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Get Made: They wear their Tahoe pride on their sleeves, literally |
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Written by Paul Raymore
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Tuesday, 16 October 2007 |
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“The inspiration behind it was definitely just the pride in Tahoe that us and all our friends have for where we live. We felt that if we could put that as a logo onto a shirt, everyone would be really happy to support that and wear it.” — Morgan Miller, co-founder of TahoeMade Pure Clothing
Jordan Basile and Morgan Miller designed their first T-shirt during their junior year at North Tahoe High as a way of rallying support for the high school basketball team. What they didn’t anticipate on was the support they would find for their designs.
That first T-shirt inspired the pair to do another their senior year, and then to start talking about the need for a local clothing company to represent the Tahoe area.
“We had talked about starting some sort of company that represented Tahoe — it’s where we grew up and we’re obviously pretty stoked on the place we grew up in. And we wanted to put something together, not necessarily to make a living, but to have something to wear that represents where we live,” Basile said.
 Thus, TahoeMade Pure Clothing was born.
Miller and Basile both graduated from North Tahoe High in 2005, with Miller going on to college at Arizona State University and Basile taking a year off to ski competitively before heading off to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. But before either left the Tahoe area, the two friends made plans to keep working on designs for TahoeMade.
Basile found some spare time during the winter of 2005/06 and the pair had a limited quantity of their first T-shirt printed and for sale, mostly to friends and locals, that season.
“When we did that first batch of T-shirts, all we wanted to do was break even,” Miller said. “It was a complete experiment. In the last year, our aspirations for it have changed completely, just because of the positive feedback that we’ve received from such a large group of people. It’s definitely the feedback from everybody else that has had the biggest influence on the company.”
When they sold out quickly of their first T-shirts, Miller and Basile ordered more, and soon found a market for their designs at Fine N Funky clothing boutique in Tahoe City.
 “It kind of started because we had some friends working at Fine N Funky and they said ‘Hey, maybe we can sell some shirts,’ just trying to be friendly. And then having the owners call up and say that our stuff is selling like crazy in there and they want more and more just really changed our perspective on it. We started thinking of it more as a career opportunity for the future,” Miller said.
So the TahoeMade line was expanded, with new T-shirts, zippered sweatshirts, hoodies, trucker hats and stickers sporting contemporary designs showing off a little bit of Tahoe style.
“The whole basis behind our company is the lake,” Basile said. “You’ll find the lake on pretty much every design we make with a few exceptions. For both of us, Lake Tahoe is an amazing place in a lot of different ways — the community aspects as well as the scenery and the lifestyle — and I think the company is able to feed off that.”
 But while the grassroots appeal of their clothing has been proven, Basile and Miller both admit it’s challenging trying to promote a new clothing line while enrolled in different colleges — 500 miles apart none-the-less — and only back in Tahoe during the summers.
“We love coming back for the summers,” Miller said. “I think for a lot of people, Tahoe kind of fades away after high school. [Whereas] we’ll come back as long as we possibly can. We absolutely love our home, and that has a lot to do with the company...
“The support from the Tahoe community has been absolutely overwhelming, and it’s changed our entire organization. It’s because of them that this has been such a success — everyone’s pride for where they live and everyone’s excitement to put on a clothing brand with that name on it. That’s just been a huge difference in our lives.”
Next up for Morgan and Basile?
 New designs, additional products (look for TahoeMade flip-flops soon), and hopefully distribution throughout the Tahoe Basin, Reno, the Bay Area and online... Whatever it takes to keep spreading the Tahoe love.
The founders:
Jordan Basile
Age: 20
Hometown: Squaw Valley
College: Sophomore at Cal Poly SLO
North Tahoe High: Graduated in 2005
Studying in college: Recreation Administration major
Morgan Miller
Age: 20
Hometown: Tahoe City
College: Junior at Arizona State
North Tahoe High: Graduated in 2005
Studying in college: Film Production and Business major
Products: TahoeMade currently sells T-shirts, sweatshirts (zippered and hoodies), hats, stickers and accessories. The T-shirts are the most popular, sweatshirts are new this past summer and are taking off, and the hats are popular among locals, according to Basile.
“We’ve gone through a number of different phases of design, but the few things I can say about TahoeMade clothes are: They’re natural in the sense that we usually do pretty basic colors — grays, greens, earth tones... Our stuff is unique. The quality of the T-shirts is one of the biggest attractions, as well as the designs. I’d say the key word with all of our designs is simplicity — we don’t go all out and try to cover a shirt in a design, it’s just simple, small and looks good.” — Morgan Miller
Retail locations: Fine N Funky in Tahoe City, Tahoe Dave’s in Tahoe City, Down By The River in Truckee.
MySpace: Get a look at TahoeMade products and designs at www.myspace.com/tahoemade
Photos by Keith Sheffield/Tahoe World
Top to bottom: Allison Yonto models a T-shirt by Tahoe Made Pure Clothing. Locally, Fine 'n Funky in Tahoe City sells the brand at The Boatworks Mall at 760 North Lake Blvd.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 16 October 2007 )
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