PREPPY BY THE SEA Blog Feature On CHATHAM IVY.

http://preppybythesea.blogspot.com/2014/08/chatham-ivy.html

CAPE COD CHRONICLE ARTICLE ON CHATHAM IVY

SISTERS TRANSFORM VISION INTO BUSINESS TO HONOR FATHER
by Susanna Graham-Pye
CHATHAM -- Katie confesses to being the more
disorganized of the two - the crafty, creative one. Kim
is highly organized, though she does love fashion and
design. Katie and Kim Noble are sisters.
As they talk, the pair’s words tumble together, weaving
a story punctuated with laughter and love. The respect
and pride each has for the other is obvious. The sisters
are as different and similar as sisters
always seem to be.
The one thing they share completely
is their love of family and
for the treasured traditions built
here on the Cape over the course
of many summers.
They describe the long drive to
the Cape, being stuck in the back
of the hot car with the dog, stuck
in traffic - and then that first whiff
of salty air as the car crosses the
bridge - and not far behind it the
freedom of being set free for the
summer, of finally being on the
Cape.
“People share the same kinds
of memories,” Kim said, adding
that the common imagery creates
a kind of kinship with people who
know what you mean when you
talk about something -- Chatham
Band concerts, cookouts, or sunset
sunfish races.
For the sisters, finding a tangible
way to celebrate family traditions
and memories became a passionate
mission when four years ago their
dad, Dick Noble, was diagnosed with cancer.
Chatham Ivy is the result of that effort. What they
are calling a New England lifestyles clothing company
currently offers three different T-shirt lines: the Destinations
Collection, the Coastal Collection and the Wicked
Collection, which is the flagship reality of what, not so
long ago, was a dream.
On their website the sisters describe the heart of the
company concept: “...Dad taught us funny songs from
his days at Trinity College, wore critter pants, rep ties,
penny loafers (no beef rolls, please), played golf and
tennis, sailed, skied and helped us chase after our crazy
English setter, Misty. He fixed things himself, taught us
to be thrifty, taught us to ski, sail,
play tennis and attempted to teach
us golf. He took pleasure in bringing
home treasures – things other
people threw away that he planned
to refurbish. He taught us to manage
our money, but not talk about it with
others, work really hard, but enjoy
life, take pride in our appearance
without being vain, and keep our
chins up in the face of adversity. Our
Dad is an old school prep who never
tries to be preppy, he just is.”
“Working together as a family
on this project has brought joy to a
devastating time,” Katie said. She
described evenings of laughter spent
with her mother and father, sister
and daughter, drawing pictures,
kicking around ideas. At one point
they developed a “rather snarky
shark” character, but everyone
quickly agreed that shark merchandise
is already being done, and done
well.
Their first serious idea was
to design fabrics. The notion was
complicated and fraught with production
challenges. It was Katie’s five-year-old daughter,
Elizabeth, riding in the back seat, listening to her mother
and aunt talk, who said, “how about T-shirts?” It made
sense. Katie and Elizabeth had long been drawing pictures
of their favorite times on the Cape, and it was those
Sisters Transform Vision Into
Business In Honor Of Father
Continued on Next Pagememory-filled images that became the inspiration for the
pictures on the tees.
While the sisters have created three distinct T-shirt
lines born of their personal Cape memories, the images
on the Destinations collection include other areas in
New England where people spend their summers. It’s a
marketing strategy they hope will allow the company to
grow. They plan to make phone covers and canvas bags
as well, and hope one day to expand their collections to
include other family-centric, tradition-filled themes such
as dogs, holidays and seasons.
“I’m nostalgic,” Kim said. “I love Americana. This is
Americana from a New England perspective.”
The Coastal Collection, a series of more whimsical
designs, was created with children in mind.
If the art of their shirts celebrates a simpler time, their
marketing strategy takes full advantage of the digital
age. The shirts will be sold online. Because they are
made through a digital direct process, unsold stock is
kept down: shirts are made on demand. The process also
allows special, customized orders.
The pair used the Internet, Craigslist, to find the artist
who is now creating the images on the shirts.
“Kurt McRobert is amazing,” Kim said. “He’s fast, and
he has this great way of interpreting Katie’s ideas.”
Katie, whose doodlings are quite good, sketches ideas,
often with help of daughter Elizabeth. Those ideas are then
given to McRobert, who develops them into the images
that are used on the shirts.
“Kim has worked really hard to understand the technology
of everything,” said Katie.
As they were developing their ideas, the sisters simultaneously
worked on building an audience with a
Chatham Ivy blog. There they’ve posted pictures meant
to capture the essence of what they love about Cape Cod
and New England: Nantucket sunsets, hydrangea-lined
walkways, porches decked out with bunting, lawn chairs
and picnics.
Katie’s blog is titled the Ivy Handbook, and with her
writing she covers topics such as Madras vs. Plaidras,
are you really wearing Madras? or Fifty shades of prep,
Disciplining your necktie, and The jet preps insider guide
to Chatham.
Their web store opened on July 17. A virtual store, right
now, fits their budget and vision, though one day they
might manage a pop up store. They are hopeful established
retailers might eventually choose to carry their shirts as
well.
The company’s slogan, “Why be a mere prep when you
can be a wicked prep,” is a tongue-in-cheek nod to their
father’s mischievous nature. The “ivy” (“ivy” being an
alternate term for prep, though the semantics there can
open a linguistics-history can of worms) in their product
name is tribute to his classic side.
The “Wicked Preppy” line of shirts has a delightfully
quirky spin. It was inspired, of course, by their family’s
experience. While Chatham is, indeed, preppy, the sisters
grew up on the Philadelphia Main, which some might argue
is about as “ivy” or “ultra-preppy” as preppy gets.
One of the Wicked T-shirts has a green and white sunfish
and lighthouse -- under the picture is the word “Preppy.”
The back shows the same image, but in iconic pink and
green colors. The caption here is “Wicked Preppy.”
The “Preppy” front of another shows a happy Cape Cod
black dog peering from a jeep that has surfboards on top.
The back “Wicked” side is a woody wagon, topped with
an Old Town canoe, a spaniel in the front seat of the car.
Yet another shirt shows a polo horse hanging out with a
fox; on the back of the tee, both are clad in tartan.
Although the two women admit they have little experience
in clothing design and sales, they each bring a
skill set that has worked. Katie is a real estate attorney in
Park City, Utah; Kim is a television commercial producer
who lives in Boston. Katie is very artistic, and loves to
craft and draw with her daughter. Kim’s passion is fashion
and she volunteers at Fashion Week in New York. Both
say their parents cultivated in them a love of the arts.
“So we’ve really taken our hobbies and turned them
into something,” Katie said. “The fact that we’ve been
able to share all of this with our dad means everything to
us.”
To learn more about Chatham Ivy go to www.chathamivy.
com

