Southern Tide is an American apparel company founded in 2006 in Greenville,

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, by Allen Stephenson. The brand is owned by

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

-based

Oxford Industries Oxford Industries, Inc. is a publicly traded clothing company in the United States that specializes in high-end clothing and apparel. The company carries many major labels, including Tommy Bahama, Lilly Pulitzer, Johnny Was and Southern Tide. Hi ...

History

According to Stephenson, the inspiration for Southern Tide came about during college, while studying abroad in Italy. During his senior year at The University of South Carolina, he presented his concept for Southern Tide for a speech class. Following his presentation, Stephenson remembers his professor encouraging him to pursue his idea and he immediately left college. After dropping out, he researched the construction of

polo shirts A polo shirt, tennis shirt, golf shirt, or chukker shirt is a form of shirt with a collar. Polo shirts are usually short sleeved but can be long; they were used by polo players originally in India in 1859 and in Great Britain during the 1920s. ...

. The finished product became the Southern Tide Skipjack Polo.

Growth

The company's rapid growth has been recognized by several business publications. In 2011,

Forbes Magazine ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also repo ...

recognized Southern Tide in its annual list of "Americas Most Promising Companies", rating the firm at #27. Also that same year, the company was ranked at #73 overall on the Inc. 500 list of "The Fastest Growing American Companies". The magazine further designated Southern Tide to be the 6th fastest growing company in the "products and services" category as well as the fastest growing apparel company. As a trifecta, Southern Tide named the second fastest growing company in the state of South Carolina for 2011 by the Capital Corporation. The following two years (2012, 2013), Southern Tide made the South Carolina Fastest Growing Company list at No. 5.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.southerntide.com/ 2006 establishments in South Carolina Clothing retailers of the United States Clothing brands of the United States Companies based in South Carolina Companies established in 2006 Companies based in Greenville, South Carolina