From pairing tweed double-breasted vests with corduroy bow ties to color schemes of gold trim with midnight navy embroidery, Stock Manufacturing Company uniforms have graced the stage at the James Beard Awards and outfitted staff at some of the most prestigious restaurants in the country. Now the Fulton Market-based company, which deems its uniforms “workwear made from the best ingredients,” is setting its sights on resorts and real estate companies.  

In 2012, Jim Snediker, Mike Morarity and Tim Tierney embarked on a transformative journey. Transitioning from their roots in e-commerce and menswear, these co-founders synergized their talents to establish Stock, a burgeoning uniform empire. 

Over a decade later, their brand has solidified a robust résumé of partnerships with Chicago’s elite hospitality sector, outfitting teams at Michelin Star restaurants, prominent hotels, chic bars and more. 

One of the most notable designs Stock has done includes custom green velvet tuxedos for Michelin Star restaurant Kasama when its chef and owner won for “Best New Restaurant” at the 2022 James Beard Awards. Another prestigious partnership the brand picked up was with the Chicago Blackhawks, creating the aprons for the team’s staff at a fundraiser dinner. 

Outside of hospitality in Chicago, Stock has also gone on to design the uniforms for Uniting Voices, formerly known as the Chicago Children’s Choir.

From fashion brand to uniforms

According to sources like Forbes and Inc.com, Chicago has developed a strong reputation as an entrepreneurial city over the years, and the start of Stock perhaps played a small role in contributing to that early boom. Getting their start in the fashion industry, Morarity and Tierney — now the creative director and head of product for Stock — first created the menswear brand Vagrant Nobility in 2010 after graduating college. 

Around the same time, Snediker quit his job to start an e-commerce business that operated as a flash site for Indie brands. Upon meeting Snediker, Tierney and Morarity were starting this new concept of a stripped-down menswear brand with Oxford shirts, ties, and classic Americana heritage sportswear.  A startup love story in the making, the three co-founders came together to form Stock, of which Snediker is now CEO. 

“I liked that they had a design and manufacturing background, something that my last company did not,” Snediker noted in an interview with Chicago Star. “And my contribution to all that was my sales background.”

Why the name “Stock”? Snediker says it refers back to the actual stockyards of Chicago, a remembrance of the people who worked there, and the business innovation that stems from that period in time.

“Our whole idea behind the branding was that the stockyards were the epicenter for both blue-collar immigrant job growth, as well as white-collar innovation,” says Snediker. “The Chicago Commodities Exchange came out of people speculating on the slaughterhouses at the stockyards, and the immigrant labor force grew their lives via employment of the stockyards. We liked that two-prong approach of building a manufacturing base in Chicago, while also creating an innovative business model.”

As the business took off, Stock collaborated with content creators on Tumblr with an influential menswear following. The brand did a few pop-ups in Chicago and collaborated with some top creators in the menswear space in New York, such as a photographer from GQ, all of which led to a tremendous following in Chicagoland and on the East Coast.

Stock quickly built a reputation of being collaborative and grew even more as the brand made it to the big-time of menswear: the GQ x Northern Grade pop-up show in New York, showcasing among other brands like Billy Reid, which also has a storefront in West Loop.

Globally-known Michelin Star restaurant Alinea calls for uniforms 

By what Snediker calls a “stroke of good luck,” Tierney happened to know an old college classmate Dave Beran, who back in the early 2010s was executive chef at Next, sister restaurant to Alinea — both Michelin Star restaurants in Chicago. Beran came to Tierney in need of new uniforms.

The Stock team took on the project in their second year of business and with no prior experience making clothes for restaurant staff. Ten years later, Alinea still wears the same uniform.

“It's a small industry, and Alinea was the top restaurant in the world at the time, so next thing you know, Goose Island found out about us when they had just sold to Anheuser-Busch InBev,” says Snediker. “They wanted to establish their Chicago bona fides and make sure people knew they're still on Fulton Street, that they're not going anywhere. We ended up doing a big collaboration with them as we were taking off. I also had a connection with Lettuce Entertain You when they were opening up RPM STEAK, and they wanted something really cool. Now we outfit the staff at a significant percentage of their restaurants.”

