Brand Profile: Chicago Belt Company

 

 BF & I are always on the lookout for new companies starting out in the Windy City. Since Chicago is so much the Second City, there aren't that many companies that start out here, so when we find one, we get really excited. In the past, I've talked with Salmon Cove, an up and coming company out of the Loop in Chicago.

And small world that it is, wouldn't you know the owners of Salmon Cove, are fraternity brothers of the founder of Chicago Belt Company. They are both graduates of University of Dayton in Ohio, and natives of the Midwest. Therefore they are quite the experts of Midwest fashion.

Their line of ribbon belts are unique and feature iconic images from around the Midwest (including the Chicago Flag in the picture above, and the Great Lakes in the picture below)

I recently had the opportunity to sit down to brunch with the founder and owner of Chicago Belt Company, Rob Cardenas. Over a wonderful meal at local brunch spot, Orange, Rob described how he got his start.

When did you first decide to start your company?

Officially, over this past summer. Rob graduated and started working in the corporate world, and really enjoyed it, but knew he wanted to start his own business. It's been an aspiration for him since he was a kid. He learned a lot about business development in his corporate life, and transferred it to his new company.

What is your inspiration?

The great lakes area. Rob was wearing vineyard vines, and says he's always had clothes that came from similar companies and so did his friends. He's always wanted something of his own and looked to make something unique but with the same feel and look that would fit his style. Rob wants to create something that is relatable to those in the Midwest and beyond.

Where did you first develop your style?

Rob developed his style from his family. Growing up as a little kid, he always sported kind of the casual classic look. An all American style.

 

What has been the hardest thing about starting your own business?

Patience, the hardest thing is maintaining your focus and staying the course to accomplish your goal. But Rob has made it look easy! He has created is brand image, sourced product and launched a great website all within the last 6 months.

How to Enter for a chance to win a Belt and your choice of a Koozie, T-shirt, or a pair of croakies from Chicago Belt Company:

Required first entry: Leave your email address in a comment and follow Prep in the Midwest.

1 additional entry: Follow Prep in the Midwest on Tumblr

  1 additional entry: Like Chicago Belt Co. on Facebook

1 additional entry: Follow Chicago Belt Co. on Twitter

2 additional entries: Blog about this giveaway or Tweet.  (Be sure to include a link back and @gaboiler07 and @chicagobeltco in the tweet!)

Please include all entries you completed in ONE comment!!!

There is a maximum total number of six entries.

Giveaway ends 12/19/11 at midnight EST. The winner will be announced 12/22/11.

What to learn more about Chicago Belt Company? Check them out here:

Website: www.chicagobeltco.com

Twitter: @ChicagoBeltCo

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicago-Belt-Company/

 Tumblr: http://chicagobeltco.tumblr.com/

And as always, if you have any companies you think I should check out and feature on my blog. Please let me know!

Must haves- community links

When I first moved to Chicago, it was hard to know about all the amazing activities that were going on...

I was lucky enough to have a few friends that showed me the various community emails/national sites I should check out for ideas of what I could do in my free time. For those of you who are new, existing, or just hope to be Chicagoland residents, here are the sites/emails I'm talking about:

Chicago Fashion- Refinery 29

Metromix - Chicago

Groupon - Chicago

Living Social - Chicago 

Soupbox - gives great coupons/freebies

Tippr Chicago

YouSwoop - Chicago

Chicago Cubs Schedule

Explore Chicago- especially good on Twitter

City Of Chicago website

Are there any you think I've left out? Where else do you think I should be gathering ideas?

My Cooler Project

In the South, it's pretty standard for people (girls) to paint coolers for tailgates. They get pretty darn creative... and REALLY INCREDIBLE! Below are some examples I used for inspiration:

My sister even did one last year for her tailgates:

 With my BIG DERBY PARTY coming up, I wanted to have something fun out on the patio for my guests to keep their beverages cold in. 

I bought all the fun colors I could possibly need:

I had purchased a lame blue and white cooler a couple years ago for canoe trips and parties back in Richmond, and was looking and buying a flat, plain white new one. 

 However, I found that coolers are kind of expensive.... like $50-60 I'd prefer not to spend on a cooler...

So I utilized the one I had. I wanted to do something that was reminiscent of both my old home and my new one, as well as taking into account things I love.

First I did a Chicago side with major landmarks: Wrigley Field, Wrigley Ivy, Navy Pier Ferris Wheel, Sears Tower, Buckingham Fountain, Bean, and the Chicago river dyed Green!

