song do you wish you had written?

There are so many, but let's go with the Triffids' Wide Open Road.

In the time I've known you, you're keen bullshit radaris amongst the most highly-attuned i've witnessed. in

the myriad of business dealings what of the 7 deadlysins do you find the most offensive?

I email therefor I am. I have an MBA, therefor I, by definition,must know more than you. I take notes, therefor I'm working.Look, I have just talked non stop for 10 minutes without pausing.I have never had an idea in my life, but that will not stop me frompoking your idea with a stick.

I have noticed that in a business setting, the dead give-away for hierarchy is the amount of "stuff" an individ-ual shows up with. this almost always reveals peckingorder as the most powerful man in the room is oftenthe one that shows up with only a pen. I've been to sev-eral with you and you're always empty handed alto-gether...how do you keep everything straight?photographic memory, perhaps?

Who needs a pen. That would imply you were going to takenotes. I usually intend to, but never do. Some genetic aberrationI guess. Most of it is not that hard that you would need to write itdown anyway.

Last 3 google searches?

Australian Visa applications for Brazil. Neil Davis documentaryOne Crowded Hour. Venereal disease symptoms.

What single routine/ritual has to happen on any givenday, if any at all, at the start or by the days end?

Without my morning dip [summer and winter] at Bronte Beach, Ican't get moving.

Name a place you've yet to travel to that remains inyour wishlist?

Brazil. I should be there as I'm writing this, but my Visa applica-tion keeps getting rejected. Apparently the Brazilian and Aus-tralian immigration departments are trying to outdo each otherbureaucratically. I'm not sure whose winning, but the Brazilianswould be hard to beat.

Who is you're favorite Filipino?

AH-WEEEE-TAHN!

Why the name Shinola? How do you feel it representsthe new brand?

The business had been incubating for a long time and was tryingto find a name, we had even engaged someone to help us andstill nothing. So finally one day we were sitting in a room andsomeone said "you don’t know shit from shinola"… and there youhave it. The name represents the brand in that we don't take our-selves too seriously.

High-end watches, luxury bicycles and fine leathergoods - a slightly strange combo to some. Connect thedots for us.

It was as simple as knowing some of the world's talented crafts-men and design experts in each of these categories. We knewwe could make quality watches, bikes, and fine leather goodsusing resources that were predominantly from the US. We planto grow into new product lines the moment we're know wecan develop the highest standard quality of that product using amajority of US based experts and materials.

Talk a b it about the watches that are beingproduced/assembled in the factory and the folks whoare making them.

With Ronda, a world renown institution of experts producingSwiss Quartz movements, we're training our factory workers in-house. We've taught them how to assemble Shinola's Argonitequartz movements (named after the historic Argonaut buildingthat originally housed General Motors design center. It's nowknown at CCS, College of Creative Studies, and houses our watchmanufacture on the 5th floor). Our factory workers have gainedthe handskills and knowledge to assemble Quartz movementsin Detroit using Swiss made parts. Unlike your typical Europeanwatch manufacture that is quiet and still, ours remains veryAmerican – top 40 hits play in the background, and there is greatenthusiasm the moment line leaders finish their latest batchof movements. It's very dynamic. Everyone there has an energyabout their work, and seems to feel very proud of the workbeing accomplished.

Shinola bikes, the Runwell and the Bixby, are built oneat a time, by hand, with amazing attention to detail.Can you tell us about the folks involved in the designand production?

Shinola bikes are produced with the industry's most respectednames. Sky Yaeger, head of Shinola's bike production, is alegend (VP of product development at Bianchi for 20 years). Sheunderstands design and craftsmanship like nobody else. Theframes are produced in Waterford, Wisconsin by a 4th genera-tion Schwinn brother, Richard Schwinn. Assembly of the bikestakes place in Detroit at the Shinola factory housed on the 5thfloor of the city's College of Creative Studies. The Bixby bikes, 3speed models with Shimano mechanical disc brakes start at$1950. The Runwell 11 speed starts at $2950.

