Get your new United State of Indiana gear, and shop our End of Summer Sale for $20 tanks and tees. 

LICK is available in eleven different restaurants and businesses – all locally owned. “That’s important to us,” Meredith said. “We like the idea of wholesale, but it’s we want to meet the people that enjoy your product, and manage the way it’s handled.” They're also a staple of the Broad Ripple Farmer's Market, where they rotate about nine flavors at the farmer’s market. The three flavors that appear every week are Salted Carmel and Sage, Ginger Snap and Lemon Curd, and Candied Pecan Gorgonzola. “People get mad when we take them away!” Meredith laughed. Seasonal flavors, like Roasted Balsamic Strawberry, are only in rotation for a few weeks before they’re retired for the year. That’s because nearly all of their flavors feature locally grown produce. “There’s nothing as good as warm Indiana strawberries. We’re not going to buy from the store, ” she said.

And of course a good product starts with a good base – custard, not ice. “We’re real ice cream enthusiasts! When you freeze ice cream, the faster you freeze it the better the texture.” Batches are made 3 quarts at a time and frozen in five minutes. But the processes is much more involved than that. Made from scratch, the egg base has to be tempered carefully and then mixed. A single batch of ice cream takes nearly an hour from start to finish.

“We make it make it fresh and sell out every week.  We never sell old ice cream.” The sisters spend Mondays and Tuesdays producing the custard base, Wednesday and Thursday freezing, Friday delivering wholesale, and Saturday selling at the Broad Ripple Farmer’s Market, usually ending the day with margaritas to wrap up the long week. Despite the hard work and long hours, they love what they do. “I never get tired of going. Every Saturday at the farmer’s market is like Christmas. To see people enjoy something you’ve worked so hard on all week – I love it, and I love our customers.”

And their customers love LICK. Join their growing fan base by following them on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, where you can keep up with their flavors of the week. You can find a sampling of their craziest (tastiest!) flavors over on Buzzfeed. 

Much to my surprise, they started selling and I realized I'd need some real photos if this idea was going to be at all legitimate. So, outside my house in Anderson, we organized the first USI photo shoot. There was only one design, so we all wore the same thing, but the day ended up being a blast and a sign of how much fun we'd have on photo shoots to come.

These pictures were taken on May 3, 2011, which seems like a million years ago. In honor of this Throwback Thursday, the original Black and Red USI Flag tees are on sale for their original price--$15--for today only.

“No need to stress about look. It’s all about content,” reassured Jeremiah Williams before we met at his new office at the east end of Indy’s Massachusetts Avenue. But as the new Director of Retail Operations for Pattern, he’s a big part of both the look and content of a brand that is transforming the Midwest fashion industry through monthly meet-ups, collaborations and partnerships, and the award-winning Pattern Magazine.

Indianapolis is coming into its own culture, and fashion is quickly becoming an important part of that new identity. Jeremiah compares the growing momentum of Indy’s fashion to the similar growth of foodie culture and the craft beer community. “Everyone drinks well – as a city, we created that culture. It’s the same with fashion. Let’s drink well, let’s dress well next,” he said. “Every year we move forward and say, 'What’s next?' and we find that there is always room to keep moving forward.”

People who aren’t in Indianapolis often don’t realize what’s here, but Pattern is changing that. It stands out, it’s interesting, and it does what it does well. So well, in fact, that the magazine is sold in six countries. Consumers from Los Angeles to London can find Pattern Magazine on newsstands and appreciate it without realizing it’s written, designed, and photographed in the Midwest. “Indiana is no longer a fly-over fashion state,” says Jeremiah. “There are brands that have stood up and shown that it can be done in the Midwest, and given us permission to be proud of Indiana and the culture and presence that is being created here.”

Pattern has always been comfortable competing at an international level, but the brand is still shaped by the local community. “We realize some trends and editorials won’t be as successful in the Midwest,” Jeremiahreflected. “We’re not trendsetters here in the Midwest, but we have a unique style. Indianapolis is trendy in a very realistic and sensible way.”

Still – Pattern pushes the boundaries of fashion in the Midwest, which makes the location of their forthcoming retail store on Mass Avenue perfect. The street houses some of the areas best-known local retailers, and the east end is experiencing rapid growth. The new Pattern store makes sense in this environment, using the reputation it has already established as a local brand to introduce national brands and styles the city has not yet seen. “Having an outside influence will help challenge the culture, while freshening it up and still bringing in consumers to the area.”