Then I did a front design. I tried to take into account my love of the ocean and the water, as well as my South Carolina Roots:

Then I did my Georgia side:

Complete with: The Capitol Building, Georgia Aquarium, CNN Center, Big Chicken, World of Coke, Fox Theater, '96 Olympics, Atlanta Braves, Rich's Pink Pig, and Kudzu.

I've started working on the top, but I'm not quite sure where to go. 

This is where you come in.

What should I put on the top? Any ideas?

Let me know quickly as I need to finish this in time for the Party next weekend!

The modern, evolving preppy

I recently came across a not too old article from the Chicago Tribune titled 'The Modern, Evolving Preppy'. I find it interesting as it reviews the preppy thought process vs. the fashion AND it uses Chicago examples. I have copied the entire article below originally by Christopher Borrelli and published on Dec. 5, 2010. Link here

Who is the North Shore preppy today?
Where do they eat? Do they still use "summer" as a verb? How long do they wait each winter before wearing socks on a (semi)regular basis? This fall Lisa Birnbach released "True Prep," a sequel to "The Official Preppy Handbook," her pioneering 1980 work of WASP anthropology. She came through Chicago on a book tour recently and, as expected, preps across the area emerged from behind their piles of Lilly Pulitzer and lacrosse padding to greet her. We dared not step between a rabid preppy and a Lisa Birnbach. However, now that they've retreated to Glencoe and Lake Forest and life has settled down again for the North Shore preppy, the time felt right to learn about them, study them and find out what has changed in the past 30 years of prep-dom.
The old prep went to prep school; came from old money; was tied to the family (and rarely single and rarely self-sufficient); and was white and Protestant and loath to advertise personal details. Was this still the new prep? Before heading into the bush, I called Birnbach.
"I'm not Margaret Mead," she said, "but I've been among the North Shore prep. I have been welcomed into their habitat as warmly as if I had lived there myself. I found them to be the real deal. They seem less jaded than East Coast preps. Prep is really about family, education and travel, and they excel."
The North Shore prep lives in Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, Lake Forest, Lake Bluff and Kenilworth. They typically hug the coast (preppies like water); on weekends, they can be found jogging along Green Bay Road, Sheridan Road and Western Avenue. Pockets reside within surrounding communities, though there is debate on this. For instance, at prep clothing store Lillie Alexander Ltd. in Lake Forest, a clerk said that Highland Park is not prep. "It's just something you know," she said. She said Highland Park, despite being home to Ravinia (a prep attraction), was "more urban" than Lake Forest, setting of "Ordinary People" (a prep landmark). At Helanders Stationers, Highland Park was said to have too many "new money" families to be prep; while at the Lake Forest Book Store, owner Sue Boucher illustrated the difference:
"Someone was just honking (outside the store), and I kept thinking, 'We don't honk here.' In Highland Park, they honk. Decorum is what it's all about."
That is archetypal prep: subdued and well-to-do and WASP. As Birnbach says, "prep is not about fashion."
Consider Beth Erickson and George Chemers. They are married and live in Highland Park and summer on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. But their home is modest. They do not appear to be to the manner born. Nevertheless, they are prep: Chemers believes wearing red (well, Nantucket red) pants is perfectly acceptable in public, though his threshold for not wearing socks is only around 40 degrees. Erickson attended Lake Forest College and regularly turns out for church rummage sales, a popular prep pastime.
"Prep is not about money," said Erickson, who grew up north of Milwaukee and hadn't heard of Nantucket until she read the "Preppy Handbook." "I never took (the book) as a joke, but as a way of carrying yourself. It's a lifestyle."
They are, in a sense, of the generation who got in touch with their prep tendencies through study of the Birnbach classic.
Now in their mid-40s, they are not, as Maggie Crane, of Winnetka, puts it, of a younger generation of preps who "throw around a sense they are a bit better than everyone and don't know (prep) also means impeccable manners." Erickson and Chemers are not prone, for instance, to wearing the ostentatious new Ralph Lauren shirts "with the giant Polo pony horrifying to anyone of a true prep sensibility" — so described by Lance Lawson, whose clothing store, space519, in the 900 Shops on Michigan Avenue, has become a North Shore magnet. They gravitate more to regulation L.L. Bean duck boots.
But there are minor concessions to contemporary living that the North Shore prep has had to make in 2010.
Take Libbi Diane Flynn.
She is 29 and calls herself "a new prep," though at first she comes off as old prep. She summers in Door County, Wis. (a prep retreat), and believes in "owning one nice good-quality sweater instead of 12 crappy ones" and is a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and describes herself as a "J.Crew-aholic" and was on the crew team in college and praises prep-goddess Gwyneth Paltrow for being a "modern evolving preppy." She arrived a few minutes late to our meeting, saying she had gone through "a prep emergency," having dropped her pearl earrings down a drain.
Friends call her "Bunny."
Yet Flynn is a WIC (white Irish Catholic) who went to high school in Green Bay. Today's prep — "formerly WASP," says Birnbach — is multicultural. Sort of. The new prep does use Facebook, though discreetly: "Thirty years ago, you didn't know who had a second house because people were more humble with money," Birnbach groaned. "Now everyone knows everything." Flynn herself considers social media a contradiction of authentic prep ways; before friending Birnbach on Facebook, she told the author at a book signing that she would be friending her.
Which is only polite.
That said, Flynn notes that Kim Kardashian went to prep school and she didn't, so Kardashian proves that prep school attendance in itself does not make a prep. She also points out that she is young and single and lives by herself.
"It used to be, you would get your pearls passed down from your grandmother," Flynn said. "But I got my pearls while on vacation in Dubai! And you know what? It's not a scandal."

