farewell movember!

Today is the last day of Movember. Finn has been growing out a scraggly moustache all month so I feel that today calls for some celebration, at least for my sake. The whole affair would be less repugnant if the moustache could be joined by a beard but the rules don't allow that. Just a lone, squalid moustache. And tomorrow it all comes off. Away with you unsightly (though comedic) facial hair! See you next year!

The moustached members of the SF TwitSpark office. 

The cartoony one is Tandy, who is female.

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Pocket Clothing: 10 Questions & a Special Discount!

Readers of finnfolk, I am pleased to introduce Pocket Clothing.

This Tennessee based clothing company takes cozy staples and customizes them with awesome pockets made from upcycled fabrics. They sew each pocket with love themselves and have everything from tanks and totes to hoodies and onesies for little ones. You choose your clothing, pick your pocket, and it's as easy as that! I have one of their henleys and love it (see below). Their top-notch clothes are starting to make their way into boutiques (and people's hearts, obviously). Best of all, they are really great people!

The stately gentlemen pictured above are founders and pocketeers, 

Luke Rutherford and Evan Story. Get to know them below!

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1. Describe your company in a sentence.
Luke: Limited quantities of fabric meets unlimited opportunity for joy.
Evan: Life's better with a pocket.

2. Where are you based / Where do you make your products?
Luke: We are in Knoxville, TN, and everything is handmade there. Locally owned, locally sewn baby!

Evan: Our base of operations in a wonderful place called the Pocket Lab located in a secret locaiton in Knoxville. We spent many hours in the lab experimenting on new creations and planning out next adventures.

3. Where do you find your awesome fabrics?
Luke: We get our fabrics everywhere! Currently, we've gathered pockets from Tennesssee, South Carolina, Virginia, New York, California, Hawaii, Kentucky, Colarado and we're constantly searching. Our fabrics come from thrift stores, flea markets, yard sales, your grandmothers attic (those are the  hardest to get) - anything goes. Going on fabric hunts is something I enjoy the most about working on Pocket Clothing.

We use the conecpt of upcylcing these fabrics by giving them value once again as pockets on our shirts. Some fabrics can make 50 pockets, and some could only make 2, giving it the limited edition aspect to get one while it's still in stock. I would say that's the biggest appeal to our product - you could be one of only a few, if not the only one with the exact shirt and pocket combination in the UNIVERSE!

4. How was the concept for Pocket Clothing born?

Evan: The concept was born out of many late night talks from mega bed - a fusion of three queen sized beds into one large mega bed. We both wanted to create things other people would want.
Luke: One day after class, I showed up to the house with a 80s neon wallet from a thrift store - pretty normal. That lead to a conversation about the idea of creating apparel that people would enjoy as much as we would. Most likely we were watching an episode of Boy Meets World, which would have only benefited to our creativity. Once we started making shirts, we got some great feedback and knew others would want in on the pocket mayhem.

5. The company is now over a year old. Any big takeaways or important lessons learned from your first year of business?
Evan: The biggest part of doing big things is executing. Finishing. We have so many ideas all the time, but actually doing something with them is the challenge. Finishing the small things leads to finishing big things. Also. Starting our own company was the coolest thing we've ever done! I recommend this to everyone.

6. What's your favorite part about being an entrepreneur?
Luke: I love that we are able to create something that people seem to enjoy and want to be a part of. We said from the beginning that if we just saw a couple of people wearing our shirts on campus then it would be a success. It never gets old for us to see someone wearing a shirt, or to see a picture on Instagram of someone who just recieved their order and are pumped about their Pocket. It's the most encouraging aspect. That's probably what I love the most, seeing people wear our shirts because they like them. Insert smiley emoticon. 

7. If there was one celebrity you could pick to wear your clothes, who would it be? (Cartoons and fictional characters obviously fair game).
Evan: Dallas Clayton is first choice. He is a children's book author turned super hero.
Luke: I'm currently watching a show about BigFoot, so I would have to say, BigFoot. I would make him wear a cardigan.

8. Who is the one celebrity you would never want to wear your clothes? (Same rules apply).
Evan: I would never let Nickleback wear it.
Luke: The guy who created Myspace.

9. What's the next frontier for Pocket Clothing? Please say footie pajamas.
Luke: I can't say exactly what's next, but all I'll say is that no (real) animals will be harmed in the process.

