IT STARTED WITH A LITTLE MAMA GOAT
Most clothing brands start with a business plan.
Gate City Mercantile started with one little mama goat.
BEFORE EVERYTING CHANGED
Before Gate City Mercantile, I was building a leather jacket brand in San Francisco.
Designing jackets, sourcing leather, and planning new collections... it was exactly where I thought my career was headed.
I had no idea that was about to change.
Everything Changed
In October 2019, I flew to New York to choose leather for my next jacket collection.
Later that same month, I came across a livestream of a rescued goat named Maybel waiting for her babies to arrive.
It sounds like a small moment.
It wasn't.
I found myself wondering where she had come from, and why she needed rescuing in the first place. That question led me to farm animal sanctuaries, veganism, and eventually, to questioning beliefs I'd accepted for years.
For years, I believed leather made sense because it was a byproduct. But once I realized we don't need animals for food, everything clicked. If I couldn't justify raising animals for food, I couldn't justify wearing their skin either.
Just three months after choosing leather for my next collection, I closed my leather jacket brand.
It wasn't an easy decision.
But if it meant fewer little mama animals and their babies would suffer, it was the right one.
STARTING OVER
Around the same time, COVID, California's "Orange Doomsday" skies, and a growing desire for a slower pace of life led my husband Ted and me to move to his hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina, where he could be closer to his family. Truth be told, I'd also spent years wishing for a real summer instead of San Francisco's famous 57-degree fog.
For the first time in my life, I thought fashion was behind me.
I took a six-month break from the industry and volunteered at farm animal sanctuaries.
I still remember sitting in a wide open pasture with Bandit, a special-needs baby goat, resting in my lap. I'd never seen a landscape like that during my years in San Francisco. Looking across the endless grass, I found myself wondering how I could build a life that truly reflected what I'd come to believe.
It was meaningful.
But something still felt unfinished.
COMING FULL CIRCLE
THE MISSING PIECE
The missing piece had been there all along.
Fashion.
Looking back, I realized this journey had changed what fashion meant to me.
It had become the most powerful tool I had to make an impact, and the one I knew best.
That's how Gate City Mercantile began.
Today, we avoid animal-derived materials wherever possible because creating great clothing shouldn't come at an animal's expense. Every component, from the fabrics and dyes to the threads, labels, glues, and finishing details, is carefully selected to be free from animal-derived ingredients.
As next-generation plant-based and other animal-free materials continue to evolve, we're excited to incorporate them into future collections whenever they meet our standards for quality, durability, and craftsmanship.
A portion of every purchase supports organizations like LEAP that help children learn compassion for animals, the planet, and plant-based living.
We believe lasting change begins with education.
One rescued mama goat sparked a question that changed my life.
If this brand can spark that same curiosity in someone else, every stitch is worth it.