The author can be reach at this email for comment: cborrelli@tribune.com

Overall I thought it was very well written and did a find job of explaining that the stereotype isn't what 'Preppy' is all about... it's a way of life! :) 

My First Chi-Irish day! (2011)

This past weekend was the annual Chicago Irish Celebrations of St. Patrick's day. For those of you who don't know, there's a HUGE Irish population here, which equates to one hellavu party!

Photo Credit to my BF :)

They have a full blown parade, dye the river green and have bag pipers roaming the streets! AKA it's pretty much my heaven, being that I'm somewhat Irish (I'd share my full name, but I'm trying to be safe; needless to say there's a Rose and a 'Mc' involved). Technically we're Scottish royalty, based from the Clan McArthur. However, we were persecuted out of Scotland for being Presbyterian, and migrated to Ireland. From there my ancestors moved to South Carolina where they continue to reside almost 250 years later. Pretty neat stuff!

I must begin at the Beginning... my friend (we'll call her J) came in for the weekend on her way home for Spring Break. I went to the Party store at the tip of a friend, on the look out for Shamrock tights... I found my tights, but also found the below HILARIOUS items:

Irish Drinking Buddy

Yes Mom and Dad... that is a Shamrock Bra.... Just WOW! I am always in Shock'nAwe of what they'll come up with next for Holiday Celebrations... But J and I proceed to paint our nails green and prepare ourselves for an amazing weekend!

So to celebrate this fun holiday, a co-worker/friend/captain-of-my-flagfootball-team hosted a shindig at his river-side condo! On the way there BF got creative on the window of the cab... 5 min cab ride + bored 25 year old = odd sense of humor:

Can you see what he drew?

We had a great time, complete with Green mimosas (no they don't taste different), green eggs, and green bagels & cream cheese! He had a wonderful view of the river, however I'll admit to using my BF's picture above because he actually went down for the view where as the rest of us stayed warm and watched from the condo.
Afterward we decided to head out for a bit and enjoyed a local Irish Bar called River Shannon, not too far from BF's apt.

They were serving these amazing little shots out of shot-glass-necklaces they called 'River Water'; Tasted like a freaking Shamrock Shake! AMAZINGNESS! The crowd was lively, and there was no cover, which is always a plus.

Andy At Sushi-o-Sushi

SAKI BOMB!

Plus we were right down the street when we got hungry later on to go to 'Sushi-O-Sushi', one of BF's favorite places... where they happen to have this little thing called the 'Andy's Special': all you can eat sushi, all you can drink Saki bombs, for 6 people for 2.5hours.... INCREDIBLE!
After this, we were pretty much all done, as at that point the day had been a long one.

Sunday, I went to breakfast with J at a local eatery known as 'Nookies'... It's pretty much my favorite for breakfast in the area... In the summer they have these incredible crab cakes that they serve with poached eggs.... ugh I wish they had them year-round! But instead I go the biscuits and gravy with the poach eggs. VERY GOOD!  Afterward, I felt bad we had left BF to fend for himself so we stopped at a local bakery. We picked up a delicious assortment of macaroons to share amongst ourselves.