There are a lot of talented people involved inproducing Shinols's leather goods and journals. WhyHorween Leather Company and Edwards BrothersMalloy?

Horween has been the top of the top in producing fine Americanleathers since 1905. They're based in Chicago an still use hand-based techniques in its method that requires highly skilled crafts-people in every step of the process. Edwards Brother Malloy onthe other hand is family owned, and known for achieving suchhigh quality materials using domestic, sustainably-cultivatedpaper sources. This was especially important to us.

I'm really impressed with the design and colorway ofthe products, especially the bikes and watches. Talkabout that process.

Tying together three typically unrelated product lines presentedus with the ultimate challenge in merchandising – we had toachieve a certain continuity, harmony, and sense of balance. Weculled references from Donald Judd's flawless 90 degree angles– a form that would ultimately inspire the retail vitrines andfurniture which housed all of the product in the cleanest waypossible. It allowed us to showcase sophisticated color ways run-ning through all of the product lines. Our "orchid" pink color wasdyed so many times to get it right, that by the time we landed onthe right hue, our dye people forgot how they got to it!

Shinola stores are popping up around the country.What kind of shopping experience can a customerexpect to encounter when they walk in?

Customers can expect to walk in to a highly trained staff, in awarm, welcoming, and informative environment. Our product isdisplayed openly so customers can interact with it directly. Wespent countless hours educating our retail associates about theproduct - why it looks, feels, and works like it does. They knowour story well so they can communicate it authentically to anyonethat walks in. We have partnered with Drought a local cold pressjuice company in our Detroit store and in we have a Smile News-stand in our NYC Flagship – so the environment invites people tospend time with us and enjoy the brand.

How large a part does Shinola feel they are playing in"Made in America"?

For every product we make, we aspire to create it 100% in theUS. While there are still some parts coming from outside the US,our goal is to be transparent about this and let our customer knowthat we are working on a parallel development for thatpiece/screw/tool/etc here in the same moment. If we canproduce the majority of a product here in the US – AT SCALE -(key word here), then we feel we're playing a huge role in "Madein America."

Jordan and Yu i , two des ign in te rns f rom Por t land

S ta te Un iver s i t y, were c rea t ing a new ba tc h o f

Boro scar ves . On t he tab le t hey la id a long

wooden measur ing s t i c k to d i c ta t e l eng t h and

began searc h ing t h rough b ins f o r a base f abr i c .

They found a dark , so l id b lue -g reen f abr i c and ,

cu t t ing i t up in to large p ieces and p lac ing t hem on

t he tab le a long t he measur ing s t i c k , c rea ted a

foundat ion for t he scar f . Smal l empty spaces were

lef t in between the large pieces of sol id fabr ic , and

to f i l l t hose gaps Jordan found severa l kasur i—

fabr i c s woven f rom dyed t h reads t ha t make a

pat tern , s im i lar to i ka t—and Yu i produced severa l

scraps in shades o f l igh ter b lue. They cu t and tore

t hese f i l l e r f abr i c s , a l l o f wh ic h began as one or

two foo t -w ide squares , i n to even sma l le r pa tc hes

and f i l led in t he empty space. By t he t ime severa l

iden t i ca l s car ves were la id ou t , t hey had used

t he las t o f one o f t he f i l l e r f abr i c s and so t ha t

par t i cu la r des ign ’s r un was l im i t ed , as mos t o f

K i r i ko Made’s boro scar ves are , t o l e s s t han

f ive scar ves .