10. Anything you want to say to finnfolk readers?
Evan: Sew hard or go home!
Luke: Don't let cursive handwriting die!

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This is my henley, which I wear all the time. It's their Unisex Baby Thermal Long Sleeve Henley in Asphalt with a Partly Cloudy pocket. It also matches my favorite pillow. 

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The Pocket Clothing team is generously offering 3 finnfolk readers 25% off their entire order!! This is literally their best deal to date. Be one of the first 3 to place an order and use the code finnfolk at checkout for the discount. 

PLEASE NOTE: the space to enter the code will appear after you enter
 payment information. After 3 people use the code, it will be gone.

UPDATE: all 3 coupons have been used! 


I hope this deal gets some of you amped. I kind of want to cheat and use it myself. 
Thank you Pocket Clothing!


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( You can connect with Pocket Clothing by signing up for their Newsletter on the lower right side of their website. Also check them out Facebook, Twitter, and even Pinterest. They are lots of fun, you won't regret it! )

milestone.

Today is my last day with Lululemon, the yoga clothing company I've been working for over the past few months. I'm transitioning to a new and very exciting job with ZeroCater, an awesome startup in the city that focuses on people and good food (literally two of my favorite things). I'll be working in a people-centric role, which is exactly what I've been looking for and they have an office dog, which is a pretty gigantic bonus in my opinion. Everyone I've met there is intelligent and warm and their office space rules. I start next week!

Kelp, the office dog!

I am thankful for my time with Lululemon. The relationships I made while there have made the city feel so much more like home, which has been invaluable. And this new position actually came as a result of a happenstance conversation and connection with someone at Lululemon. It's crazy how often treasures lay in unexpected places. My timeline of finding a full time position like this did not look at all how I expected (remember this?), but isn't that always how the good things come to us? Not like we imagined at all.

I'm getting my weekends back you guys! Hooray!

. . .

to outgrow an office.

We spent last weekend running errands and building tons of furniture for TwitSpark's new office in the Financial District. They've outgrown their current one, which makes me feel slightly like a proud parent. On Saturday night, we were at their new space with Davy, Fe, and Sam assembling shelves and chairs until 1 am, getting everything ready for the team to move in (it was actually really fun, we ordered in Chinese and listened to music while everyone worked). 

There were so many boxes!

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Last night, the team came to see the space for the first time. We had beer & snacks and played with the nerf guns & Sega Genesis (!!!) that Davy & Finn got for the office. They were intentional in making it a fun and comfortable place for everyone to work and hang out. They even have a stocked fridge and mini cereal bar. 

The view from Finn's window.

Laughing at his own expense.

That's Katie Tandy, the genius writer for TwitSpark. She could be a stand-up comedian. I love her.

Office essentials.

This is from the Jambulance in Allen Mask's music video Right Now!. I'm gonna sell it for $20k one day.

The TwitShark. 

Afterwards, I got dinner with these 5 fine people at House of Nanking, which is dangerously close to the office.

I am so proud of this team. They are a bunch of intelligent and good-natured individuals and all get along really well. And they work very hard. When Finn and I moved to SF 7 months ago, TwitSpark was just him and Davy in a single office. This move makes me realize just how much they've grown since then.

. . .

race weekend.

The Nike Women's Marathon is happening in San Francisco this weekend. Out-of-towners have been arriving all week and Union Square is decked out for the race - it feels exciting! It's lululemon's busiest weekend of the year and we have several events lined up to celebrate the event. I've been working every day and will be working all weekend too, so things here on finnfolk will pick back up next week. See you then.

If you live in San Francisco, come visit us at Grant Avenue tonight for a Night in Neon. Even if you're not participating in the race, come out. There will be glowsticks, a DJ, wine, food, and a flipbook maker!

. . .

moneybags finneran.

In the past few weeks I've started working for Lululemon Athletica, an athletic apparel company that sells high end yoga and running apparel. Here are things I really like about my new part time job: 

     1) It's 0.3 miles from where we live.
     2) Lululemon employees get to wear comfy exercise clothing to work every day.
     3) My store has partnerships with a few great yoga studios in town where I can take any class for free.
     4) My manager makes pumpkin chocolate chip bread on the regular. 

Where you can now find me many days of the week!

The position kind of fell into my lap and I'm so happy it did. I like the people there, am doing more yoga than ever, and get to wear what are essentially pajamas on a daily basis (this point is huge for me). It's all pretty great! They have a fun company culture and I'm thankful to be working again, even if it's just part time. 

. . .