Fontenelle Supply Co. has been pillar of East Village, Des Moines, for nearly a decade now. They opened their second physical location in Omaha in 2022. What started as a couple friends restoring axes and knives, has turned into a flourishing modern menswear shop with rich historic feel. What is even cooler, though, is the development of their leatherworking, which is a key component of their identity and their crafted, thoughtful approach that gets lost in todays ultra fast consumption typical of the rest of the industry. They build, and sell, products that should last for your entire life. Read on as we sat down to interview one of the founders, Adam Tweedy. 

How would you describe the values that underpin your shop—especially around quality, longevity, and making things that last?

In our shop, we try to highlight the best practices in the apparel and menswear industry. Utility and intentionality, fit and construction, labor ethics, and sustainability all factor into our decision to find a spot on our shelves for any product. Our hope is that the end result will be a shop full of products people can feel good about purchasing and use for many years, if not a lifetime. That’s what it is to be a quality product.

"Our hope is that the end result will be a shop full of products people can feel good about purchasing and use for many years, if not a lifetime."

Why was it important to make things yourself from the start?

It really started out of necessity. We started restoring axes and knives in 2009-2010 to take on camping trips, at first for ourselves, then friends, then friends-of-friends. Pretty soon we found ourselves selling sharp objects to strangers on the internet, and learning to make sheaths out of leather became a top priority. Youtube and old Boy Scout manuals helped make the first few, and once we got the hang of sheaths, we expanded into wallets, belts, watchstraps, etc. This whole thing just snowballed from there.

What’s special about hand-making leather goods in-house?

I consider the ability to make things in-house our secret weapon - it’s what sets us apart from anyone else trying to do retail. We can fill out our schedule better than most - when retail sales slow in the spring and summer, we stay busy selling our manufactured product at farmers markets and trunk shows, or printing apparel for events and festivals. It adds a level of service that most retailers can’t provide; customers will frequently bring in items that are sentimental but falling apart. We can repair those items where other shops can only offer to sell a replacement. Customers can watch us work in the back, adding a level of transparency to our brand and helping build trust in our product. No matter how you look at it, manufacturing in-house is a huge benefit to our business.

"Customers can watch us work in the back, adding a level of transparency to our brand and helping build trust in our product."

Your leather goods are known for being hand-stitched and built to last. What does that level of intention mean in today’s fast-moving consumer landscape?

I hate the idea of anything a person buys that gets used everyday, like a wallet or a belt, lasting less than a year or two. Unfortunately that’s the reality of most mens’ clothing and accessories. Jeans, shoes, belts, wallets - we spend most of our time with these things and for some reason find it acceptable that we just have to buy them multiple times or use them until they wither away to nothing in no time. We try to be the alternative. We make wallets and belts that have lifetime guarantees and can be passed down to your kids. We sell denim that can be mended and darned, boots that can be conditioned and resoled, and jackets that can be re-waxed. It’s a frame of mind reset - clothing as an investment that appreciates over time instead of a seasonal toss-away purchase.

"I hate the idea of anything a person buys that gets used everyday, like a wallet or a belt, lasting less than a year or two. Unfortunately that’s the reality of most mens’ clothing and accessories."

Why is durability one of the most sustainable choices we can make?

Especially with clothing, it’s important to keep single garments going as long as they can. We can look at denim as an example. The amount of waste water, dyes, chemicals, pesticides, and all the other fun stuff that goes into a single pair of denim jeans is staggering. Buying a pair of indigo dyed, raw, selvedge denim that lasts 3-5 years when worn regularly is exponentially more sustainable than buying 5 pairs or more of the pre-washed, mass produced mall denim most people are used to.

How do you think about sustainability—not just in materials, but in your broader philosophy as a brand?

I’ve touched on this in previous answers, but waste in general drives us nuts. We
genuinely employ a “use-the-whole-animal” approach in our manufacturing. Every messed up t-shirt from the print shop gets turned into testers for future print jobs or buff and dye rags for the leather shop. We have totes full of scrap leather that we turn into one off products or use for templates and samples. And we really do try to repair customers items that they bring in instead of trying to sell them new alternatives. It doesn’t always work, but I’m happy when it does. We also, as part of our Midwest Exploration Society sub-brand, donate to various reforestation and environmental non-profits, organize local trash clean-ups, and try to spread the word on the ecological impact of the clothing industry.

