Owner / Designer

I started Grease Point Workwear by accident.

While finishing my master's degree in geology and soil science, I broke my ankle and found myself going a bit stir-crazy. That downtime sent me down a rabbit hole of Japanese denim and vintage workwear, and I decided to try making a pair of pants in my apartment. The first pair took two frustrating weeks with a cheap home sewing machine and plenty of mistakes, but they were wearable and I was hooked.

After I finished my Masters Degree, I went home to work on the family orchard in Western Colorado the following summer, and I continued making jeans in the basement of the old farm house between driving tractors and picking peaches. It was there that I first contemplated making clothes as an actual business and picked the name Grease Point Workwear. I quickly grew a bit bored with 5 pocket jeans and decided to combine elements of the work pants I was wearing on the farm, with the selvedge denim jeans I was making: the result was the first pair of Work Jeans, which is still our best selling item all these years later

After moving to Seattle in 2012, I kept making jeans in my apartment. For the first five years, Grease Point was just me. I designed, cut, sewed, packed orders, answered emails, and tried to figure out how to make a living doing something I loved. After a year back on the farm in Colorado, I moved to Portland in 2018, where the business finally found its footing. What started as a one-man operation has grown into a small team making premium workwear entirely in-house.

Today I still handle all of our design work, patternmaking, grading, material sourcing, and product development, along with the accounting, customer service, and much of the day-to-day management. I still spend time cutting and sewing whenever I can, but the most rewarding part of my job at this stage has been building a team of talented people who continue to make the products better than I ever could on my own.

Outside the shop you'll usually find me with my wife and daughter, or trying to sneak away to surf, skateboard, fly fish, or play a round of golf.