I'm Kathleen Wampold. My husband, Jay, and I founded JJerrold, an elevated outerwear brand based in Seattle.

My great-grandmother was a professional seamstress and patternmaker. She came to live with us when I was nine, and taught me how a coat is actually built, not just how it looks once it's finished. 

It's an unusual thing to have been taught, and it's why the small things matter here: where a hem falls, whether a cuff turns back cleanly, whether a shoulder still holds its line after a season of wear.

I come from a retail family, and retail is where my roots are; however, I stepped away for a while and built a career in corporate America. JJerrold is the return to my retail roots and entrepreneurial spirit, this time making something of my own instead of selling someone else's.

Jay is my co-founder, and his taste is exquisite. He has an instinct for proportion and restraint, and for knowing what to leave out. The name is for him.

We travel as much as we can, and most of what we love we found somewhere else first. That's how the coats get made: slowly, in small numbers, and only when they're right.