On January 16, 2007, Storyville opened its doors on a cold and rainy day in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Two years later, Storyville is in Baton Rouge, Austin and, beginning in February, New Orleans.
The last two years have been an incredible journey, full of twists and turns, setbacks and triumphs.
Storyville's success has been the result of a lot of hard work from a lot of people. My siblings Rebekah, Gabriel, Elizabeth, and (soon to be brother-in-law) Greg Moser and I have been working in the shops on a full time basis since Storyville's inception.
My brother Seth has worked weekends for us in downtown Baton Rouge at Main Street Market. Seth's wife Kate Quinn Harvey is working on some digital short videos for the upcoming Storyville Fashion Show in March. My sister Mercie has worked game days and helped oversee our financial accounting. My brother Blake, a junior at Loyola University, will prove a useful resource as we physically enter the New Orleans market through our recently announced partnership with Metro Three.
My fiancee Natalie Naquin has listened to me talk endlessly about Storyville for the entire 21 months that we've been together. Natalie has also given her time to Storyville, working the Keep Austin Bizarre Bazarre and in the Austin shop. My youngest four siblings -- Estefania, Juan, Victor, Paula -- have been jacks of all trades ... from starring in YouTube commercials to writing web order thank you notes, these kids do it all for Storyville.
In November 2007, Aubrey Howard burst into Storyville Baton Rouge as a new hire, and has been brought energy into the shop ever since. In Austin, we're getting some amazing help from Meredith Cranch, my cousin Ian Stamatedes and Sabina Palermo, all of whom joined Storyville in the fall of 2008. We've also been assisted by former Austin Storyvillains Sarita Lo, Inez Escandon, Melanie Horstman, Joy Li and Ashley Philpo.
And where would be without our designers? Absolutely nowhere. We're lucky to now have over eighty talented and diverse artists in Louisiana and Texas designing for Storyville. A handful of designers have gone well beyond the call of duty to support Storyville over the past two years. We'd like to specially recognize Metro Three (Starbuck & Lori Laney), Sekks Apparel (Jason Martin) and Giraphic Apparel (Josh Ford & Danny Ryan) in Louisiana and Jeremiah the Innocent (Heather Olson), Wild World (Duncan Jones), ClothMoth (Joshua Merritt & Scott McCarver), Hoagie Sized Productions (Brendon Walsh), Big Nose Little Dog (Mario DiGiorgio), Rural Rooster Clothing (JJ Campbell), Kelly D Tees (Kelly Davis-Burns), Will Heron Designs (Will Heron) in Texas.
We also need to send a big shout-out to our web designer and search engine optimization specialist Joe McFerrin of InteriorWebDesign. Joe worked hard over the summer and fall of 2008 to create Storyville's new website, and he's currently in the process of implementing some major upgrades that will make the website even more dynamic.
Since we're talking about the website, we also need to acknowledge the 200+ beautiful and handsome individuals that have modeled for Storyville. These models were all students from schools in Baton Rouge, Austin, New Orleans, Hammond, Houston, San Marcos, San Antonio, Lafayette, Monroe and other Louisiana and Texas cities. We'd also like to thank the guest photographers that we've used during the shoots, especially Jeff Roedel of 225 and American Thrift Media.
In Baton Rouge, we've gotten a lot of community support from our neighbors in the North Gate Merchants Association, including our friends at North Gate Tavern, Tiger District, Louie's, Serrano's, The Chimes, Inga's and Highland Coffees.
The seed money for Storyville came from a loan from Campus Federal Credit Union. Thanks to Todd Zirkle and CFCU for helping us get off the ground. Additional funding and strategic support came from Allen Harvey, Mercedes Durham Harvey, Joan Harvey (aka Granny Goodwitch) and Whitney Roche. We'd also like to recognize Whitney for his counsel and advocacy as we plan to grow Storyville in the years to come (Athens, Chapel Hill, Gainesville -- we're coming for you!).
Also, we need to acknowledge all of our friends over at Facebook. You guys have created a wonderful communication and networking device for small businesses like Storyville to utilize as they grow (and thanks to you, we have a legitimate excuse for playing on Facebook everyday).
Finally, we'd like to thank everyone who has supported us over the past two years. We've met a lot of people -- customers, artists, designers, merchants, models, photographers, bloggers, community activists, politicians, students, professors, cowboys, hippies, hipsters and a whole host of other people. We wouldn't be here without you guys.
We're especially grateful to everyone who keeps bringing us original ideas and designs for new tees. Developing more Storyville Originals will be a huge focus for us in 2009, and if we put our collective heads together, we can come up with the best designs anywhere.
Storyville is two years old today, but we still feel as though we're just getting started. Imagine where we'll be two years from now. Hopefully, by January 16, 2011, we'll be supporting local artists nationwide. Stay tuned; you know good and well that we're going to keep you in the loop on all things Storyville.
