Welcome to the first Crate from Dyehouse, the Six-Stripe Sweater! This collection is called a "Crate" so that it sounds like something important is being delivered, like wine... or a dozen grenades.

A sentence you will read on the website is "the Six-Stripe Sweater feels like a gentle hug from a good friend." That's not a joke. A friend should make you feel comfortable and confident, and this sweater does just that. Here's an abbreviated version of the frustrated story of how it came to exist…

In the summer of 2024, I was abruptly let go from my dream internship at an environmental fashion startup in Manhattan. It took two years to get that job, and after being cut off without explanation, reverence for the founder turned to simmering spite. Luckily, that morphed into a productive entrepreneurial tear. I'd been passionately working on a project to make menswear colorful again, and I decided to go all-in.

My dream was to make colorful clothing available in every category of menswear. My male friends were shopping in women's sections in search of more interesting hues, and menswear sections remained hopelessly bland apart from preppy brands like Tommy Bahama.

That summer became a mission to comb the concrete jungle for a suitable sweater manufacturer –– a factory making a blow-your-face-off premium goods with a trustworthy owner and most importantly, a low minimum order quantity (MOQ). After screening hundreds of factories online and in person, I found Binod, who runs a cashmere knit factory in Nepal with his wife and son –– the only factory to met my criteria.

Fast forward a few months, and we'd been through four rounds of samples. Each round demanded hours of adjustment and weeks waiting for delivery. Although I could tell Binod was getting sick of my perfectionism, he was patient, and our work paid off.

In March of 2025, the final samples arrived for three perfect sweaters; plastic-free, made of wool and cashmere. My friends volunteered for a photoshoot and we held a launch party. Bing bang boom – here we are. 12 months after this thing began, these sweaters are ready to find a new home.

Men deserve clothing that gets them compliments and promotes confidence. It's hard to do that when shelves are full of the same dreary colors.

Although scrutiny often reveals flaws, the more time I spend with this sweater, the more deeply I fall in love. It's so soft you can wear it without a shirt underneath. I hope you have the chance to fall in love with a Six-Stripe of your own, which is why orders are open to the email list before the Six-Stripe is announced to the public.

Finn