“We’re just doing fashion well,” says Jeremiah when asked about how chooses what brands will fill the store. “It’s not a coincidence that local apparel will be sold in our store – we believe local brands can compete on a national level.”

The 1300-square-foot retail space that opens in August is a collaboration with Carmel based Luur Design. Shoppers will find a very clean, European feel with an entirely modular layout that allows Pattern to completely rearrange the room and open up for events, as well as runway and trunk shows. The apparel will be a mix of high and low-end products. “The styling brings everything together,” he said, “It makes it very cohesive between the magazine and the products in the store.”

The consistency of the Pattern brand from page to products is now Jeremiah’s responsibility. “Polina [Osherov] is the creative vision - the Pattern brand. Eric [Strickland] is the spreadsheet guy. I’m the middle man that puts the two together.” The recognition of Pattern and the success of the magazine sets a high standard for the store. “Jumping into the retail world like this – it’s the thorn in my side that gives me heartburn at night. It’s very nerve-wracking for me,” he said.

But despite having a mere 8 weeks to learn the ropes of retail management and open the store, things are looking good for Pattern and Jeremiah.

The Pattern store will be open August 1, with an opening celebration from 5-10 PM. The store space will be open for shopping, with a pop-up event space next door for socializing and join our celebration for the party. 

Visit the store and check out www.patternindy.com.

Happy Independence Day from the United State of Indiana.

Celebrate in style with our USI Flag Tri-Blend Tank, USI Denim Jacket by Lux and Ivy, Torch and Stars Women's Tank, or INDPLS Baseball Tee by People for Urban Progress.

To help you celebrate, use the code SPARKLERBOMB for 15% off all USI Apparel (and a USI sticker pack!) on July 3rd and 4th. 

Over the past three years, for one reason or another, I’ve always had at least one friend telling me that USI needed a gold foil tee. Usually, I entertained the idea for the sake of conversation, but politely declined from pursuing it further. My hesitation came from a nagging feeling that something about the gold foil was inherently anti-USI. We talked about giving them to rappers or throwing them out at clubs, but—despite my best efforts—none of my good friends (the people who really took USI from a simple shirt to a full-time company) were rappers or the kind of people who actually go to “clubs”. The USI crew—and the average Hoosier, I suspect—doesn’t believe that making something louder makes it more interesting. While the power of USI products had always been a certain simplicity that mirrored my uncomplicated pride and admiration for the state, dressing the USI flag up in eye-grabbing gold foil seemed unnecessarily emphatic. (“Hey! Over here! Look how simple and understated I am!”)

But then I talked to our screen printing wizards, Jeffrey and Derek, at the Art Press and asked what the process for printing a gold foil flag might be. It turns out the technique is complex, finicky, labor-intensive and usually results in a shirt or two (or five) getting worn home by one of us because the finished product wasn’t exactly right.

And that’s when a gold foil tee finally made sense for USI.

Three years and thousands of screen printed states and stripes later,  the shirt lets us show that we’ll never stop pouring more time, energy and thought into designs and products we believe in. Yes, it’s loud, but it’s also undeniably interesting. It looks and feels unlike any shirt we’ve ever made. The idea wasn’t picked out of a catalog, but dreamed up and deliberated before we knew anything about how to actually create it, then created—through trial-and-error—while motivated by the satisfaction of holding in our hands exactly what we had dreamed.

I hope you are as intrigued by this new addition to the USI line as I have been throughout its creation. 

You can get the Gold Foil Tee in our online store for a limited time. Get yours before they join other limited-run USI products in the USI Grab Bag! 

For a deeply discounted price, you can get a grab bag with one of these awesome and hard-to-find USI shirts. No defects or misprints – just a piece of USI’s past. For $15, you’ll get one of our unique tanks or tees, and for $25 you’ll get a sweatshirt, handpicked for you (no requests!) by the USI team. You still choose your size, so no worries about grabbing something that doesn’t fit – and returns are still an option.

