Our Story
After graduating in 2011, Sean had the Entrepreneurial bug right away, so it didn't take him long (3 months) to literally walk out of his first sales job on a Monday morning. He said, "I got up to go the bathroom, took a wrong turn towards the exit, and haven't worked in a corporate environment since."
While his first screen printing business was brutally failing after one year, he started learning the ropes of ecommerce by selling shirts online part-time under the name '15 Dollar Tees.' After a few tries with different tee styles & markets, he still hadn't found his calling. Luckily, the 4th of July was right around the corner.
He and Shelby, who was still a full-time kindergarten teacher at the time, thought that "America will never go out of style”, and the American-themed company was officially founded that summer. Shelby said, "The first summer was so exciting! We lived down the shore biked everyday to a small office we rented to run the business. We pulled many all nighters shipping out all the orders by ourselves."
According to Sean, the business never would have been where it is without Shelby designing the first products for girls. He said, "I didn't even notice the potential of creating & selling products for the patriotic ladies out there, but it makes sense because girls love clothes & shopping online!" It didn't take long for Shelby to notice more potential within the women's clothing- MONOGRAMS.
She started out selling monogrammed clothing just on the side through Etsy with one small, single head embroidery machine under the name 'The American Girl.' But it wasn't too long until the official United Monograms site was launched in the fall of 2014, after already building much popularity on Etsy. Sean was already spending his time learning the quickest way to ship his tank tops & tees across the country, so the monogram aspect fit right into the business model.
At first Shelby was just helping contribute part-time while teaching, but she was amazed by how much she enjoyed the business- and, with a little push from Sean's 'Go big or go home' attitude ended up deciding to focus full-time on growing the business with Sean. The Summer of 2014 was another huge success, and Shelby made the decision to quit teaching, 'Go Big,' and Pursue the American Dream.
With the Freedom that the new business allowed them, they started talking more & more about moving the company somewhere warm where they could get a fresh start and really focus on growing United Tees & United Monograms. Inspired by the American Dream, the duo packed up the little they had, and found a small house & nearby office in 'America's most Patriotic City' Charleston, South Carolina.
When choosing which city to relocate to, Charleston was a no-brainer- they knew they wanted to be in the heart of America’s most preppy and Southern city, and knew it would be a natural fit. Knowing hardly anyone, Charleston would be the perfect city to build their brand and start fresh. As Sean put it, “ I really wanted to throw ourselves in the wild, with nothing but the business to live on, and see if we could survive & prosper”
And now? The business now has a full time staff for Shipping, Customer Service, Monogramming & Sewing. United is constantly growing and building, you should only expect more amazing and incredible things to come from this journey. They even have Marketing Interns from the College of Charleston. Sean & Shelby thank you so much for being a part of the United experience, and appreciate each and every sale that comes in everyday. As they put it, "We want to Spread the American Dream!" Stay tuned for a bright future.
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Meet the Founders
Sean
Favorite movie?
Rudy and This Is The End are both my favorites.
Favorite TV show?
Family Guy...Breaking Bad is really good too!
Favorite food?
steak
Favorite thing to do outside of work?
Well I hate relaxing...I love playing basketball, and any competitive team sports in general. And I love going to concerts!
Favorite musician/band?
Dave Matthews Band, hands down.
#1 place you want to go?
I really want to go to South America. The coolest place I’ve been so far is definitely New Zealand.
Ideal day in the USA?
I like always having an objective to the day. Spending the day as the best man at my friend’s wedding last week was awesome because the whole day was filled with activity and friends. Overall though, you can’t beat a day golfing and drinking either.
Favorite product from either collection?
I love our original Live the American Dream sweatshirt, definitely.
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Shelby
Favorite movie?
Grease
Favorite TV show?
One Tree Hill!
Favorite food?
Cheese fries.
Favorite thing to do outside of work?
Relax by the beach!
#1 Place you want to visit?
California...it would be cool to really introduce the monogram lifestyle to the West Coast!
Favorite musician?
Gotta be either Beyonce or T-Swift
Ideal day in the USA?
I would wake up, drink a mimosa, and then spend a day on the boat drinking and relaxing with friends in bright sunny Charleston!
Favorite product from our collections?
From the monograms site, definitely our quarter zip monogrammed sweatshirt, and I love the Preppy, Patriotic, Proud tank from the United Tees summer line!