The last two years have been an incredible journey, full of twists and turns, setbacks and triumphs.
Storyville's success has been the result of a lot of hard work from a lot of people. My siblings Rebekah, Gabriel, Elizabeth, and (soon to be brother-in-law) Greg Moser and I have been working in the shops on a full time basis since Storyville's inception.
My brother Seth has worked weekends for us in downtown Baton Rouge at Main Street Market. Seth's wife Kate Quinn Harvey is working on some digital short videos for the upcoming Storyville Fashion Show in March. My sister Mercie has worked game days and helped oversee our financial accounting. My brother Blake, a junior at Loyola University, will prove a useful resource as we physically enter the New Orleans market through our recently announced partnership with Metro Three.
My fiancee Natalie Naquin has listened to me talk endlessly about Storyville for the entire 21 months that we've been together. Natalie has also given her time to Storyville, working the Keep Austin Bizarre Bazarre and in the Austin shop. My youngest four siblings -- Estefania, Juan, Victor, Paula -- have been jacks of all trades ... from starring in YouTube commercials to writing web order thank you notes, these kids do it all for Storyville.
In November 2007, Aubrey Howard burst into Storyville Baton Rouge as a new hire, and has been brought energy into the shop ever since. In Austin, we're getting some amazing help from Meredith Cranch, my cousin Ian Stamatedes and Sabina Palermo, all of whom joined Storyville in the fall of 2008. We've also been assisted by former Austin Storyvillains Sarita Lo, Inez Escandon, Melanie Horstman, Joy Li and Ashley Philpo.
And where would be without our designers? Absolutely nowhere. We're lucky to now have over eighty talented and diverse artists in Louisiana and Texas designing for Storyville. A handful of designers have gone well beyond the call of duty to support Storyville over the past two years. We'd like to specially recognize Metro Three (Starbuck & Lori Laney), Sekks Apparel (Jason Martin) and Giraphic Apparel (Josh Ford & Danny Ryan) in Louisiana and Jeremiah the Innocent (Heather Olson), Wild World (Duncan Jones), ClothMoth (Joshua Merritt & Scott McCarver), Hoagie Sized Productions (Brendon Walsh), Big Nose Little Dog (Mario DiGiorgio), Rural Rooster Clothing (JJ Campbell), Kelly D Tees (Kelly Davis-Burns), Will Heron Designs (Will Heron) in Texas.
We also need to send a big shout-out to our web designer and search engine optimization specialist Joe McFerrin of InteriorWebDesign. Joe worked hard over the summer and fall of 2008 to create Storyville's new website, and he's currently in the process of implementing some major upgrades that will make the website even more dynamic.
Since we're talking about the website, we also need to acknowledge the 200+ beautiful and handsome individuals that have modeled for Storyville. These models were all students from schools in Baton Rouge, Austin, New Orleans, Hammond, Houston, San Marcos, San Antonio, Lafayette, Monroe and other Louisiana and Texas cities. We'd also like to thank the guest photographers that we've used during the shoots, especially Jeff Roedel of 225 and American Thrift Media.
In Baton Rouge, we've gotten a lot of community support from our neighbors in the North Gate Merchants Association, including our friends at North Gate Tavern, Tiger District, Louie's, Serrano's, The Chimes, Inga's and Highland Coffees.
The seed money for Storyville came from a loan from Campus Federal Credit Union. Thanks to Todd Zirkle and CFCU for helping us get off the ground. Additional funding and strategic support came from Allen Harvey, Mercedes Durham Harvey, Joan Harvey (aka Granny Goodwitch) and Whitney Roche. We'd also like to recognize Whitney for his counsel and advocacy as we plan to grow Storyville in the years to come (Athens, Chapel Hill, Gainesville -- we're coming for you!).
Also, we need to acknowledge all of our friends over at Facebook. You guys have created a wonderful communication and networking device for small businesses like Storyville to utilize as they grow (and thanks to you, we have a legitimate excuse for playing on Facebook everyday).
Finally, we'd like to thank everyone who has supported us over the past two years. We've met a lot of people -- customers, artists, designers, merchants, models, photographers, bloggers, community activists, politicians, students, professors, cowboys, hippies, hipsters and a whole host of other people. We wouldn't be here without you guys.
We're especially grateful to everyone who keeps bringing us original ideas and designs for new tees. Developing more Storyville Originals will be a huge focus for us in 2009, and if we put our collective heads together, we can come up with the best designs anywhere.
Storyville is two years old today, but we still feel as though we're just getting started. Imagine where we'll be two years from now. Hopefully, by January 16, 2011, we'll be supporting local artists nationwide. Stay tuned; you know good and well that we're going to keep you in the loop on all things Storyville.