Expanding locally & beyond the Windy City

Another significant turning point for Stock came when Soho House opened in Chicago in the summer of 2014. While expanding in the West Loop, Soho House invited the Stock team to join as members; instead, Stock offered to make Soho House’s uniforms. The brand made such an impact on the Chicago club that the uniforms were also picked up by two Soho House clubs in New York, one in the Meatpacking District and its Ludlow House.

Stock’s business began to boom further as the team did a photo shoot and blog to showcase the Soho House partnership. The boost in organic traffic led to acquiring boutique hotels as clients, all while the co-founders were still running the menswear brand on the side.

“People were searching for Soho House uniforms because they were the design leader,” Snediker added. 

In April 2015, Stock officially opened its storefront on Fulton Street to much acclaim, including being named the best menswear shop in the city by Time Out Magazine; however, by 2018, it became apparent that the uniform business was growing at a much faster rate than the fashion brand with B2B sales accounting for nearly 85% of their revenue. In early 2019, that led to the decision to shut down the menswear side and fully transform the Fulton Street storefront into a uniform showroom and office.

Today, Stock uniforms can be found in 48 states across the country and the company also boasts a burgeoning international presence.

Designing for big brands across the nation

Though native to Chicago, Stock has made a huge splash across the United States landing notable clients like Miller High Life, for whom it designed a menswear capsule collection. Fans of the new television series The Bear may have also seen Stock aprons in Season 2. The uniform brand designed the show’s wrap gifts as well, including blankets and duffle bags.

“We were also super early to cannabis dispensaries,” Snediker added. “We do all of the Sunnyside dispensaries and all of Herbology before Curaleaf bought them. We even have one in Arkansas that we're working with now.” 

Showing its versatility in manufacturing, the local uniform supplier has even broken into the golf world. The brand has designed drivers and golf clubs for Drive Shack Inc., a leading owner and operator of golf-related leisure and entertainment businesses, and owner of West Loop’s Puttery. 

Quality found in the ingredients

While the team behind Stock clearly has made a huge impact on driving in clients, the proof of the brand’s quality is found in its product’s ingredients. Following the slogan on their website “workwear made from the best ingredients,” Snediker says Stock uniforms prioritize a combination of style, functionality and comfort. 

Compared to most uniforms that are 100% poly at other brands, Stock’s Oxford shirts have a 75-25% cotton-poly blend but still feel like a soft cotton shirt, just with all the benefits of poly — preventing wear and fading of color while cleaning easier. Keeping to its trend of comfort, all of Stock’s chambray shirts are 98% cotton with 2% stretch, which is implemented for movability. When it comes to zipper choice, their team uses higher-end YKK zippers. 

“We’re also making efforts to be more sustainable. In the packaging, we’ve reduced a lot of the plastic and cardboard,” Snediker added.

Plans for expansion of industries

When it comes to expansion, Stock’s focus is less territorial and more focused on expanding industries, having already broken into top-tier hotels, Michelin Star restaurants, prominent beverage companies, cannabis shops, and event venues. 

“We’re currently expanding our product offering to better service large-scale resorts in tropical locations,” says Snediker. “Stock is also starting to dip its toes further into other industries such as commercial real estate and aviation.”

Becoming a Stock client

Businesses in Chicago or beyond looking to work with Stock will find its design process rather simple. Taking a company’s brand identity and interior design, the Stock team can design uniforms in 1-2 weeks. Samples and production take another 2-3 weeks. For initial delivery, wait time is initially roughly 4-6 weeks with reordering only taking 2-4 weeks.  

Learn more about Stock on its website and tune into their podcast Joiners, where Tim Tierney and co-host Danny Shapiro talk with influential names from the hospitality industry. 

Visit the uniform showroom in Fulton Market at 2136 W. Fulton Street.