North by South

Introduce yourself! Who are you? Where are you from?

Hey! My name is Christine Watson and I’m a freshman at Florida State University. I’ve lived all over – South Florida, Chicago and now I go home to Nashville, TN on breaks.

What’s next for you? What are you passionate about?

I’m an English major, thinking about double majoring in Psychology. I constantly change my mind about what I want to do after graduation, but I’m thinking about going into criminal law. Regardless of what I decide, I feel like majoring in English gives me the opportunity to do a lot.

What other activities are you involved with outside NxS?

I am very involved with my sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma. I volunteer with my sisters at a local elementary school and participate in our philanthropies, which raise money for Reading is Fundamental. I’m also a staff writer for The Odyssey at FSU, which pushes me to be more creative in my writing.

What’s a fun fact about you?

I took a gap year after high school - I was a Trainee with the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago!

How did you first hear about NxS? What made you excited about it?

I heard about NxS through my brother, who was good friends with Founder and CEO, Matt, throughout college. The t-shirts seemed really unique as well as comfortable, something I could definitely see in my wardrobe.

How did you get involved with NxS?

Last summer, Matt mentioned to my brother that he wanted to start having reps at different universities, and since I would be heading to FSU I thought it would be fun to promote a brand I really like.

What’s your go-to #shirtntie combo?   

My favorite is a black t-shirt with “The Heritage” pocket so I can rep the Garnet and Gold.

What’s your favorite thing about being involved with NxS?

I love that I’m able to work with a company started by a college student. NxS shows that good ideas don’t have to wait until you’ve graduated!

Introduce yourself! Who are you? Where are you from?

Hi, my name is Mike Cavoli. I grew up in Northeast Ohio and am currently a sophomore at Ohio State University. I’m majoring in Mechanical Engineering and minoring in General Business through the Integrated Business and Engineering honors program.

What’s next for you? What are you passionate about?

After graduation, I see myself working in a research and development role and hopefully eventually getting my MBA.

What other activities are you involved with outside NxS?

Outside of NxS, I’m involved with several organizations on campus. Last year, I joined Alpha Kappa Psi, a professional co-ed business fraternity and serve as the Community Outreach chair. Along with my fraternity, I am in Students Consulting for Non-Profits, the Science and Engineering Business Club, and College Mentors for Kids. Many of the organizations and positions that I hold have are centered around service. Since in NHS in high school and being an Eagle Scout, I’ve always had a passion for service and continue to find ways to give back and help others.

What’s a fun fact about you?

I’ve skied in the Alps and I am going back to Switzerland this May to work on a study abroad project at CERN in Geneva.

What’s your go-to #shirtntie combo?   

My go to shirt and tie is a black shirt with the Lakeside pocket, but I need to get one of the new scarlet and gray designs to wear around Ohio State’s campus!

How did you first hear about NxS? What made you excited about it?

I first heard about North by South through my sister. She’s a student at Georgetown and knows the founder, Matt, very well. After my sister showed me the shirts, I fell in love with the design and wanted to get involved with the business.

How did you get involved with NxS?

I became involved with NxS by reaching out to Matt through my sister. We were both excited to bring NxS to Ohio State, and I soon became the campus rep here. It’s been a blast so far and I look forward to continue growing the brand presence here.

What’s your favorite thing about being involved with NxS?

My favorite thing about being involved with North by South is being able to help out with marketing and branding for a start-up. Matt works really hard to run the business and his passion inspires me to promote and sell the brand myself.

Thanks for sharing your #shirtntie story with us, Mike!

Introduce yourself! Who are you? Where are you from?

My name is Charlie Brown, no really. It’s actually Charles Brown IV, so my name is older than that other blockhead. I’m a junior at Georgetown University originally from Chicago, Illinois. I’m a student in the McDonough School of Business majoring in Management and Operations Production and Information Management (OPIM).

What’s next for you? What are you passionate about?

I plan on going into consulting out of college and then I want to own my own non-profit charity. I’m very passionate about water scarcity and access to water, so I’d love to start a non-profit that deals with water purification and scarcity.