THE JET PREP'S GUIDE: INSIDER SECRETS OF CHATHAM ON THE CAPE

You might have noticed that we at Chatham Ivy have a bit of a bias when it comes to vacation destinations, because, really why go anywhere else in the summer when you can go to Chatham, Massachusetts?  Chatham has it all from gorgeous homes to an incredibly charming Main Street to spectacular beaches to old New England traditions.  We've been summering in Chatham for years and it just gets better every year.  If you go to the Cape and you skip Chatham that's like ordering an ice cream cone at Buffy's and only eating the cone.  You've almost entirely missed the point of being on the Cape.  As I said, we're a little biased.  Anyway, here are my top 10 things to do if and when you do visit Chatham, because sooner or later, you just have to.

1.  Have a Cape Cod margarita on the deck overlooking the bay at the beautiful Chatham Bars Inn.  There are two places for cocktails - one is on the deck that is part of the Inn called The Veranda and the other is closer to the water at The Beach House.  You can't go wrong with either location.

2.  Tour the quaint shops and galleries on Main Street in Chatham.  Don't miss out on ice cream at Buffy's, fudge at the Chatham Candy Manor, and our favorite antique store, Kahn Fine Antiques.

3.  Have a lobster roll dinner at the First United Methodist Church of Chatham any Friday night in the summer from 5:00 - 7:00pm.  Located at 16 Cross Street in Chatham, First United is the perfect place to dine before heading to the Chatham Band Concert.  If lobster rolls aren't your thing, St. Christopher's Episcopal Church at 625 Main Sreet in Chatham, serves hot dogs, burgers and brats on the lawn before the Band Concerts on Fridays in the summer.

4.   Head to the Chatham Band Concert by the bandshell in the park on Main Street at 8:00 pm any Friday night in the summer.  These free concerts, featuring the Chatham Band, have been happening in Chatham since 1945.  They are pure Americana with festive classic American music, hundreds of families, balloons, picnics, and lawn chairs.  Make sure to stay until the end so you can do the Bunny Hop with your kids and the rest of the crowd.

5.  Nothing says summer in America more than watching baseball and Chatham is the perfect place to do that.  The Chatham A's are a collegiate summer baseball team who play in the Cape Cod Baseball League.  Chatham A's games are fun, festive and just plain great baseball.  Their schedule is on their website.

