Seventeen years on one street in Albany, Georgia

2009 — one machine in a rented back room

Elizabeth Long drafted the first Dougherty Apron on butcher paper in October 2009 and sewed the first forty units herself on a secondhand Juki. They sold to three restaurants and a farrier. The pattern has been revised twice since — the strap angle in 2012, the pocket bar tack in 2018 — and both revisions came from customers telling us where the garment gave out.

2013 — the building at 549 Locust Street

We bought the front half of a 1940s brick building, put in better light, and hired two sewists from a shuttered uniform plant in Sylvester. The chore coat pattern came out of that year, largely because the crew wanted something to make in the slow months between apron seasons.

2018 — repairs became a policy, not a favor

We had been repairing garments quietly for years. In 2018 we wrote it down: two years of free repair on anything we made, shipping covered one way, no receipt required if the maker tag is still legible. It costs us roughly 1.4% of revenue and it is the single best thing we have ever done for retention.

2026 — where we are now

Nine people. Four industrial machines and a bar tacker. Around 3,400 garments a year, shipped to 48 states. We do not run flash sales, we do not run a loyalty program, and we have turned down two wholesale accounts that wanted volumes we could not sew without hiring people we could not keep busy in January.

What we will not do

• We will not offshore the sewing. Every seam is stitched at 549 Locust Street.
• We will not sell your information. Ever, to anyone, for any amount. See the Privacy Policy.
• We will not fake scarcity. If something is out of stock, the page says so and gives a real restock date.
• We will not use dark patterns at checkout. No pre-checked add-ons, no countdown timers, no forced accounts.

Where the materials come from

Duck canvas is milled in North Carolina. Denim comes from a mill in Georgia's northwest corner. Thread is Tex 70 bonded polyester from Tennessee. Brass hardware is stamped in Rhode Island. Boxes and tissue are recycled kraft from a converter in Macon. We publish this because customers ask, and because a supply chain nobody will name is usually one nobody wants to.