What other activities are you involved with outside NxS?

I currently work at a consulting firm called Logistics, Capital, and Strategy. I also stay involved with my fraternity, SigEp, as the Vice President for Philanthropy and Member Development. One of my proudest accomplishments was organizing a Halloween 5k to support domestic violence victims in the DC area in collaboration with the charity Doorways. Last semester, I was interning on Capitol Hill as well.

What’s a fun fact about you?

I can tie a cherry stem with my tongue!

What’s your go-to #shirtntie combo?   

My new favorite is the 1789 tie on a black shirt. It’s a hit whenever I wear it! I wore it this past homecoming and got a lot of compliments and questions on how people could create their own. It’s always great to get the type of positive feedback.

How did you first hear about NxS? What made you excited about it?

North by South’s founder, Matt Aronson, has always served as a great mentor to me and I’ve enjoyed learning from watching him grow the company. It’s fun to see the ins and outs of building a startup, and the shirts themselves are an awesome concept!

How did you get involved with NxS?

As NxS began to grow on Georgetown’s campus, Matt started looking for interns who could continue the positive momentum after his graduation. I loved the shirts and decided to apply to be the Georgetown Brand Ambassador. It’s been a ton of fun so far!

What’s your favorite thing about being involved with NxS?

I love NxS because of the way people react when I wear it, the potential I see, and because of how proud I am of how great a job, Matt, is doing with it!

Thanks for sharing your #shirtntie story with us, Charlie!

To be thankful

At North by South, we are incredibly thankful for everyone who has been with us from the start, helping us grow and always showing love for the #shirtntie

To love

We love the holiday season, we love the warm spirit that comes with cooler weather, the excitement of spending time with friends and family, the smiling faces we walk past on the streets. The holidays are a time for everyone’s hearts (and stomachs) to grow!

To give

The holidays are a time of giving. What better way to show your appreciation for friends and family than by giving them a beautiful, custom gift you know they’ll love? Just in time for the holidays, North by South has unveiled two new holiday pocket designs!

To be happy

At North by South, we are delighted by how far we have come in such a short time. We are happy to have built such a wonderful, supportive NxS family and are glad we can share this special time with you!

On behalf of the North by South family, thank you for your constant love and support! We wish you and your family a very happy holidays!

As the weather gets cooler, many think it’s time to break out a completely new wardrobe full of long sleeves and earth tones. At North by South, we don’t think this changes much. No matter the weather, North by South is up for the adventure. Whether you’re zipping between classes or out exploring, NxS allows you to dress up while dressing down, making it the perfect fall go-to item. See how our shirt and ties keep us ready to play all year long with our fall style guide.

The variety of colors and patterns available in the NxS collection mean that you’ll never have to worry about not having fall shades in your wardrobe. We can’t get enough of the maroon, blue, and gold combinations!

Another thing we love about NxS in the fall is how easy it is to layer the shirts to create your own fun, colorful fall look. Because the pockets have touches of other colors, accenting your shirt with jackets and sweaters is almost as easy as choosing your NxS shirt and tie combo in the first place!

Of course, one of our all-time favorite things about North by South is the freedom to live your life in comfort and style. For whatever the day has in store, your shirt and tie have you covered. No matter how you’re hanging around with friends, NxS is as active as you are while keeping you ready to impress. How do you NxS?

With one year officially in the books, we decided to look back at how North by South celebrated by showing off our Hoya pride! Here are our favorite #shirtntie moments from this year’s Homecoming!

We love North by South for its effortless comfort and class allowing us to dress up while dressing down to any occasion. This year the Hoyas celebrated two great wins on Homecoming. Hoya fans flocked from the football win against Lafayette to go watch the men’s soccer team crush Butler. With a little help from the 1789 pocket, these Hoyas were ready to show their Georgetown spirit while still showing off their own personal style. The shirts even looked great with a Georgetown cheerleading uniform!

