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Alums Belt Out a Preppy Hit, Reports Washington Post

Story posted July 18, 2008

Peter Smathers Carter '04 and Austin Branson '04 have struck preppy gold: lobsters, golf clubs, school logos and the like — stitched on needlepoint belts. They say they hatched the plan while they were at Bowdoin, when their girlfriends made them needlepoint belts that drew compliments around campus.

The pair was the focus of a "Value Added" column in the July 15, 2008, edition of the Washington Post.

Read the article here.

Their business, Smathers & Branson, has become a success, with revenues expected to break $3 million this year. The company's products, which also include key fobs, dog collars and cummerbunds, have been featured in Redbook and House & Garden, and former President George H. W. Bush was photographed wearing a Smathers & Branson American flag belt in 2007.

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