fashion
OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal
Thursday, February 20, 2014 • 29
Triple Treat
Pink Tulip Will Open Third Store By Keysha Drexel Journal editor
The designers behind the North Shelby-based three07 met as college students at the University of Alabama. From left: Melissa Grimes, Courtni Tyre and April Moore. Photos special to the Journal
By Keysha Drexel Journal editor
Trendy Trio
When the designers behind the North Shelbybased three07 women’s clothing line randomly took seats in their first fashion class at the University of Alabama in 2004, they said they never imagined the chance meeting would lead them to form a company—and deep friendships. April Moore, Courtni Tyre and Melissa Grimes were all pursuing bachelor’s degrees in apparel and textiles design at UA when they struck up a conversation in class and became fast friends with a common goal—to break into the fashion industry. “We just hit it off and formed a friendship,” Tyre said. “It was easy for us to work together from the very beginning. We did all of our (school) projects together, and it worked well because all brought different strengths to the table.” That friendship and easy collaboration led the college friends to open their own design business, three07, in 2010 after they had all graduated with bachelor’s degrees in apparel and textiles design. But to this day, the women marvel at how many things had to fall in place for them to realize their dream. Tyre, a native of Dothan, is the only one of the three women who set her sights on a career in the fashion industry at an early age. “I grew up always wanting to design,” Tyre said. “I was sketching all the time, but I didn’t learn to sew until I was in college.” And even though Tyre knew she wanted to work in the fashion industry, she entered UA as a psychology major. “Then I decided that I really wanted to follow my passion,” she said. “It was scary to make that phone call to my mother to tell her I was going to switch over to design, but I knew I
they first met. “Luckily, we all decided early enough that we didn’t get behind in the design classes,” Tyre said. During their college years, the three would often talk about starting their own design business, but as graduation day came and went, their plans were diverted. Grimes joined the Peace Corps after she, Tyre and Moore graduated from UA in 2007. She spent two years working in West Africa. Even though she was thousands of miles away from her college design partners and friends, fashion was still very much on her mind. “I went in as an agriculture volunteer and ended up working in the small business section,” Grimes said. “I worked with girls who were learning to sew and were selling their work to make money. It was really perfect. I think it was fate.” During the two years Grimes was serving in the Peace Corps, Tyre and Moore were also fashion focused. “We knew we still wanted to start our own design house, but we knew we wanted to wait on Melissa to get back,” Moore said. “So in the meantime, Courtni and I brainstormed on how to break into the market.” During a phone conversation about niche markets in the fashion industry, Tyre and Moore started talking about an emerging trend they had both noticed. “Game day fashion was just starting to be a trend at that time, and we thought there was a great market for high-quality clothing in that market,” Moore said. When Grimes returned to Alabama, the trio hit the ground running with their game day fashion idea. They formed three07, LLC in late 2010. The name of the company is a nod to the three friends’ college graduation date. “We didn’t introduce our first line until 2011, so we had a whole year to get everything ready,” Tyre said. “It was great to be working together again.” The friends debuted their game day fashion line in 2011, and sports fans across the Southeast gave the fledging company a healthy start.
College Friends Start Their Own Design Company
Spring Fashion
Sneak Peek Area shops preview the newest looks for spring, pages 30-31.
A model wears a bold print from the three07 spring/ summer collection for 2014, featuring orchid—the color of the moment.
had to take the risk.” Tyre wasn’t the only one who was having a change of heart—and major—during that time. Grimes, a native of Mobile, originally chose to major in interior design. “I was about a year in when I decided interior design was not for me,” Grimes said. “I just liked drawing the little models for interior design and knew I wanted something that was hands-on artsy.” The hands-on aspect of apparel design is also what attracted Moore, a Birmingham native, to the field, she said. “I was always artistic growing up, but I had no clue what I wanted to major in when I got to college,” she said. “I thought about art, and then I just went through all of the majors and looked for something really hands-on and active.” It was shortly after all three young women had decided on new career paths in fashion that
See TRI0, page 31
A business that started as a small home gift store almost 30 years ago will expand into a three-location retail clothing company next month. The Pink Tulip, which first opened in Southside in 1986 and currently has locations in Homewood and Cahaba Village, will open a third store in Hoover’s Patton Creek shopping center in March. And this will not be the first time owners Letty and Jeff Algren have been at the helm of three locations of The Pink Tulip. The couple expanded the business from one to three stores between 1986 and the ‘When we early 2000s, at which first started time they sold the out in Five company and worked in church ministry Points, I never for five years. They imagined that bought the business we’d have back in 2010. “When we first three stores, started out in Five sell everything Points, I never imagand work in ined that we’d have three stores, sell ministry and everything and work then come in ministry and then back to have come back to have three stores again,” three stores Letty Algrin said. again.’ When she and her husband first opened The Pink Tulip in 1986, they envisioned using their prior experience in retail to run a home and gift store. “My husband had been with department stores up North for several years by that point, and we had both worked at Parisian at different times. I was a buyer for Parisian for five years, and we just decided it was time to open our own store,” Algrin said. Making the move to become small business owners was something the Algrins said they didn’t take lightly. “Believe me, it was scary,” Algrin said. “We literally had to borrow $5,000 to get started. It was hard, but it was something that we believed in and really wanted to do.” The couple opened their first store with just $15,000 in inventory. “But that shoestring beginning didn’t matter,” Algrin said. “I knew how to be creative on a budget. That’s something I learned from my mother.” Algrin’s mother, Helen Stewart, was closely involved with helping her daughter grow The Pink Tulip from the very beginning. “My logo today is still the little pink tulip with my mother’s handwriting,” Algrin said. “She passed away in November. She was 94 years old and one of the most creative, artistic people I’ve ever known.” The business got its name from Algrin’s favorite flower. See pink tulip, page 30