Co-founder once designed and marketed a line of women’s clothes for Vera Wang
By Jamie Baumann
Petoskey News-Review
PETOSKEY, Mich. (AP) — Trybe women’s apparel, a Northern Michigan entrepreneurial startup, is making a name for Northern Michigan fashion.
“It takes a lot of time and effort to start a new company,” said Molly Kircher, of Walloon Lake. “There are days when we wonder why we did this and then there are those days when we celebrate knowing we are reaching our goals. It’s exciting.”
Kircher, daughter-in-law of the late Everett Kircher who founded the Boyne resorts, and Rebecca Clark of Lansing, together launched a new Michigan women’s apparel line called Trybe. It began to appear in retail stores last July.
Trybe’s story begins with family and Michigan roots. Clark is married to Kircher’s cousin, Peter. They met and lived in New York for 12 years as Clark, who graduated from fashion’s prestigious Pratt Institute, worked for several top designers. Over the years at family gatherings, Clark and Kircher brainstormed about launching a Michigan clothing line. First, they naturally thought about ski clothing, but they finally settled on women’s apparel.
“While working for Vera Wang, Rebecca literally designed and marketed the Simply Vera line that is now Kohl’s brand,” Kircher said. “She has a background in women’s apparel and in
affordable clothing that is stylish, luxurious and comfortable. We ultimately decided women’s clothing would be the best place to start. Since we both come from large families with lots of women in different roles, we thought about and designed what they would like to wear.”
The duo designed the clothes to be flattering and affordable.
“Rebecca’s knowledge of fabrics is incredible. She can find beautiful, flattering and flowing fabrics that feel like cashmere, but are an affordable polyester blend,” Kircher said.
The Clarks wanted to move back to Michigan to raise their family, so they moved to Lansing, where Rebecca taught design classes and opened Michigan Fashion Proto, an apparel sample and production business, where the Trybe samples are made. Large quantity orders are made in a factory in New York.
“We wanted our new apparel line to be based in Michigan and manufactured in the United States,” Kircher said.
Trybe, which is owned by Michigan-based North Coast Design Group, now has New York and Los Angeles distributors, and the clothing can be found in stores in more than 75 retail stores in 23 states.
“The big retailers are starting to respond favorably to the line, particularly because of its quality for a moderate price,” Kircher said. “Usually, they wait a year to order, to see the first year of production.”
Trybe has a fall line, a holiday line and an upcoming resort line of clothing.
