One of the biggest perks of our move to the Short North in 2015 was that we got our own large window on High Street in the heart of the neighborhood. Prior to joining the Short North I did most of my Christmas shopping here and always admired the creativity and intricacies of the window displays, especially during the holidays. We think of our window as a way to briefly tell our story to those passing by on High Street. And our story is really the collection of inspiring stories our customers share with us as they tell us about what they’ll do in their Pursuit suits. This year’s window is the beginning of our campaign to cast a spotlight on the stories we hear in our shop that inspire us to keep building Pursuit.
Our customers come to us to outfit them for the biggest moments in their lives. Conversations in the shop are about fit, fabric, and style, sure, but they’re mainly about ambition, hard work, excitement, and optimism. The idea that our customers walk out the door with their suit, ready for their moment, has always felt very meaningful to us. It’s our small part in preparing them for their biggest days. The musician buying a suit to wear on stage during their upcoming tour. The aspiring entrepreneur getting dressed up for their big pitch. The community leader getting outfitted for the event they’ve been planning for months. The college student buying the suit they’ll wear to interview for their dream job. The groom getting the suit he’ll wear on his wedding day. The bride getting the suit she’ll wear on her wedding day. These are the stories that inspire us, the ones we are building Pursuit to support and tell.
Knowing that’s the Pursuit story, we set out to convey it with our window, and I didn’t have to look far for an idea. The concept of a spotlight came from the old framed photo of Bob Dylan (an idol of mine) that hangs above my bed. It struck me that the next stop for our suits and our customers is that big moment where they find themselves under the spotlight. And while we could have easily conveyed the idea of a spotlight with, well, a spotlight, that just didn’t seem like it’d be as effective during the daylight hours and it might’ve seemed a bit lazy too. I had previously seen yarn used in window displays and I thought yarn/wool, wool/suits, there was a loose connection there and it would probably look cool. More importantly I figured it’d be a DIY project we could handle on our own after having outside expert help on our previous two window displays.
We decided to go away from an overt holiday theme and keep the aesthetic very simple. So all it took was a trip to Michael’s and a trip to Lowe’s and about $70 of stuff, and we were ready to roll. Brock & I pounded 288 nails into a board, spaced about 1/4″ apart. Turns out my hammer skills are (or have always been) a bit rusty but thankfully precision was not a requirement.
Then we spent a few hours running rolls of Red Heart Super Saver Yarn, color ‘Butter’ (because I’m from Wisconsin), from each nail head to the crossbar suspended above our window platform. Note in the video how little movement was made by Brock and I during that time compared to the full aerobic exercise Operations Manager, Ryan, got stringing up the yarn. When it was all said and done we’d used over a mile of yarn in our display.
Then we got a little assist on vinyl design from our friend Ashli and vinyl installation from inspector Bruce.
You can check out the short time lapse video of the window coming together. While the guitar music might be a bit cheesy the sentiment of the window is very genuine. We hope it gives those passing by on the street an idea of what we’re all about at Pursuit.
While we’re still learning the art of the window display, we definitely had a lot of fun putting this one together. Stop by and see it while you’re out this winter, and then come in to say hello.