Once again, the tailgate was a favorite event for Hoyas of all ages. It was great to see so much support for North by South both from current students and alums. We also loved having a bunch of our North by South family meet each other just by walking around in their shirts. When you see someone else rocking their #shirtntie, you just have to introduce yourself! This year was particularly exciting because North by South’s founder Matt Aronson came back to Georgetown for his first homecoming as an alum! It was great to have him with us to celebrate how far NxS has come in just one short year.

For the second year now, we were thrilled to receive such positive feedback on the shirts! But that’s no surprise, who can resist such a simple, comfy way to stay stylish while taking on one of the busiest days of the year? Even Georgetown’s mascot, Jack the Bulldog, was excited to show his Hoya pride right alongside his #shirtntiepride!

NxS was all over campus on Homecoming, and for good reason! With our shirts we were ready to take on whatever the day had in store for us in style. With so many new collegiate colors to choose from, NxS is the perfect homecoming go-to no matter your school.

With Hoya homecoming festivities already starting up for the weekend, we couldn’t help but reminisce about last year’s homecoming and the official NxS launch party. Here are our five favorite memories from last year. We can’t wait to see what this year brings for the #shirtntie nation!

1. Brunching

Hoyas love brunch and the NxS crew is no exception. It’s never too early for pancakes and mimosas, but having an easy but classy go-to shirt made it that much easier for us to get up and start our day right!

2. Tailgating

The tailgate is always a favorite event for Hoyas of all ages. We came out in full force to share our Hoya spirit and love for our #shirtnties! It was so fun to see the diversity of students around campus wearing their NxS for this special day!

3. Catching up with old friends

It’s always great to see an old friend. We had a great time seeing our favorite alums and hearing what great things they’ve been up to since leaving the Hilltop. We were also very proud to share NxS with them! It was awesome to have so many old friends interested in hearing what we have in store and how they can join us.

4. Dartying

Who doesn’t love an afternoon BBQ?! We loved taking in the beautiful weather on our last few warm DC days of the year. There’s no better early fall wardrobe than a NxS shirt and jeans!

5. Staying classy and comfortable in our North by South!

NxS was truly the hit of the day. Not only were we comfortable and ready for anything the day brought, we looked classy doing it! With so many collegiate colors to choose from, NxS is the perfect homecoming go-to no matter your school. 

Today I woke up and realized that summer is officially over in a couple of days, and could not believe how quickly summer passed. I also realized my best friend’s birthday is coming up and I had no idea what to get him! I always want my gifts to be personal and unique, so buying gifts is tricky for me. I was wracking my brain to find my best friend the “perfect” gift for his 21st birthday, when my mom suggested I get him a North by South shirt. Perfect! I knew he would like it since his outfit choices usually consist of casual preppy, but comfortable. I ended up going with the fleur tie and navy shirt for a personal touch I know he’ll love. I am so excited for him to open it!

Since summer is coming to a close soon, I thought I’d compile a couple of pictures of where North by South has been the last few weeks:

Turks and Caicos

Paris

Venice

I’ve always wondered how a shirt is made from start to finish. How does an idea come to mind until it gets to the finished product? When I got my first North by South shirt, I was so intrigued by how Matt Aronson (Georgetown class of 2015) started this while still being a student at Georgetown. I decided to chat with Matt and do some research on NxS, stumbling upon a Hilltop Vogue article in which Matt was interviewed (http://www.hilltopvogue.com/featured/2015/2/16/gu-student-creates-t-shirt-company-with-class). He said the idea was a product of his environment at Georgetown and created from a place of personal experience. Born and raised in North Carolina, but with the majority of his relatives from Boston and a current residence in DC, Matt said he came up with the name of the brand because he identified with both the “laid-back luxury of the South and the cutting-edge class of the North.” The products - necktie pocket tees - combine Northern prep with Southern comfort, creating a casual product that provided that “feel good” emotion and confidence of getting dressed up in formal clothes. 

To turn the idea into an actual business, it took Matt about 2 years to “find the right partners to make each facet of the business a real possibility.” This would include material sourcing, website construction, manufacturing capabilities, and much more. During this time, he created a few prototypes with material lying around his house to wear on campus and field test the product himself. The reactions from people to his shirts gave him what he needed to push forward and continue with the business plan.

From here, Matt needed to find legal assistance to form a limited liability company (LLC) structure and file a patent application for the design of using necktie material for a shirt pocket (currently patent-pending). So what was the final hurdle to launching NxS? Finding a company to provide the necktie materials as a pocket on a shirt. Matt eventually partnered with the Trogdon brothers of Salem Neckwear, a local company in North Carolina, and was set to go. 

When everything was established, Matt held a pre-launch promotion at Georgetown’s Homecoming in October 2014 (shoutout to some great friends for repping the shirts) and formally launched North by South’s website and initial product offering in November!

This year has provided Matt incredible learning experience, as North by South has gradually begun to build a loyal following. The North by South campus rep program has started to grow and custom group shirt orders were introduced as an option for an additional level of customization. Matt graduated from Georgetown this past May and has been busy at work over the summer collaborating on business plans for North by South’s short-term and long-term vision. He’ll be writing some posts for us about his experience with entrepreneurship and any tips he might have, so stay tuned for that and get ready for an exciting year ahead with NxS. We’d love for you all to join our NxS brand!

Today I was shopping with my best friend and she was really debating purchasing a shirt because she said she wanted it to be a “wear everyday” type of shirt. This got me thinking, there are so many shirts that before buying, I usually try to picture myself wearing it over more than one occasion and with different outfits so that I know my investment is worth it. 

When I got my first North by South shirt, I definitely underestimated all the ways i could dress up or down my shirt. I had bought my shirt over winter, so I had worn it with jeans, boots, and a cardigan. However, as it started getting warmer, the ways I wore my shirt changed. I started wearing it with a skirt and cute sandals, or shorts and sneakers. I honestly did not realize how this shirt could be worn in so many different ways!

I decided to make a list of different ways that I would wear my NxS shirts. I am definitely forgetting ways, but these came to mind:

Fall/Winter:

For girls:

- NxS shirt, bean boots or riding boots, jeans that could also be traded for a skirt as well, cardigan and/or Barbour coat (depending on the weather)

- NxS shirt, jeans, Sperry’s/converse sneakers, cardigan and/or Barbour coat (depending on the weather)

- NxS shirt, lululemon leggings, bean boots (riding boots can work too depending on the look you want to go for) or Nike sneakers (converse can work too), cardigan and/or Barbour coat (depending on the weather)

- Lazy day: NxS shirt, sweats, bean boots or Nike/converse sneakers, and a comfy zip-up sweater (Georgetown sweaters are a personal favorite but I am obviously biased)

For guys:

- NxS shirt, bean boots, jeans, light sweater and/or Barbour coat (depending on the weather)

- NxS shirt, jeans, Sperry’s or sneaker of preference, light sweater and/or Barbour coat (depending on the weather)

- Lazy day: NxS shirt, sweats, bean boots, Sperry’s/Nike/sneakers of preference, and a comfy zip-up sweater

The great thing about NxS shirts is that I can wear them when having a lazy day or a really good day. The shirt is so comfortable I have slept in it or lounged all day in it on a lazy snowy day.

Spring/Summer:

For girls:

- NxS shirt, jeans, converse sneakers or Jack Rogers sandals, and a light cardigan (depending on the weather)

- NxS shirt, shorts, converse sneakers or Jack Rogers or sandals of preference, and a light cardigan (depending on the weather)

- NxS shirt, skirt, converse sneakers or Jack Rogers or sandals of preference, and a light cardigan (depending on the weather)

For guys:

- NxS shirt, jeans, Sperry’s and Barbour coat (depending on the weather)

- NxS shirt, shorts, Sperry’s and Barbour coat (depending on the weather)

- Lazy day: NxS shirt, sports shorts, Nike or sneakers of preference, and a comfy zip-up sweater

This is North by South’s first summer. How crazy is that? Over the summer, everyone goes to the most unbelievable places, and when you ask them what their go-to shirt is, it is different for everyone. But because this blog is about why I love North by South, you can obviously guess that I am going to tell you it is my go-to shirt to pack when I am traveling. However, I am not the only one who thinks that too, so I thought showing you the places where people have taken their North by South shirt would be a fun way to show you how you can keep dressing up or down the shirt based on the weather and places you are visiting.

