Last year, as a senior at Dominican High School in Whitefish Bay, Kevin Brauer launched Upties, a small business based on “upcycling” button-down shirts into handcrafted neckties and bow ties. Not only are the results as distinct as the shirts they come from, but they also help to repurpose shirts that are no longer of use.
While gathering clothes to donate at his parents’ house in 2015, Brauer found himself staring at an old shirt resting on a pile he put together. He knew it no longer fit, but it was an old favorite, and he wasn’t quite ready to part with it.
“In that moment, I don’t know if I was feeling sentimental or something,” says Brauer. “But I wanted to be able to turn that shirt into something and preserve that fabric. In that split second, the idea of a necktie popped into my head.”
His mother pointed him to his aunt, who had quite a bit of sewing experience, including making the ties that were worn at his parents’ wedding. The pair produced two neckties before Brauer enlisted a few close friends, who helped him pick out shirts from Goodwill. They turned his parents’ basement into a veritable assembly line, and Brauer put together a basic website to market his new creations.
“You couldn’t even order anything through the site,” he says, laughing. “It was just pictures, a very brief description and basically said ‘If you like a tie, email us, tell me which one you want and we’ll work it out from there.’”
The custom nature of the business came from the very first tie he made by himself. The order came from a family friend, a Dominican High School priest who had heard of his new enterprise through his parents.
“He approached me and said, ‘All right, Kevin, if I bring in a shirt to you, one of my old button- downs, could you make a tie out of it?’” Brauer recalls.
Another much larger custom order soon followed and came with its own unique story. Brauer’s best friend’s grandfather had passed away a few years prior and the man’s wife was left with a mountain of his clothes. After hearing about Brauer’s new endeavor, she reached out to him with a special request. She asked him to turn nine of her husband’s shirts into ties, which were later given to the man’s sons and grandsons.
“That was the first really sentimental order that struck in my head like, ‘Maybe we’re onto something,’” says Brauer.
From that point on, he began to focus of his business on not only custom-made ties, but ties that helped to carry on the nostalgic value of the shirts they were made from. His orders include a tie made from a shirt someone proposed in, which was later given as a Father’s Day gift, as well as a bow tie made from an old military shirt for a retired Marine with a sizable bow tie collection.
Now, he has a fully-functioning website, and he’s even worked his way into the spirit store at Marquette, where he is studying business. His site also features another of his original works in the form of anchor-shaped bracelets, which are also gaining local notoriety. Half of the profits from the bracelets are donated to the advocacy organization Autism Speaks, to which he has recently donated $500.
Brauer plans on growing the business and tying the brand’s identity back to Milwaukee, but in the meantime, plans to continue school and enjoy the perks of being a young entrepreneur.
“Just being able to give that experience … It’s definitely something that I want to expand on so I can provide it to as many people as I can,” he says.
