EMILY FACTOR ’98

BY SUSAN MATTEI, DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT

Emily Factor ’98, founder of the equestrian goods company Sixteen Cypress (16C), found the perfect combination of riding and high school at Stoneleigh-Burnham (SBS). Attending SBS for junior and senior year, she was a part of the Hunter Jumper Team and made the Equestrian Finals, riding Indigo, or “Indi.” She talks nostalgically of great SBS horses like Indi, Dan “the Man,” and Dancer, who she remembered as “18 hands and half draft.”

While attending high school in Pebble Beach, CA, and already “all in” on her equestrian pursuits, Emily worked out a waiver so she could go to the barn instead of P.E. class. The guidance counselor surprised her one day and presented her with the idea of attending SBS, explaining that she could focus on riding. She talked with her dad and finalized the details of her venture to the East Coast to attend SBS. “I was definitely scared,” she said. “SBS was so far away and I grew up in Carmel, CA — it was like a bubble.”

“I was so happy there [SBS]. By the time I graduated I had grown in the way I needed to grow.”

After graduation, Emily, great granddaughter of the legendary cosmetics pioneer Max Factor, earned a BA in fashion and textile print from University of Arts London: Central Saint Martins. She returned to Los Angeles after four years of school, working as a designer of luxury womenswear, accessories, and interior goods. While back in California, Emily reconnected with McKenzie Rollins ’01, a close friend while the two were students at SBS. Emily was drawn back to her equestrian roots and began riding again, and that focus eventually led her to create Sixteen Cypress (16C), where she is both founder and principal designer. She said, “That’s the funny thing about the horse world, if you go too far away it starts to pull you back in.”

As the pandemic began in March 2020, she moved to New Mexico to be near family and launched the company with an opening event at a boutique in her childhood hometown, Carmel, CA. “We had to navigate the pandemic and we have been direct-to-the-consumer for the past couple of years. During COVID-19, I felt disconnected,” she said. “I circled back to SBS and McKenzie Rollins, who has been a champion for me from the start of my business. She’s helped me with word of mouth and marketing. She’s part of the 16C brand champion program, helping to promote and educate.”

In an article about Sixteen Cypress in Horse & Style Magazine (Vol 1, 2021)

Emily is quoted as saying, “As a business owner, I am new to the equine industry. However, I come with a lifetime of firsthand knowledge using the products I offer. Bringing my design-industry experience into the horse world has aided me in offering something unique, and I am able to inject the same amount of consideration, creativity, and detail into equine products as I would if designing and tailoring a bespoke jacket.” utilitarian,” she stated. She uses aesthetic, natural materials, crafted into highperformance goods that complement the horse, the rider, and the tack itself. On the company website, she wrote that 16C has “chosen historic woven patterns and classic suiting fabrics of herringbone, tweed, and plaid and developed authentic and durable products for the equestrian community.”

Emily has set out to combine her background and interest in equestrian sport and fashion in a way different from what she saw on the market. “A lot of the familiar brands offer standard and

Now living in Texas, Emily launched her wholesale business in 2022, and more than 18 retailers in the United States, Canada, and the UK have picked up the 16C line in their tack shops. “This past August, years of development came to fruition with the first reveal of a new, extensive range of product,” she said. The company launched its retail collection at the 2022 American Equestrian Trade Association (AETA) International Trade

Show in Dallas, TX. “I could not have asked for a better welcome and reception to our retail collection — and our booth,” she said. Built by Emily’s partner, the 16C booth impressed not only retailer customers, but also the AETA organizers, who gave it the best booth award.

Emily’s generous spirit and fondness for SBS have recently made it possible for Stoneleigh-Burnham horses to proudly sport custom 16C saddle pads. When Emily isn’t hard at work on Sixteen Cypress, she can be found riding her mare, Willow, across the hill country outside of San Antonio.

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