This brand is the product of the accumulation of my life. The ups, the downs, the lessons, the heartbreaks, the joys, and thrills of being alive. The name came to me three years ago during a time where I was "in limbo" - not sure of my next step in life. I had graduated from Boston University in the Spring of 2022 and right after that started my big girl finance job in NYC. Only a few months in, I quit. A story for another time, but all that needs to be known was it felt wrong. Every cell in my body felt like it was on fire. Complete misalignment.
For some background - I grew up in the suburbs of NYC and spent every summer of my life in Montauk. I was three weeks old and out for my first MDW weekend with my family. My parents and grandparents spending their prime years out East as well. It was home to my most magical childhood memories - of family, of the beach, of summer sun, laughter, growing up, and everything in between. Years ago, Montauk was not what it was today. The world has seemed to catch onto the magic that I felt in Montauk my whole life. Montauk became my escape, my sanctuary on the weekends year round. It was a place to go to to celebrate life's milestones and a place to go to mend a broken heart. Either way it was a place that sparked something in me always - hope, strength, and dreaming.
It was the same year I quit my first corporate job that I began to take an interest in film photography. I got my first real film camera from the 1970s and naturally, Montauk became my first subject. The trajectory of my life changed in this time. It was like a "void"; nothing really going on, no idea my next step, the biggest "unknown" time in my life. I was thinking about how much I loved Montauk because of the magic it always cultivated in my life like it was a sacred place. The name "Glory Days MTK" came to me just like that... during a time when seemingly nothing was going on. It clicked that that would become my business name - what that business would look like was still unknown.
It would happen that I moved out to Montauk officially that same Spring to "start over". Building a life from scratch that felt so right. I was exactly where I was meant to be. I could feel it in my heart and bones. The photos I took in Montauk became the foundation for an idea that would later develop. Growing up, I was like a lot of girls incredibly drawn to fashion, cute clothes, and anything that was visibly beautiful that I could wear on my body. I went most of my life forgetting the my first dream in life was to start a clothing line or fashion brand.
And so Glory Days MTK was born. Glory Days MTK is a lifestyle brand that features loungewear with my original artwork on them. Pieces made from 100% organic cotton that carry a piece of magic with them on their back. Film photographs all of Montauk that I hope make you feel the magic that they make me feel. Raw nature. Vast oceans. Surfers and glory days.
My hope is that each piece carries a little bit of magic with them. That each piece inspires the person that gets to wear it. This brand is about celebrating all of the Glory Days. The days that are filled with laughter, sun, ocean, friends, and hope. I've realized that there are many sets of glory days in our life. They are not finite. They are in the small moments - moments you look back on and wish you could relive. I hope each piece of clothing inspires someone to chase something they've been always wanted to do. To chase their glory days. To create them. They are never over, but just around the corner.
