Madison Scarcella, 21, and Patrick Hile, 20, stand in the former boathouse now home to Hile’s clothing business, Paul Landry Co., in Round Pond on July 10. (Jessica Picard photo)
Paul Landry Co., a Round Pond apparel company inspired by the owner’s grandfather, is opening a showroom after being in business for over a year.
Paul Landry Co. was started in April 2017 by 20-year-old Patrick Hile, who will be a senior at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York this year.
The brand is inspired by Hile’s grandfather, Paul Landry.
“He’s a great dresser,” Hile said. “He’s very dapper.”
Landry grew up in Bangor and would often visit Round Pond. He later owned houses in the village, known as The Captain’s House and Buttercup, which Hile and his family would visit in the summer.
“My mom always made a point to send all of us kids here for the summer. We moved around a lot with my dad’s job, but something that was sort of constant was always coming here,” Hile said.
Hile’s grandparents now live in Damariscotta in the summer and Florida the rest of the year, according to Hile.
“He’s a self-proclaimed Maine-iac,” Hile said of his grandfather.
“It was his lifestyle and his fashion style that really inspired (Paul Landry Co.),” said Madison Scarcella, the company’s 21-year-old social media and online coordinator. Scarcella studies marketing at Florida State University.
Hile and Scarcella said that even at 88 years old, Landry is active and adventurous.
“The brand embodies him,” Hile said.
The business’s headquarters and showroom is in an old boathouse at 16 Round Pond Landing Road, which Hile rents from his grandparents. The boathouse used to be a place where wooden lobster traps were made, but that operation closed in the 1980s, according to Hile.
“It’s been really great to see the locals embrace it as we’ve opened the doors,” Scarcella said. “That’s been really fun, to see the local community excited about seeing something in here.”
The company is made up of four people, including Hile and Scarcella. Hile’s younger sister, Hannah, 19, draws the clothing designs by hand, and Scarcella’s cousin, Tyler Nieves, 19, makes the drawings digital and colors them in.
“I realized, about a year and a half or two years ago, that there’s nothing really preppy but also adventurous, that you can buy and wear all the time,” Hile said.
“Me and my friends were going to go hiking, and I had this Vineyard Vines shirt on, and I was like, ‘Let me go change real quick before we go. I don’t want to ruin it.’ And that got me thinking, why do I need to change out of a T-shirt? That doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
Hile started going to retail and fashion conventions in New York City and launched the company. He packed up his sample shirts and spent over a month traveling the Maine coast presenting the products to stores.
Paul Landry Co. currently has two clothing lines available, mostly made up of T-shirts and hats. The brand’s slogan is “Classic New England apparel.”
The classic line features the company’s signature lobster logo, while the Sailing Outfitters Collection has a nautical theme.
“They’re really soft, really lightweight,” Scarcella said of the T-shirts.
The company often incorporates history into its designs. One shirt features the blueprint for the USS Constitution, which Landry worked on in 1994, during its reconstruction.
Paul Landry Co. is starting a new line in collaboration with the National Audubon Society, titled Stud Puffin.
A portion of sales from the line, which features puffins with red bow ties, will go toward the society’s Project Puffin.
The project’s goal is to restore the seabirds to their historic nesting islands off the coast of Maine, including Eastern Egg Rock, just a few miles off the coast of Round Pond.
Madison Scarcella models Paul Landry Co. clothing on the company’s Instagram. (Photo courtesy Madison Scarcella)
“Eventually, we would like to be able to find, fix up, and donate a boat, a motorboat, to them, so they can bring more researchers out,” Hile said.
The company’s Bar Harbor Collection will come out this fall, featuring fall colors and cool ocean tones, according to Hile.
They are also designing durable duffel bags with Port Canvas in Kennebunkport.
“People wanted a long-lasting, nautical-themed sailing bag,” Hile said. “They just wanted a bag that they can put all of their stuff in that they might need, and just throw it into the boat. So that’s what we’ve designed. Something that’s not nylon or that will rip and get caught.”
The company also hopes to create knit beanies and cable-knit sweaters for the fall season.
Paul Landry Co. is open to collaborating with businesses to create custom apparel, Hile said. It is currently working with Centerboard Yacht Club in Portland to create clothing for its relaunch in August.
Hile and Scarcella are staying in South Bristol for the summer, and plan to be at the boathouse-turned-office from around 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. They are turning the space into a showroom, where people interested in the company can stop by, feel the fabric, and look at the designs.
“Some people are really deterred by online shopping, so we thought this was a way to make it more personal. Come in, talk to us, feel the clothes, decide what you like,” Scarcella said.
“You can’t see how soft a shirt is online,” Hile said.
The showroom will not be a store, but those interested can order the clothing while there.
“We kind of like that we don’t have all of the inventory here to sell out directly, because we don’t really want to seem like we are pushing our merchandise on everyone,” Scarcella said. “We want to meet people and make genuine connections out here. Some people ask, “Oh, how can I help you?” and it’s not always ‘Buy a shirt,’ it’s ‘Tell people about us, spread the word, meet us, give us your ideas.’”
The clothing is currently for sale in four stores: Granite Hall Store in Round Pond, House of Logan in Boothbay Harbor, The Holmes Store in Northeast Harbor, and The Sail Locker in Belfast.
The company offers free shipping for orders from its website, paullandryco.com. Shirts are $32 and hats are $20.
Hile said the public’s response to the clothing line has been very positive, with many hat colors already sold out.
As for the company’s namesake, Hile said Landry loves the brand named after him.
“We gave him like one of every shirt, and he wears it every day,” Hile said. “His favorite outfit is the Paul Landry T-shirt tucked into Nantucket red pants, with a leather-braided belt and his Sperry’s.”
“He loves telling people about the company,” Hile said.
“He also provides a lot of helpful feedback,” Scarcella said.
The T-shirt’s cotton and fabric is grown and made in Texas. The fabric is then cut and assembled in Mexico. The labels, which are sewn in the same pattern that boat sails are, are sewn into the shirts in Philadelphia, and the shirts are screen-printed in Florida, according to Hile. The hats are made in Connecticut.
For more information about Paul Landry Co., see paullandryco.com; follow the company on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest; or contact Hile at 386-986-8702 or paullandryco@gmail.com.
“I would encourage more people to come down here,” Hile said. “Come and meet us and learn about the company.”
