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
