Melissa Thornton, the founder of the MilwaukeeHome brand, announced in a heartfelt Facebook video that she has sold the MilwaukeeHome brand to The Waxwing.
MilwaukeeHome is a lifestyle clothing brand that was born in 2011 when Thornton designed the signature MIL-WAU-KEE-HOME logo and made T-shirts as gifts for friends using Zazzle.com. If you spend an hour walking around downtown in the summer, you're sure to see a handful of people sporting some variation of the design on shirts, hats, accessories, etc.
The Waxwing is an art gallery and artist's boutique that originally opened in Shorewood in 2012. In 2015, it expanded and moved to the East Side (1800 E. North Ave.) on the corner of North and Oakland Avenues.
Steph Davies, the owner of The Waxwing describes the partnership moving forward with Thornton as an "open adoption" because it was Thornton's "baby" and now they get to share the vision of the future of the brand.
"The brand and the legacy of MilwaukeeHome will continue on," says Thornton. "MilwaukeeHome has been my life and I'm really grateful and happy that I was able to do what I love for seven years."
Thornton explains, "Just recently, my husband got a job out-of-state. He's been gone for three months and something clicked in me and that's 'Why sacrifice being away as a family and as a whole?' I decided to pass the torch on to Steph, the owner of The Waxwing. It's probably been the hardest decision I've ever made, but I feel 100% confident that it was the right decision to make.
The MilwaukeeHome store in the Third Ward (159 N. Jackson St.) will remain open following the sale. Some of the items on consignment in The Waxwing may be migrated to the MilwaukeeHome store and artists may be asked to bring their own ideas to the MilwaukeeHome brand.
Watch the full video announcement below:
