Capital at Play January 2020

the water-repellent feature of a tarp and the beauty, design, and softness offered by the fabric of a tapestry. With two full-time employees and one occasional helper, co-owner Ted Swartzbaugh says the former Appalachian State University grads love the Boone area, which caters to their love of the outdoors with hikes, rivers, Watauga Lake, and snowboarding in the winter. (Tarpestry was featured in our December 2019 issue.)

“We moved from Boone to Colorado to Boone because we see all the same adventuring perks, plus the ability to garden, too,” Swartzbaugh says. “We focus a lot of energy vending at music festivals and Boone is a fairly central location on the East Coast. Headquartering in Boone and having manufacturing in Boone allows us to have full access to our manufacturer for better oversight, as well as a direct line of communication for product development and general business discussions.

Another advantage is that this community and the people who visit typically understand why our Tarpestrys and other outdoor gear brands are important: a strong supportive local community.”

Tarpestry uses multiple styles of fabric that are made in China. There have been increases to at least four of the company’s fabric suppliers, including two price increases from a main supplier. Swartzbaugh says it was necessary to reset their COG analysis and increase MSRP on their end as well.

“This price increase could affect sales to the general public as well as retailers. Hopefully, the market adjusts with us, but that is always hard to predict accurately. We were selling at our old price for around six months while paying higher prices on COGs due to the tariffs. For a smaller company like ours, it definitely made an impact on our ability to grow.”

Taking a different, local-only approach is Industry Nine, based in Asheville since the inception of the company in 2005 and making high-end custom road, gravel, and mountain bike components, including wheels, hubs, and stems. They employ approximately 45 full-time employees. Founder and owner Clint Spiegel grew up working in Turnamics, the machine shop next door. Turnamics still machines all of Industry Nine’s hubs, spokes, stems, and more. Having a machine shop next door allows them to be nimble and flexible with product development, as they can have new product prototypes within hours, as opposed to shipping overseas, which can take weeks or months just to get a new prototype during product development.

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