Featured Artist : David SchlesingerCorner 12

I'll try to keep this tight as I'm actually in the process of making notes for a memoir. Long story short, fashion and creativity with fabric is no doubt in my blood. My mom started a high end children's clothing brand in the late 70's where I grew up in Michigan to wonderful success. It started with knitwear and moved into dresses and eventually women's. Growing up I worked in the studio doing just about everything from applying rhinestones to packing boxes and even knitting sweaters! In the mid 00's she made the decision to get out of cut and sew and in 2009 started a basics brand (before we knew the word Athlesiure!) focused on cami's and tanks that she had designed as a layering piece to go under her sweaters etc. They were cut a little longer and knit a bit tighter to both hold in and keep from riding up - for all the reasons we don't need to get into. At the time I was running a successful digital marketing agency and when the phone rang at midnight with my mom telling me about the project, it's early success selling to some of her old local accounts and that she went on Godaddy (I didn't believe she knew such a thing existed!!!) and got the name skinnytees.com my mind was blown. It was finally time for us to get into business together in a meaningful way. I built the website and handled all thing DTC and she designed and build the wholesale biz. Fast forward 15 years and it's still a thriving biz - albeit with a LOT more competition, we've been fortunate to be regularly featured on QVC, Good Morning America, The View and beyond!

I share this only to give you a landscape view of my entrepreneurial spirit and love importance of family. I clearly remember days in the backyard when mom was doing Batik and I would "help". She still has Dharma dyes that might be 30+ years old!!

Tie dye has been in the family since forever. And then in 1990 I found The Grateful Dead. I don't need to tell you what that means but let's just say in 2024, my love for the band and community is just as strong as it was moments after I jumped on the bus. Moments after I graduated college in January 1995 I moved to Tahoe to be close to The Dead's home turf and snowboard. Sadly we lost Jerry that summer but I still caught a ton of shows and was close to the community I loved. In 2021 I was fortunate to connect with an apparel brand that had a Grateful Dead license and I spent the next 2 years marketing a GD clothing brand! And then in 2023 I moved to another GD licensed brand, Grateful Dead Fabulous - The first high end women's Grateful Dead marked apparel and have dyed some pieces for her Psychedelic Summer collection just this past summer!

Rewind to 2020 I revisited tie dye as a hobby and started dying masks - before we knew a little cotton mask wasn't enough. They took off like wild and requests for tees etc started flying in - all via word of mouth and Instagram. The hobby evolved quickly into a side hustle and is now pointing towards a full time business! I've done some incredible projects for bands that I love including Disco Biscuits and a ton of other exciting collabs with some SUPER exciting stuff coming before the years end!

I love dying fabric and have started moving beyond tees and fleece into women's apparel (go figure) including cashmere scarves and sweaters and well as childrens (also, go figure!). I'm obsessed with how color works and how to make what might not make sense - make sense! I'm a huge fan of Dharma both for the product and the INCREDIBLE customer service. I probably have over 100 colors and obsess over Houdini Blue, all the greys that have wild splits, Lime Pop, Melted Peep as my go to yellow, Wet Sands as my earthy go to and wow, I can go on and on....Oh and the 3 new Ice Dye colors are a blast. Did I mention I ONLY ice dye. Never even tried the bottle. Oh and I love doing maker markets as well as vending at any relevant music event.