Soon after, J had to continue her journey home, and I was left with BF on his couch watching Starship Troopers (Don't let him tell you otherwise... it's SUPER CHEESY!)
We ended up going on a really nice walk along the lake to wear in his new hiking boots in preparation of his trip to the Grand Canyon this week!

After cleaning up and getting ready we made our way out to the Burbs for BF's family St. Patrick's day Celebration. Long story short: he, his brother, and dad are all going out to Vegas for March Madness, and thus we had to celebrate early! His mom mad an incredible Corn Beef and Cabbage meal, and Grandma made homemade soda bread! Everyone kept saying how 'unauthentic' it was, because it was actually tasty!

Overall I'd say the weekend was a total success! As always I'm sure I left out some details here and there... but probably to protect the innocent... ;)
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well! In preparation for the ACTUAL St. Patrick's day, I'm going to try to include some Irish recipes in each of this week's entries. Enjoy!

SHEPHERD'S PIE

Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients

Garlicky Potato Topping:

• 4 large russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 10 whole garlic cloves, peeled
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup beef broth
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Nonstick cooking spray

Filling:

• 4 slices bacon, cut into thin strips
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus 1/2 teaspoon
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 to 3 medium carrots, roughly chopped, (about 1 cup)
• 3/4 cups frozen peas, thawed
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 (12-ounce) bottle light or dark beer
• 1/2 cup beef broth
• 1 teaspoon finely minced fresh rosemary leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup grated Swiss or Cheddar
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions

Prepare potato topping: In a large saucepan add the potatoes and garlic and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook, uncovered, until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain. Transfer the potatoes and garlic to a large bowl. Add the sour cream, 1/4 cup of the broth, butter, salt and pepper, and beat on low speed with a hand mixer until the potatoes are light and fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes. If the mixture is too dry, add the remaining 1/4 cup broth. Do not overmix. Cover and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 10-inch round baking dish with nonstick spray.

Prepare filling: Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally until browned and almost crisp, about 7 to 8 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a plate; set aside.

Add the oil to the drippings in the skillet and put over medium heat. Add the onions and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very soft and just beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle in the sugar, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to caramelize, about 3 minutes. Stir in the beef and cook, stirring occasionally, over medium-high heat, until the beef begins to brown, about 7 minutes. Add the carrots, peas, and garlic and cook, stirring, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and flour and cook, stirring, until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the beer, bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, and scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, about 2 minutes Add the cooked bacon, the broth, rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and the pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes.

Spoon the meat mixture into the prepared baking dish. Spread the potato topping evenly over the beef mixture. Bake until the filling is hot, the topping is lightly browned and the edges are bubbly, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the cheese. Return to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes. Let rest out of the oven for 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Midwest Football

This weekend was full of sports... I'll be honest, what weekend in the Midwest isn't? Or weekday for that matter? I will try to continue kidding myself it's different else where, and back home they really do spend Sunday afternoon/evenings on the front porch drinking iced tea.

I was once emailed a chain, listing the differences between football in the North and South. To prevent repetition or just to remain unique, I'm choosing not to scour the trudges of the Internet looking for it to post here. The gist of the comparison is this, the author believes that everything about football in the South is more intense than in the North... And I will concede that to some extent for NCAA fall sports, however the NFL is quite a different story. Being in the middle of the melee of the war which can only be titled "Bear-Cheese fest 2011" was quite the experience. My BF and the rest of Chicago might take a little bit of exception to that title, however I believe it's very accurate.

BF and I spent Sunday at his parent's house in the Burbs. His dad got a last minute ticket to the game, thus meaning we were sans one less mouth to eat his mother's AMAZING cookery (I don't care if that's a word, it describes the perfect mix of Italian finesse, and incredible mixing knowledge equating to the most fabulous tailgating buffet ever!). I also made a seriously amazing cake (see pictures below):

But back to the fashion...

In case you've been in a cave (which might be a good thing in this case), it's been record low temperatures across the country, but especially in the north. Any sane person would cover up and include warmers to prevent frost-bite, however there WERE crazy people in attendance and did paint their chests... I question their health today, as well as attendance at work. So while these crazy people at the game, I had picked up one of the last remaining Chicago Bears t-shirts in the city on Friday night. I additionally had to accessorize accordingly.

I would include pictures, however apparently they are not available on the website. Needless to say, I make a t-shirt look less plain Jane, and more Chicago-chic!

Did you have any good stories from this past weekend's football (or any other sporting event)? Do share!