BOW TIE GUY Hy .'i1ciddinc ,Jones I Kristina Kiser Senior finance major Austin Woltman began designing and creating bow ties as a hobby. Woltman said his interest in fashion started at the end of his high school career as he began to realize the effect of appearances on first impressions. The first time he decided to make his own bow tie was for a social club formal. "I was being cheap and wanted a bow tie," Woltman said. "My mom had taught me how to sew when I was younger, so I thought I'd give it a try. After a couple attempts, it was a fail, but finally after looking online I was able to figure it out." After several requests for custom bow ties from friends, Woltman began to sell them. Woltman said his peers choosing to buy their formal wear from him instead of a name brand store encouraged him tremendously. Lori Sloan, assistant professor of marketing, served as a faculty sponsor at Harding University in Florence while Woltman attended in the summer of 2014. Woltman said his time at HUF was another catalyst in his passion for fashion, especially bow ties. Sloan said she first saw Woltman's interest in the business ofthe fashion world during their time abroad. "HUF was when we first started talking about his passion for developing the tie business," Sloan said. "We went to this one big artisan festival, and there were people there making violins, blowing glass, making metal work and jewelry, and then there was a whole convention hall th.at had fashion ... (Woltman) spent a lot of time there talking with a bow tie maker about very specific fabrics and designs." During Woltman's senior year, he partnered with sophomore Ben Bauer, who owned and operated his own clothing company called Patriot Values. Bauer desc1ibed his company as "a collection of clothing and accessories designed for the modern-da American." Bauer started Patriot Values over Christmas break in 2014 with the supp01t of his friends and family. Woltman contacted Bauer about partnering up, and Bauer accepted, establishing Patriot Values' first line of bow ties. "Austin contacted me saying that he had been hand-making bow ties for awhile and noticed my line did not have them and asked if I would be interested in carrying his ties," Bauer said. "I was all for it and talked with Austin, and we decided to launch his ties as Patriot Values products. It has done pretty well, and it has added a whole new concept and look to my company. My hope is that we keep growing in products and customers and to very soon have our products in different stores locally and even across the nation." Senior 1l11sti11 \Voll111u11 's passion for fashion inspired him to make bou.J tics starting his sophomo1·e yeor at Harding becouse he considered them u timeless and classic accessory. I Photos by Owen Brown SE:"\IOH FE .\Tl "HE Ill
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