Boro is a term originating in rural Japan and refers toscraps of fabric, rags, or patches that are too good towaste. Boro textiles are commonly blankets or garmentsmade from or incorporating the saved scraps. Farm work-ers in the late 19th and early 20th century, facing harshoutdoor working conditions, used Boro scraps to patchholes in the knees of their pants or thicken their coats forapproaching winter months. Not having access to largeamounts of cotton fabric (hemp fabric was more commonbut not as durable or warm), most repairs were madeusing scraps from local cotton mills or discarded rags from

wealthier neighbors, resulting in an organic progressionof design: kasuri, indigo stripes, tattered rags, and differ-ent shades of blue were sewn together side-by-side.Today, Noragi—these farm coats, vests, aprons andpants—are prized by collectors for their spontaneous col-lage of fabrics. The romantic images of Edo Period Japaninvoked is also striking: of a farmer’s wife repairing bymoonlight a coat passed down from one generation to thenext, accumulating a hundred years of patches into a sortof family timeline.

During the process Dawn Yanagihara edited their choices.At one point, she placed her hand on a couple of stripedfabrics and rotated them, changing the visual flow of thescarf, but then she pointed to the base fabric and vetoed itcompletely, saying “that fabric is too green! It’s almost aquaand it doesn’t look right next to the others”, and the threeof them dismantled the design and began searching again,this time for a blue fabric that might work. Dawn, who worean ocean blue shirt tucked into white slacks and brownoxfords. She was raised in Hawaii until moving to LosAngeles to work in advertising until 2012 when, afterattending Portland State University and receiving a degreein design, she met Katsu Tanaka who was seeking a partnerfor a new accessory brand. After 10 minutes of meeting theyrealized a shared affinity for a similar aesthetic and style,and Kiriko Made was born.

"Part of the beauty of Borolies in the fact that it stemsfrom resourcefulness, thatit's a utilitarian fabric and itfulfills basic needs", Dawn said,removing from the wall a tattered, century-old boroblanket, "but it was still designed by someone and theplacement of fabric was still deliberate and purposeful.That combination of meaningful design and necessityevokes a sense of awe, and that’s what we strive for whenwe design our contemporary Boro scarves.” She unfoldedthe blanket and my eyes followed a wide area of fadedgray kasuri until coming upon a light blue striped fabricwhere a rich, deep blue indigo patch interjected. White-threaded sashiko—a running stitch commonly used tocombine layers in order to repair or reinforce a garment—circulated in curves and straightaways like linesseparating lanes on a road. The blanket’s texture wasrough, created by tattered fabric sewn on top of tatteredfabric. Through a hole in one layer I saw another patternshowing through: a beige with red and blue stripesrunning perpendicular to the stripes of the fabric above.And finally that big indigo patch, its perimeter was darkin color but its core was lightly faded.

Blue cotton is one of the most signature characteristics ofboro garments. Cotton fibers were notoriously difficult todye except with the use of indigo—a crystalline compoundtoday made synthetically, but once derived organicallyfrom the indigo plant. Before the 20th century, Japan hadas much as 40,000 acres of indigo under cultivation. Afterthe plants were harvested in late summer, the green indigoleaves were dried (at which point they turned blue) andfermented or composted, making their blue pigment watersoluble. Dyers dipped cotton yarn in vats of indigo manytimes a day for many weeks until the dye adhered to thecotton fibers. The laborious process of an indigo fabricmade it a luxury: dark blue cotton fabrics with almost-black stitching was more opulent than lighter fabrics andwhite threads.

A wrist watch band of bourbon brown leather, fabricbracelets in red, yellow, and blue, and a silver phoenix

