OUR STORY
I built a factory with my bare hands. I was 24 and dumb enough to not know any better, and with a few thousand dollars in my pocket, I set out on my next great adventure.
I had been making t-shirts in one form or another since I was 12 years old. Iron-ons at the kitchen table with mom turned into screen printing band merch in my parents basement. Teaching myself to sew in college led to tailoring suits for my fraternity brothers and ultimately landed me a job in corporate fashion where I bought 6 million pair of boys underwear in the single year I worked there. Not for me.
In 2017 I decided to call it quits and bet on myself. I left the corporate world for good, moved back in with my parents, and bought 3 used Juki’s and a cutting table, setting up shop in a second story warehouse in Corktown, Detroit’s oldest neighborhood.
I wanted to build something in my hometown that actually made a difference. By starting a garment factory, I would not only get to do something I loved, making great clothes, but I could create real jobs and real opportunities for Detroiters, being part of the comeback of this iconic American city that I loved so dearly.
Made By Hand
I started off slow - hand-cutting and sewing a new t-shirt every single day. Studying Youtube videos of factory workers around the world, learning how to make the best t-shirt that I could. My shirts were crude. They looked homemade. For two months I made a new shirt every day until eventually, I perfected it. Off to the races.
I hustled my butt off, hawking my handmade tees to anyone that would listen. I don’t know why anyone gave those early tees a shot, but thankfully people did.
The factory was running, and I needed to build a team. We hired anyone that would work for us. We had a rag tag group in the early days that had no business making high-end clothing, but piece by piece we made something real.
Building on the early success of our t-shirt, we added more styles like crewnecks, hoodies, and more. We built slow and steady, making every mistake in the book along the way, but getting ever closer to perfecting our craft. We figured out everything through trial and error - fabric shrinkage, garment dyeing, and what kind of cotton thread to use that wouldn’t get shredded by the machines. We were taking private label orders for ever bigger clients, and slowly, word started to get out that we were making some pretty great stuff here in Detroit.
Our Future
We’ve continued to be part of this second renaissance in Detroit, growing our team and moving factories every few years to keep up with the growth, all the while sticking to our core value of making the best possible garments that we can.
We’re incredibly proud of the work we do. We’ve bootstrapped a factory with no outside funding and have made a name for ourselves, making product for some of the best brands in the market, sold around the world.
2025 is the year of Soft Goods. It’s our time to step out of the background and share our craft directly with you. We have no plans to stop working with our incredible partners, but we are excited to also offer a special collection of our favorite Soft Goods garments directly from our Detroit factory to you.
If you’ve been around for a while, thanks for following along with our journey. If you’re new here, buckle up and get ready for the ride.
Josh York, Founder