This summer, my North by South shirts have been to Paris and will be in Barcelona.

Matt Aronson, North by South’s founder, has also had a fair share of incredible adventures with his North by South shirts this summer in California! He also met Ed Sheeran who happens to have the same shirt as me! (For those who are wondering it is the blacktop tie pocket on a black t-shirt)

Matt has also been around California on the UCLA campus and in Santa Monica with his shirts.

His father also showed some love for Matt’s shirts in Santa Monica!

But also on top of the Hollywood Sign! (Very vintage too - only fitting for Hollywood)

Hey guys! My name is Yasmeen and I’m a brand rep for North by South. I am a rising junior at Georgetown University double majoring in Marketing and Finance and minoring in Economics in the McDonough School of Business. Starting this summer, I will be posting a lot of fun posts about North by South so you can learn all about why it is so special to me and many others.

To start out my first post, I only find it fitting to list the reasons why I like North by South, and hopefully you will want to get one after this post. But it is a free country, so there’s no stopping you if you want more than one shirt too!

First off, who doesn’t like a good t-shirt? Those are really hard to find, especially that are good fitting. As a college student I feel like I’m breaking up with my favorite shirt when I wash it because it shrinks, but what I loved about North by South shirts is they already come pre-shrunk. 

A good shirt at an affordable price and for people on a college budget too? Check, check, and check.

North by South shirts are incredibly comfortable. I am not even exaggerating this in the slightest. The shirts are so comfortable that I am sometimes guilty of sleeping in mine.

I love a good shirt that I can wear on a lazy day or a really good day. When I got my first North by South shirt, I just wore it with almost everything. North by South’s whole motto is “dressing up, while dressing down,” - on a lazy day I have casually worn it with jeans and sneakers to class, the library, or a walk around town and still looked better than wearing my gym t-shirt, but I have also worn this shirt with a nice jacket, jeans, and boots or flats for a more polished look. 

Tie pockets. You get pockets on your shirt made out of ties. Need I say more? There are 20 tie pockets to choose from and 5 shirt colors to choose from, so your shirt is your own unique, one-of-a-kind creation. The customization is my favorite part because I like the idea of being able to say I chose every single aspect of my shirt. 

America. That is a reason in and of itself. Who doesn’t still love the idea of the American dream? North by South shirts are born and bred in the USA. The necktie pockets are made in North Carolina and the shirts are made in the US as well. Smells like freedom to me!

For those of you who already know North by South and own a shirt and tie combination, North by South also has a plain white graphic t-shirt with the logo on it. I don’t currently own it but its high up on what I want for my upcoming birthday in September. Actually, I only want that and a Georgetown sweater from the bookstore. Why not?

Speaking of Georgetown, North by South is founded by a recent Georgetown graduate, Matt Aronson (C’15) and if you are a Georgetown student that just makes it way cooler because their logo colors are blue and gray, and as Matt says, “Georgetown is in our DNA. We are North by South, we are Georgetown.”

The website is awesome and the setup is so user friendly it made my first experience so easy. I am the type of person who gets overwhelmed with a lot of choices but when I was choosing my shirt, I opened up a few tabs for all the combinations I liked, which made it easier to shift through and pick a combination I liked. I ended up choosing the Carolinian tie on a white shirt, but my best friend went with the Carolinian and a navy shirt and I loved it too. 

The only thing that can take your attention away from our vibrant tie pockets is an adorable puppy.

Any environmental advocate would tell you that the Evergreen tie pocket is a no brainer

Lizzie McGuire, you are an outfit repeater! But the pocket ties are different, so it’s always an entirely different outfit. 

SWAG.

When you order a North by South shirt, it comes wrapped in one of these stickers. Trick: if you peel the sticker off gently, you can stick it on your computer. Multipurpose use at its finest.