ring with a heart of turquoise, Katsu’s style protracts allthe way to his fingertips. His Hawaiian shirt with woodenbuttons and exploding red and purple flowers reveals hisstyle as laissez-faire in temperament while still wroughtwith gentlemanlike details, which suit him well as the retailshop he’s owned in Old Town for the last few years hasmade him a neighborhood notable: we didn’t walk oneblock from the studio when a group of stylish 21-year-oldsoutside one of Portland’s bar arcades waved withfamiliarity, “Hey Katsu!”. During Kiriko Made’s genesisphase, he and Dawn sifted through vintage Japaneseadvertisements, photographs, and magazines to developtheir aesthetic. “We spent a lot of time thinking about whatgives those old things their sense of timelessness, and thenwe tried to imbue that into the Kiriko Made brand,” Dawntold me as we ventured down the block in search fordinner, returning to the studio with pizza and PBRs, andwhile we ate I flipped through a stack of Free & Easy andMonocle magazines. “We also read a lot of those stylepublications,” Dawn continued, “but trends have a wayof homogenizing and becoming similar, so more oftenthan not those publications just help us to see what’s outthere so we can do something different, or we riff on thosestyles and make our own reinterpretation of it, ending upwith design details in a similar vein to what’s popular butsomething that’s truer to our brand, and more current andfresh.”

Saying goodbye to the Kiriko Made crew, I passed a stockroom full of product. A shelf of metal bins was full ofscarves and fabrics, but I also saw bow ties, Boro straightties, and indigo cotton backpacks with contrasting whitestitching. “We’re growing our product line,” said Dawnas we ascended the stairs to the exit, “Boro wasn’t alwaysa luxurious, fancy fabric like it is now, it was once thefabric of the average person, and so we’re producingaccessories and garments that people actually need andcan use on a daily basis. We’ll still use antique Japanese,vintage Kimono, and kasuri fabrics, but we’re creating lineof apparel goods that will include more essentials likebutton up shirts and, well, more products that you’ll seesoon enough.”

While we were out in Portland having this existential reawaken-ing Nick Brayton and Josh Rich were doing some pot stirring oftheir own on the other side of the country. In march of 2012 theybecame the leaders of Woolrich, their family business, and weresetting out to redirect a very large ship towards some lofty goals.Ones that included a commitment to manufacturing and sourcingin the USA, as well as making this heritage brand relevant toa younger audience. Nick, the president of Woolrich, and Joshthe V.P. are 7th and 8th generation Woolrich blood, and know athing or two about this historic company's legacy. They areextremely motivated to continue in a way that would do it proud.The Woolrich they took over was one that still owned andoperated the countries oldest continually running woolen mill andand still produced amazing woolen fabric day in, day out. How-ever, like the majority of the garment industry, Woolrich had outsourced most of it's garment production to Asia, while alsosuffering from a disconnect with the younger audience. Nick andJosh had a vision for Woolrich that would require some bigmoves, moves that are well outside of the comfort zone of thegarment manufacturing industry now a days. A vision we wereabout to become much more acquainted with…

This past January, Gehron Burkholder who is Woolrich's westcoast marketing representative and a key person in this reinvigo-rated Woolrich, reached out to us. He was stoked on what wewere doing and wanted to meet up and tell us a little about whatwas going on with them. We hit it off right away, and it wasobvious that this was a good dude. While we were gettingacquainted, Gehron was telling us about all the changes andmotivations going on over at Woolrich and we were tellingGehron about our up coming trip to South America. There was agrowing mutual stoke happening and we felt like something radcould happen here. Then right at the same time, Nick Braytondropped an open letter out into the world from Woolrich outliningthe direction they were taking and their commitment to Americanmanufacturing. Once we read that letter we were fully hooked.It was really exciting to be hearing all this from a company thesize of Woolrich. These folks were shaking it up!

Soon after, we began talking about really trying to do somethingtogether. It made so much sense. One of our biggest passionsthat we constantly advocate for is american manufacturing, andhere is a company with the motivation and the resources to reallymake a difference there and create jobs. We thought it wouldbe really cool to start out with something simple and direct, andbegan talking about doing a Woolrich/West America CampBlanket. We wanted to put something out sooner than later andit seemed like a blanket was the obvious course with a hope ofdoing some actual garments in the future. It was awesome howthe excitement radiated through everyone involved and theideas around the project were snowballing quickly. It was obviousthat the new heads at Woolrich had big plans and where willingto invest the time and finances to create something relevantand special.