"Buying a pair of indigo dyed, raw, selvedge denim that lasts 3-5 years when worn regularly is exponentially more sustainable than buying 5 pairs or more of the pre-washed, mass produced mall denim most people are used to."

In what ways does making goods by hand, locally, contribute to a more circular or sustainable system?

The better a product is made, the longer it stays in use and out of landfills. Being local and open to the public 7 days a week means customers have an easy way to find us and come in for repairs. We have a lifetime guarantee on all of our leather products, so the idea is that you only have to buy a wallet or belt once and keep it going forever- we’re here to help along the way.

"The better a product is made, the longer it stays in use and out of landfills."

How do you view your role in the local creative or maker ecosystem—especially in places like the East Village?

We definitely could do a better job of being more social and out in the community - it’s easy just to exist from the house to the parking garage to the shop and back. But the collaborations we are able to do and connections we make are always really fun and gratifying, and opens a lot of doors for future projects. The East Village and Des Moines in general has a great culture among creatives of lifting everyone up and supporting one another. For our part, we try to make ourselves available in any way we can. I think a lot of people come to us because they trust the quality of our products and our eye for form and function, so even if we aren’t making anything for a particular project we can do a lot as far as advice and consulting and pointing in the right direction. Where it fits and makes sense, we like to make our shop available to new, up and coming brands that have a product they want to sell but can’t quite justify opening a spot for themselves. We’re always down for a custom project as well: whether custom leather menus for your restaurant or t-shirts for your band, we can give you the same quality product that people know and expect from us but with your logo and spin.

"The East Village and Des Moines in general has a great culture among creatives of lifting everyone up and supporting one another. "

How does being based in Nebraska and Iowa shape your brand?

Iowa, Nebraska, and the Midwest in general share a common culture of industriousness and DIY mentality. We aren’t afraid to try something, fail a few times, get better, and eventually feel comfortable making things. Learning new methods or skills is a key part of our brand. On the retail side, with clothing and accessories, being in Iowa serves as an important check on the types of items we bring in and the price points we have in the shop. We’ve found that Iowans are willing to spend more for quality items, but there’s a point at which it gets to be too much. $175 for a button down shirt may seem like a lot but it can be justified if the fit, fabric, etc. all provide value. Is a $300-$600 shirt that much better? Probably not. We want value not frivolity.

How do you hope your goods are used or experienced over time? What’s the ideal life cycle of a Fontenelle piece?

Our leather goods, with proper care and maintenance, should last a lifetime, and if not we repair or replace them. Ideally, something like a wallet gets passed down to the next generation. We have a refill program on our candles, so the empty containers come back and get cleaned and refilled. Tees and other FSC wearables have an expiration date like anything else in that category, but the hope with those is that you get a lot more life out of them than similar products from other brands. A thrift store is a perfectly fine destination for gently used FSC products, and upcycling is more and more popular and a fun, creative way to extend the life of our products. At the end of the day, we want you to be as happy as possible for as long as possible with anything purchased from us.

Have any customers brought back well-worn pieces with stories attached?

Absolutely - that’s hands down my favorite type of project to work on. We’ve restored tools from lost loved ones to be gifted to younger family members, fixed old leather jackets, recreated old family heirloom belts, turned baseball gloves into wallets; all sorts of things.

If you could change one thing about how people view consumption today, what would it be?

Having a clearer picture of the lifecycle of a product would go a long way to fixing a lot of the cons with consumption. Where a product is sourced from, who made it and under what conditions, how that affects the price, what happens when we’re done with the product, etc. Too often people buy products on a whim, not fully understanding how or why they want it, and how that decision affects individuals along the supply chain and environment. It’s easy to forget something that’s in the garbage and out of sight, but it still exists somewhere.

Be sure to stop into Fontenelle Supply Co. the next time you're in Des Moines or Omaha. You can learn more about them on their website.

STORE LOCATIONS:

Des Moines: 524 E Grand Ave, Des Moines, IA 50309

Omaha: 1414 S 13th St, Omaha, NE 68108