We do have superior quality clothes, but we don’t believe that is what defines what we do. We really want to set ourselves apart in our philosophy. We decided to express this philosophy through clothes, which we absolutely love. The basic idea is that we wanted to do something innately North Carolinian and to bolster the industries that were once so predominate in our state, but have fallen away, such as textiles, agriculture, and manufacturing. Clothes seemed to align with this goal well, and we set out to accomplish what we could.
The idea was launched after we were making small batches of neckwear for ourselves and our friends. There came a point where we couldn’t do it all on our own, so we began looking for a neck wear manufacturer. We were ecstatic when we found one in Wilmington, NC willing to work with us. Sadly after a few seasons we had to switch production as the factory had to close his doors.
Our ultimate goal is to have our entire operation in NC. For now, we are happy to have everything made in the USA. Our shirts are made in South Carolina or Chicago and our ties in New York. Our pants are also made in Chicago. Our home base is in Raleigh, NC in which we are continually trying to help build a larger fashion presence not only for ourselves but for others.
Our team is made up of 4 people. Barton is originally from architecture, and helped found the company as creative director. Justin is a Nuclear Engineer by trade, but loves finance and legal so much that he decided to help found Lumina as CFO. Paul is from the environmental industry, with his first venture focused on home energy conservation. He now works with Lumina focused on Retail and Marketing, continuously trying to find ways to better reach our market and bring great opportunities for you the customer! Peter recently joined the company, hoping to bring a more conscious supply chain to the company for more value to our customers. He is working on finding better ways to deliver Lumina products to you.
Aesthetically, we will continue to strive to build a brand around the NC heritage and the industries once in our state. This means durable work wear inspired clothes, with a strong modern focus. The name LUMINA, is a play on the traditional cotton loom, which once drove much of the textile industry in our state!
We now have our first store at 123 E Martin St in Raleigh, NC. We would urge you to come by and say hey as our studio is tucked behind the store front and we spend most of our time here. Check out some more information about the shop here.
