We just got back from an amazing road trip to the production house in North Carolina where Holstee's T-shirts and Fins are being made. We left last Wednesday on the 28th in the AM when the
Genius Ride guys dropped off our Hybrid Prius
rental at the apartment.
The foliage made the ride down beautiful! We stopped mid way at Ramesh (our sister!) and Matt's (her husband) for some
home cooked Persian food and a quick rest then hit the road again in the early AM.
Our first stop in NC was our production facility. We got to meet the folks that we've spent the past several months corresponding with via phone and email including Ellen, the founder of the production house; Robyn our Pattern Maker; Bobby, the fabric cutter; and Carol the lead seamstress. At first when we arrived, there was a small hiccup, Bobby was a bit under the weather, and there were no back up cutters available. Cutting is the first thing that needs to happen, before any production can begin - delaying the cutting could push out our completion date by up to another week. A week we didn't have. Nonetheless, we worked with Ellen to ensure everything else was in place, and brainstormed a couple of things that could be done in the interim.
We couldn't hang at the production house too long though, because we were scheduled to speak at
Duke University within the next 3 hours.. and it was a 2 hour drive away... and needed to finish preparing. So we hopped back in the Hyrbid and began to make our way to Durham, NC.
When we arrived at Duke we were immediately blown away by the beauty of the campus. Even more impressive though, was the sustainability program we learned about - from an on campus bike sharing program, to composting in the cafeteria's kitchen, to plans to be carbon neutral by 2024... it was so exciting to hear a University taking such bold, progressive steps.
When it was our turn to speak in front of the 75+ student audience, Dave and I definitely shared a nervous energy. Once we got up and started
sharing the origins of Holstee with the crowd and some of our goals - it felt nothing short of amazing. One of the highlights of our presentation was when Dave read the
Holstee Manifesto out loud. At least five students came up to us afterward to share how they switched (or planned to switch) from a course of study they felt they
should take to one that was actually aligned with their interests. It was a very neat moment.
We spent the next couple of days in Durham exploring the rest of the 'research triangle'. UNC's Chappel Hill has a fun night scene and we even sampled NC State's homemade ice cream (they source their milk from cows on campus!). Next stop was Charlotte. Thanks to our host,
Drew, the Charlotte we experienced was awesome and probably the most memorable city of the trip. We got to speak with the guys at
Black Sheep Skate Shop where we learned that skateboarding in Charlotte is illegal (even for commuting)- a police officer can actually stop a skater, issue a ticket AND take their board away just for riding in the street. This was frustrating to hear- we're trying to get them connected with folks at
Transportation Alternative and
Streets Blog. We also got to
hand write Holstee's manifesto on the wall of Owens Bagel Shop- this is the first place we will hit up next time we're in Charlotte.
Our last stop in NC was the production facility. We had since heard that the fabric cutter was back in action, but his being out caused a backlog in their production line - but they were doing their best to catch up. We got there about the time the seamstresses usually wrap up, but to our surprise the whole staff was still there putting the final details on
our T's and Fins... turns out they've become big Holstee Fans, and they told Ellen that finishing our project on time was important to them.
So we're happy to say, not only are Holstee products hand made in the USA, they're made with love too :-)
We couldn't hang at the production house too long though, because we were scheduled to speak at Duke University within the next 3 hours.. and it was a 2 hour drive away... and needed to finish preparing. So we hopped back in the Hyrbid and began to make our way to Durham, NC. When we arrived at Duke we were immediately blown away by the beauty of the campus. Even more impressive though, was the sustainability program we learned about - from an on campus bike sharing program, to composting in the cafeteria's kitchen, to plans to be carbon neutral by 2024... it was so exciting to hear a University taking such bold, progressive steps. When it was our turn to speak in front of the 75+ student audience, Dave and I definitely shared a nervous energy. Once we got up and started sharing the origins of Holstee with the crowd and some of our goals - it felt nothing short of amazing. One of the highlights of our presentation was when Dave read the Holstee Manifesto out loud. At least five students came up to us afterward to share how they switched (or planned to switch) from a course of study they felt they should take to one that was actually aligned with their interests. It was a very neat moment.
We spent the next couple of days in Durham exploring the rest of the 'research triangle'. UNC's Chappel Hill has a fun night scene and we even sampled NC State's homemade ice cream (they source their milk from cows on campus!). Next stop was Charlotte. Thanks to our host, Drew, the Charlotte we experienced was awesome and probably the most memorable city of the trip. We got to speak with the guys at Black Sheep Skate Shop where we learned that skateboarding in Charlotte is illegal (even for commuting)- a police officer can actually stop a skater, issue a ticket AND take their board away just for riding in the street. This was frustrating to hear- we're trying to get them connected with folks at Transportation Alternative and Streets Blog. We also got to hand write Holstee's manifesto on the wall of Owens Bagel Shop- this is the first place we will hit up next time we're in Charlotte. Our last stop in NC was the production facility. We had since heard that the fabric cutter was back in action, but his being out caused a backlog in their production line - but they were doing their best to catch up. We got there about the time the seamstresses usually wrap up, but to our surprise the whole staff was still there putting the final details on our T's and Fins... turns out they've become big Holstee Fans, and they told Ellen that finishing our project on time was important to them. So we're happy to say, not only are Holstee products hand made in the USA, they're made with love too :-)