Before we knew it, we were all talking very seriously aboutproducing a cobranded capsule line of American made goods

inspired by our trip to Patagonia. So rad and exciting! As thetalks and excitement built, we all felt that it was time for us to havea visit to Woolrich.

In March, we boarded a plane and set off for New York City,the new home of Woolrich's design offices. Upon arrival wewere greated by Karuna Scheinfeld, Woolrich's V.P. of designand Donna Fitch, Woolrich's merchandiser and the four of usimmediately jumped in a car and drove out to WoolrichPennsylvania three and a half hours away. The drive through therural Pennsylvania farm land allowed us to get to know eachother and talk about our ideas in person. Right from the begin-ning there was an instant bond with Karuna and you could tellshe understood us and what we were thinking with the collection.She created a comfort that would define the collaboration fromthat point on.

We pulled into Woolrich late in the night and met up with Gehronat the Woolrich lodge. He had come out for our visit also, andwe all had a nice little catch up before crashing out. The next daywas amazing. We met all the awesome people that we had beentalking to over emails and phone calls, and got to put faces to allof the excitement. It was an incredibly reassuring experience. Thesame good vibes and enthusiasm that we found with Gehronseemed to carry through everyone at Woolrich. Then we got totake a tour of the mill.

Walking through the mill is an incomparable experience, theplace is surreal and massive. Watching the wool start at one endof the plant and slowly makes its way into a finished product onthe other end is fascinating. Each step involves skilled hands ableto adjust and modify the process as they go, to read the wooland make the necessary changes. There are no computersreplacing the human mind. Oil cans are next to each machineand you can feel the sense of pride the people working here havein knowing their machine in and out. In the center of the mill thereis a fully equipped machine shop with shelves of gears andbushings waiting to replace worn components. It takes a skilledteam to keep everything running smooth, and many of theindividuals working in the mill are second and third generationWoolrich employees.

Our tour ended in the archives where we found rolls upon rollsof deadstock wool that we got to sort through and select fromfor our collection. A pretty incredible sight. We dug through therolls with Karuna and Gehron, looking for the right weights, andweaves. There were so many incredible fabrics sitting up therebut the find of the day was definitely the 18 yards of Woolcamthat Woolrich last produced in 1991. We had exchanged manyemails with Gehron about how rad the printed wool camo thatthey used to do was and we were all really hoping to find somethere. It was sitting far back in a corner, and had us hollering withexcitement upon it's discovery. Not enough to produce any runsof garments we ended up making 122 hats out of it, and they areawesome!

Over the next couple days in Woolrich we toured the beautifulcountry side and gave Karuna all our ideas about the pieces.In stride, she gave her years of expertise and some redirection.We all understood that we wanted to make pieces that func-tioned on the bikes and looked great off the bikes. Simple androbust clothing for everyday use. We don't have much cargospace on the bikes so it all needed to be multi functional andwork together. Plus, we really want to avoid looking like stormtroopers when we roll into a new town! It was awesome howshe could take these ideas from a couple guys who have no realclue about clothing design and turn them into well thought outgarments.

A couple months after our visit out to Woolrich we met up withKaruna in Portland Oregon for what we thought would be thefirst in a series of fittings and adjustments. What we ended up

trying on was perfect! A testament to the skills of Karuna andher team, the prototypes needed nothing changed other thansuperficial details. It was amazing, we went from an idea to spoton samples in two months and now shipping the actual produc-tion at the beginning of December this year. That process nor-mally takes a good 18 months and because of the motivationand talent at Woolrich it happened in 9 months. Pretty amazingand a constant honor to work with them.

Over the next year we are going to put this line through thegrinder as we live off our motorcycles and in our tents travelingto Patagonia and back. Designed to take that serious beatingand be life long possessions, I can't wait to look at it once allthat life has happened in it.