Interview with Canvas Rebel

Thank you to Canvas Rebel for asking me to do another interview with them. This time we dive deep into how dale & blue got its name, and really what is in a name anyway? And we get into more of the business side of things, plus what I have been up to the last year and so, how the business has changed since the pandemic, and why I think the company and myself are finally hitting our stride. It was really fun to sit down and answer some of these questions in depth and reflect back on where dale & blue started and where we are today! I would love to have you read the article and send it on to anyone who has started a business or is thinking about it! Read the full article here

Little Swords

shh… here is a little sneak peek of Little Swords in a brand new colorway. Coming to the site in fabric by the yard and pillows soon.

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Allison Hylant. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Allison, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

The company name is dale & blue. It often throws people off when they first meet me because my name Allison, which seemingly has nothing to do with the business name. But in truth, dale & blue is named for my grandfathers. I had a Grandpa Dale (my mother’s father) and a Grandpa Blue (my father’s father) Neither are still here, so naming the company after them felt like a nice tribute, it also made sense for the type of brand I was looking to build. Our brand philosophy is people over things, the idea that you should always be putting people first, and how something is made matters most. The name and company ethos pays tribute to all hard-working women and men who have ever tried to build something for themselves instead of following the status quo. All lessons I learned from my grandfathers through story and example. In truth, Blue was not my grandfathers’ real name. Robert (Bob) Hylant got the nickname because he was just a HUGE University of Michigan fan, which happens to be my alma mater. So in many ways, the name felt layered with meaning and very serendipitous. I knew that I didn’t want to use my name, and I wanted a name that could grow and be interpreted in new ways as the business evolved and felt grounded and established from day one. Naming it after my grandfathers felt like it accomplished all of those things and I visually liked that both names had four letters and using the ampersand symbol helped to make everything feel balanced. The names being lowercase is intentional, it made the name feel causal and approachable it wasn’t just the meaning of the name that was well thought out, it was how it presented to the world and what the brand would convey. The brand is familiar, casual, approachable, and established, there is a history and story that we invite you to be a part of.

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See full article on there website here.

Allison Hylant