Case Study: The Local Branch achieves brand legitimacy and online sales growth with Shopify

The Local Branch - Customer Case Study

The Local Branch is a maker-led Americana brand started by Blaine and his partner after they moved from New York to San Francisco and began a creative hobby that became a business. Committed to US-made goods, they taught themselves screen printing, hand-print apparel (using blanks from American Apparel), and craft leather goods from a Kentucky tannery while living and working on the road in an Airstream. As a two-person, traveling team, their challenge was building legitimacy, reaching customers beyond local markets, and managing inventory and fulfillment on the move.

They earned early sales on Etsy and at craft fairs, then launched a Shopify store to professionalize the business and expand reach. Combined with Instagram, Facebook, trade shows and a few key press features (CNN Money, Design*Sponge), that approach drove steady organic growth. They continue to handle shipping internally—carrying inventory, printing labels on the go—and have maintained their maker-made, USA-focused ethos while scaling the brand.

The Local Branch