We grabbed four products to show you some of the gems you might get in your USI grab bag:

Light Blue States and Stripes Tank
First Run: July 26, 2012
Total # Produced: 128

USI Joker Tank
First Run: 04/03/2014
Total # Produced: 8

USI Flag Cardigan
First Run: 12/07/2012
Total # Produced: 20

Corn Tee
First Run: 08/17/2013
Total # Produced: 83

Call to action: 

"It's not a small world. It's a huge world. But when you're committed to eating, drinking, working, talking, buying, selling, writing, and singing close to where you live, you're constantly surprised at how connected we all are."

Wise words from my boss, Graham. It's especially true if where you live is rural Indiana - small public high schools, an hour away from the closest city, nothing but cornfields for miles. Even if your "neighbors" are thirty minutes away, the connection is still very real. 

Jacob and I both grew up in small Indiana towns, about thirty minutes away from one another. When we first met as Butler University freshman, we were fast friends - of course, Jacob is fast friends with everyone he meets. But during our carpools home on weekends and while visiting each other over break, our conversations would turn to our shared experiences of rural life, of going from cornfields to cities. That connection is so special between us. 

Besides that, we're both crazy passionate about our home state of Indiana. When I had the opportunity to work with Graham last fall, I brought Jacob with me. Since then, he's proudly worn the United State of Indiana logo on his clothing, laptop, and social media. 

When gearing up for this year's Indy Pride, I couldn't think of a better Hoosier than Jacob to tell us why true pride is so important. Plus, he looks so great in our USI Pride tees! 

It wasn’t the idea of coming out that scared me, but the idea of never having the courage to do it. Coming out as gay in Indiana wasn’t an easy accomplishment. To some it may be easy, and I envy those people. But for me, it was a long and winding road.

I remember coming out to my parents like it happened this morning.

I told my mother first. It was on one of those back Indiana country roads where cornfields engulf the horizon for miles. I pulled the car over, and mustered up the courage to tell her that I was gay. She stared at me in pure disbelief. I repeated myself, and she started to cry. Tears streamed down her red puffy face, and I cried silently along with her. She looked at me like a mother holding her child for the first time and told me, “Jacob, I love you no matter what. I just know how cruel the world is, and I don’t want that for my son.” My mother was worried and scared for me, like any mother would be.

I came out to my immediate family sophomore year of high school and to the rest of the world when I started my freshman year at Butler University. While at Butler, openly gay, I was surrounded with support and indifference. Students and faculty didn’t care my sexual preference and only wanted to know when the next basketball game was, or how I did on my last English paper. 

Coming out opened the world to me and made me realize the opportunities at my fingertips. I am free, and becoming more free each and every day. I am no longer living behind the lies that were full of my own fear. I look back on my young life and wonder how I ever dealt with the tensions that I now realize weighed heavily over my chest – when I never knew what free felt like. Coming out gave me self-confidence, my belief in myself, but most importantly allowed me to love myself.

Today if you asked my mother if she’s worried, she would say she isn’t at all. She has seen the world change and progress with LGBT rights and, even though it isn’t where some of us hope it would be, she can now breathe a little lighter. 

Indiana is filled with loving, hard-working and caring people who think differently than their parents and grandparents. We're creating  a new reputation for our home and the great state we call Indiana.

I am Jacob Barnes. Not “Gay Jacob Barnes.”

Just Jacob Barnes, a proud Hoosier.

Click here to shop our Pride collection.

The James Dant Private Label Kit. James Dant Coffee ($16), Beard Balm ($15), and Beard Oil  ($26).  Great individual products, and even better together – buy all three and save 15%.

Komono x Jean-Michel Basquait Watches ($85-$110). Limited edition.

PACT Men’s Boxer Briefs ($20) and No-show Socks ($15).

Jack Heinz Wallets. Grizzly Slim ($50), Draper ($70), Roosevelt ($85), and Vonnegut ($90).

Ezekiel Short Sleeve Button-Up ($52). Available in six patterns and sizes.

DiBi Bowties ($37).

Ironwood Candles ($20).  Made with crackling wood wicks and soy wax. Burns for 32 hours. Almond, Campfire, and Lakeside.

James Dant Tee Shirts ($25).

A La Carte Shave Kits.  A variety of Brushes ($30-$70), Stands ($20), Razors ($35-$40), and Soaps ($10-$20) available. Buy 3 or more and get 20% off.

Jamestown Revival Vinyl ($22). A little rock and roll, a little bluegrass, a little folk – all the good things in one place, just like James Dant: A Store for Men.