Smathers and Branson: Business Casual

Smathers and Branson needlepoint belts are reminiscent of summer days at Murray’s on Nantucket, or winter getaways at C. Orrico in Palm Beach, but our needlepoint belts are now being worn in more places than ever! As suits in the workplace become rare, the culture of business casual is leaving many Smathers and Branson customers with one critical question: can I wear my needlepoint belt in the office? This question, which we field from store buyers and individual customers alike, is surprisingly difficult to answer; but these four guidelines can help set some ground rules.


1) Stick with the Classics: Surcingles, Basketweave, Herringbone
When wearing a Smathers and Branson needlepoint belt in the office, any employee should hope to hear “that’s handsome” instead of “oh my!” To assure this reaction, stick to our timeless patterns like the Basketweave needlepoint belt, Herringbone needlepoint belt, and the Surcingle needlepoint belt collection. Depending on the area of the country and your specific profession you can probably get away with the Jolly Roger, Bonefish, and American Flag needlepoint belts, but be careful in the ever evolving world of business casual.

2) Get Personal: Fishing Flies, Golf Flags, Bluefish and Striper
Smathers and Branson needlepoint belts are designed to remind you of the things you love most (which typically does not involve the office). With that in mind, don’t be afraid to let your co-workers know that you would rather be on the Front Nine or fishing for Bluefish and Striper than being called in on a weekend.

3) No Booze: Beer Cans, 99 Bottles of Beer, Elephant Martini, and Shrimp Cocktail
Unless you’re a Budweiser executive, these needlepoint belts should be left at home. While we love these designs, wearing alcohol related belts to the office may give off the wrong impression. These gems are better suited for the Christmas party or a golf retreat than they are for the typical day at the office.

4) Glory Days: The Collegiate Section
We all remember when. For some of us, it was just last year, for others the memories are hazy, and for many there are no memories…ahh, the glory days of college. With March Madness around the corner, we are reminded that you can never go wrong by showing off school pride, whether or not your team is going to make a run for the finals of the Big Dance.

Note: Unless you are ready for the unemployment line, under no circumstances should you wear the needlepoint collegiate belt of your boss’s rival school.

Friends of Smathers and Branson, we want your input! We wear whatever belt we want in our office, so let us know what you think is acceptable at your own job!

Say "I Do" to Smathers and Branson

As January comes to a close, most of us are mentally finished with winter weather. While snow during the holidays is great, come February the Smathers and Branson office is ready for warmer temperatures and longer days. This January, our office has kept busy testing new designs, preparing new products, and eagerly anticipating the summer days ahead. With an office of twenty-somethings, it is no surprise that many of us have been setting aside summer weekends for weddings.

Between the months of May and August, the S&B team is attending 31 weddings for friends, family, and even complete strangers (summer interns = wedding crashers, right Frank?). We will be traveling from San Francisco to Portland, Maine with tuxedo in tote and eyes on the bar.

Although our office will be busy at the weddings this season, our products will be even busier. From the start S&B has been honored to be a part of the wedding party, and we have now provided groomsmen gifts at over 200 ceremonies. From cummerbunds to key fobs, the vows can never be official until they are stitched in needlepoint - (at least in our humble opinion).

For three years now, we’ve been offering deals on monogrammed belts, flasks, wallets, and cummerbunds for wedding parties. As a great way to commemorate the nuptials, many bridegrooms choose to include both initials and the date of the ceremony on our needlepoint products. The design possibilities are endless and much is left up to your own creativity! If you have an upcoming wedding please do not hesitate to contact us for information regarding price breaks, custom designs and delivery time. All custom products take 4-6 weeks for delivery so do not delay!

The best part is – the groom’s is always free, so when it comes to groomsmen’s gifts, just say I DO to Smathers and Branson!

The Bob Hope Classic : A Dream Pairing!

What’s your dream foursome? At Smathers and Branson we spend almost as much time developing new products as we do wishing we were on the golf course. This weekend marks the most cherished celebrity golf tournament of the year, and dream pairings will be seen left and right. Since 1960, the Bob Hope Classic has been pairing celebrities, sports stars, professional and amateur golfers for five days of competition and good times. At this California venue, one is just as likely to see an exploding golf ball a la Bill Murray, as they are to see a hole in one from past champions like Phil Mickleson.

Named for the late Bob Hope, a renowned entertainer and avid golfer, this tournament transcends the game of golf and encourages even the most casual fan to watch. Whether hoping to see Kevin Costner’s real life Tin Cup moment or simply watching how Samuel L. Jackson, Luke Wilson, and Padraig Harrington interact, the Bob Hope Classic has something for everyone.

This year, Smathers and Branson is excited to be a part of the Bob Hope Classic. On the first day of play, celebrities and tournament officials are given a gift on behalf of the tournament sponsors. In 2010, the gift of choice was a customized Smathers and Branson needlepoint belt with the Bob Hope Tournament insignia! We want to thank everyone at the Bob Hope Classic for thinking of us, and we are thrilled at the possibility of some of the world’s biggest stars wearing our product!

One of the reasons Bob Hope loved his tournament was because he could pick his own foursome. Having played his way down to a four handicap, Hope was not bashful with his pairings and in 1995 he was seen on the links with Presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Gerald Ford. It is up for debate as to which member of that power foursome had the honors on the first tee! Luckily, those upholding the legacy of Bob Hope have honored his affinity for a dream pairing, by pairing a Smathers and Branson belt with any outfit on the course.

A Little History Behind the Needlepoint

Part of the thought behind creating the blog is that we want you to be able to get to know the guys behind the scenes at S&B a little better. With that in mind, here’s a little of our story:

My name is Peter Smathers Carter and along with my good friend and business partner, Austin Branson, I founded Smathers and Branson™. As many of you know, we launched the company in 2004 after graduating from Bowdoin College. Our girlfriends had made us needlepoint belts and we decided to do some research on the product. To our surprise, we discovered that no one was selling finished needlepoint products at the high quality and affordable price that we were looking for.

We searched for nearly a year until we were satisfied with a group of stitchers and a producer that we knew could create the quality product we had set out to make. Today we employ and provide opportunities for over 2,000 people in 16 villages in Vietnam. This continues to be one of the most satisfying parts of our business.

At first, we set up our headquarters in Austin’s parents’ attic in Bethesda, Maryland. While the surroundings were comfortable, as our company continued to grow we realized we needed our own space and moved into our new warehouse/office that we still call home today.

As our working space has increased so has our inventory. While men’s belts continue to be the heart of our brand we have since expanded into women’s belts, children’s belts, dog collars, cummerbunds, key fobs, and now wallets, flasks, headbands, and coin purses. In response to heavy demand, in 2008 we created a collegiate line comprised of schools from around the country. And as always we continue to work with country clubs, stores and individual customers creating custom patterns for all of our products.

We just attended our five-year college reunion and upon reflection, these past five years have certainly been a blur. We now sell our products in nearly all fifty states and eight countries around the globe. To have moved from Austin’s parents’ attic to the global operation we are today has been quite the experience but our goal has and always will remain the same: to provide you with the finest quality needlepoint and the customer service to match.

Now with this blog we hope not only to get to know you a little better but also for you to get to know the people behind the needlepoint; the S&B team. Whether you've known us for a while or this is the first time you've heard of us, check us out on our website, http://www.smathersandbranson.com and remember, “anything else is just a waist.”®


All the best,

Peter, Austin &The Smathers and Branson team