A year and a half ago, longtime friends Tim Hughes and Matt Belz started Loyal Collective, a jeans company based in St. Louis.
"I definitely think that surprises people. You think it's gonna come from LA or New York, everyone just assumes that," Matt said.
But it's here in a studio on Washington Avenue, where Tim and Matt design everything themselves.
Tim said, "I was really unsatisfied with what was out there. Everything was bedazzled and rhinestoned up and it just wasn't my style."
They wanted to make jeans for men that were simple and classic.
"It's raw denim right off the roll... it's mean to break in over time. Almost like a custom fit," said Tim.
When the two friends started Loyal Collective, they wanted to learn every aspect of the business, so they took up sewing... thanks to Craigslist.
Matt said, "We put an ad on Craigslist for someone to teach us sewing. And met this crazy hippy lady who taught us how to make a protoype."
They weren't completely without experience in the industry. Matt once worked at Rock and Republic, a jeans company that was based in Los Angeles.
"With a crazy connection ended up as the assistant to owner and designer of Rock and Republic," Matt said.
Today the jeans are made in LA and San Francisco and are sold on their website loyalcollective.com.
"We sell to the end customer for what we would sell them to a boutique for. So basically everyone is getting wholesale pricing," Tim said.
A company based in St. Louis with jeans sold all over the world.