6.  For the nature lover, Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge is a must see.  You can walk for miles along a gorgeous beach, collect seashells, get your toes wet and possibly even see a seal or two.  This is one of the most beautiful places to walk in Chatham.

7.  Even the most intrepid urbanite will love going on a seal tour around Monomoy Island.  You are guaranteed to see hundreds of adorable harbor seals and you get a wonderful and scenic boat tour of Chatham's varied coastline and stunning architecture.  There are several different options for seal tours located near Chatham that are worth exploring.

8.  The best place to watch the sunset in Chatham is Harding's Beach.  After 5:00 pm you don't need a beach sticker and you can either sit on the beach watching the sun set as the waves lap the shore or you can take the scenic walk to the lighthouse.  Quintessential Cape Cod natural beauty at its finest.

9.  Your inner surfer will love any of the national seashore beaches close to Chatham.  Our favorite is Coastguard Beach because you can always find parking, the beach shuttle is a fun experience and it has great waves, but other people like Nauset Beach and Nauset Light Beach just as well.  Don't ask us why there are two beaches within miles of each other bearing nearly identical names.  It's a New England thing.

10.  For family fun, you can't beat either Oyster Pond near downtown Chatham or Schoolhouse Pond.  Oyster Pond is actually part of the bay and is teeming with children having a blast swimming out to the docks and jumping off or searching for crabs.  Schoolhouse Pond is a lovely freshwater pond with a lifeguard that is more serene but still very family friendly (added bonus, no crabs!).

11.  I just had to add a number 11, because no trip to Chatham is complete without a drive down Shore Road past the gorgeous homes such as the famous Hydrangea Walk House then on to the Chatham Light.  You can take a beautiful walk along the beach and use the public binoculars to spot seals and maybe even one of Chatham's newest residents, the Great White Shark.  After that, head back down Shore Road and stop by the Chatham Pier FIsh Market to watch the fishing boats bring in the catch of the day.  You won't find fish any fresher than that!  

There are so many more things to see and do in Chatham, we hate to limit it to just 10 (okay, 11 and we didn't even mention Chatham on July 4th!).  If you've been there before and checked a lot of these off the list, email us and we'll give you some more of our insider tips.  For more gorgeous original photos of Chatham visit us on Pinterest.  When you plan your next trip to the Cape, don't forget to pack our Entering Cape Cod t-shirt which says everything anyone needs to know about the magic of a perfect New England summer.

AERIAL VIEW OF "THE CUT" AT CHATHAM

THE GORGEOUS HYDRANGEA WALK HOUSE ON SHORE ROAD

QUAINT CHATHAM MAIN STREET

SEAL WATCH BOATS IN THE HARBOR

FISHING BOATS BRINGING HOME THE CATCH OF THE DAY!

SUNSET AT HARDING'S BEACH

THE POOL AND HARBOR BEYOND AT SPECTACULAR CHATHAM BARS INN

A LITTLE ABOUT CHATHAM IVY CLOTHING COMPANY.

http://www.chathamivy.com

In honor of Father's Day!

Dad in his Spaniel themed critter pants.

My sister, Kim and I started Chatham Ivy as a tribute to the Yankee spirit of our fun loving, preppy Dad, Dick Noble – known to his childhood friends as Brownie Noble.  Growing up, our Dad taught us funny songs from his days at Trinity College, wore critter pants, rep ties, penny loafers (no beef rolls, please), played golf & tennis, sailed, skiied and helped us chase after our crazy English Setter, Misty.  He fixed things himself, taught us to be thrifty, taught us to ski, sail, play tennis and attempted to teach us golf.  He took pleasure in bringing home treasures – things other people threw away that he planned to refurbish.  He taught us to manage our money, but not talk about it with others, work really hard, but enjoy life, take pride in our appearance without being vain, and keep our chins up in the face of adversity.  Our Dad is an old school prep who never tries to be preppy, he just is.  Our “preppy/wicked preppy line” is a nod to the mischievous side of our preppy Dad.

Right now our wonderful Dad is in his fourth brave year of battling cancer - without complaining and with trying his hardest to keep his chin up.  We wanted to celebrate him with our nostalgic look back at our lives in New England while he’s still with us.  We’re so grateful for the summers we spent as kids on Cape Cod with our Dad and Mom, that we wanted to capture that childhood magic in our “Destinations line”.  We wanted to let our Dad know all of his hard work means so much to us and now to my daughter, Elizabeth, who is lucky enough to come to Chatham on the Cape every summer.  Summer is pure magic for most kids and we wanted to celebrate those treasured times.

We hope you enjoy Chatham Ivy as much as we do.  We’re so happy you can join us in celebrating our Dad, all things preppy and the spirit of New England. www.chathamivy.com