People often think that our last name is Moore and when we tell them it isn't they are occasionally puzzled.
If we aren't the Moore's then where the hell did the name come from?
Short answer is that my great grandparents were the Moore's. And what's cool about their story is that they ran an apparel store in the 50's where they sold clothing for men, women and eventually kids as well.
Their store name was "Moore's for Men and Women" and the store was located in Ceres, California, close to where I spent every summer growing up with my grandparents. My grandparents played a huge role in the buying and operations of the store and a huge role in my life growing up as I spent every summer with them.
Here's why we felt inclined to name our company after them:
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When we started printing shirts back in high school we kind of realized that even though it wasn't exactly the same, it was neat that we not only were starting a business (they were the only ones in my family to ever start a business), but an apparel business. One day it kind of just hit me that our business should be called Moore to continue on their legacy.
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Right after we thought about naming our business Moore but before we really formulated the brand, I was given a book by my grandmother, Betty Jeanne Moore that she had given my mom to hold onto when I was a baby. It was a book called "grandmother remembers" that she wrote for all of her grandchildren as babies to be saved until we were 18 to read. In my book from 18 years prior was an article about the store opening in the 50's. I told the family about that and found out that I was the only one with the article in my book. She just knew when I was a baby that it would be of importance to my life when I got older. Seeing this was the defining moment that solidified the name for the brand.
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I was always fascinated to hear more about the store growing up. My grandparents and I would sit for hours talking about the Moore's as people and how they ran the store. I was forever fascinated to find out more any chance I could. My granny helped with a lot of the buying so we always bond over talking about how the store was run.
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One thing I learned from talking to my granny about her parents is how they treated their people and the community. They had incredibly strong values that we are committed to continue keeping every day that we hope they would be proud of. They gave every customer the time of day. Even if they couldn't afford to buy something that day, they welcomed them into their shop. When my great grandfather passed away, there was an older man that never had money to buy things in the store but always found comfort in speaking with my great grandfather. He didn't have money to get a nice flower arrangement when my great grandfather passed so he brought the flowers he could in an old coffee can. This story has made us want to find ways to use cans within our product line. From candles to our limited edition sets, we love using them where we can (pun intended).
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My granny, the daughter of the Moore's has always been someone I admired in my life. We've always bonded over what she did in the store itself but what she did through her career inspired me and empowered me growing up. In a time where most women were housewives, she wasn't having it. She worked so hard to build a career for herself. In doing so, she became dean of a college managing departments run by men. I always felt like if she could do this in a very different time in society then I surely could grow up to be anyone that I wanted to be, including a business owner managing and working with men.
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We've always loved timeless design. We'v always been inspired by design concepts and advertisements from the 50's/60's in particular so knowing that's when the first Moore's was run has been super inspirational
It's an honor to name our business after my family who put community first and who worked hard to build a successful shop. It was such a different time when they ran their business in the 50's so it's been super fascinating to talk to my granny constantly about how business was run then vs. now. A lot of things have remained the same but many things have changed.
(Can we take a second to acknowledge that my aunt in the top right corner looks just like Kourtney Kardashian?)
We consistently think about how their business was fueled on community. The only way they sold anything was to get people in the store and to build the loyalty to get them to return. They always took feedback from their customers and always made them feel welcome. We created an open concept shop for people to come in and see how our products are made. When people walk through our doors we are grateful and make sure we are giving them the time of day, just like my family did 70 years ago.
I'm proud of my family history and remain excited every day to continue on their legacy in our modern world of business. They way we've grown and continue to sell our products is vastly different from the way they did but the values remain the same. We hope they would be proud of how we've continued to keep our family name in the apparel industry.