We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shannon Dohemann. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shannon below.

Shannon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Made in Marin was created in Summer 2023 when my husband, Carson Dohemann, and I were looking for ways to bring positivity into our lives, as well as find a new hobby that we could work on together. Carson had been injured just a few years prior, resulting in a spinal cord injury and a long road to recovery.
He was an avid athlete, and I was a crafty person at heart- so we put our heads together, knowing we could make the most of our situation. We wanted to find joy and find a way to give back.
We started with a logo idea and a small Cricut machine to make t-shirts for a local farmers market. Our friends and family rallied behind us, showing up and supporting our new dream and small business that we had created. We realized we had made a brand that resonated with the people of Marin County. And as the Made in Marin community grew – we realized we could give back, by showing our customers the other local shops and vendors that needed support like we did! BOOM! That made it all make sense!
Now we are known as the Local Brand and Clothing Company that makes a difference, is building a community of shop local supporters, and the brand that thrives on connection. There is so much beauty in Marin – the people, the landscape, the adventure – and we are proud to be locals!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

What is Made in Marin? A Local Brand and Clothing Company that was founded by a husband and wife, two Marin County locals who love to support local businesses!
They started their brand after finding a new hobby to enjoy together: designing custom merchandise and making tie dye shirts and sweatshirts with their own logo.

The brand has grown into a community of people who are proud to support small shops like Made in Marin.
As the attention of the brand grew on social media – the two people who created the brand, Carson and Shannon Dohemann – decided to give back by showing off their favorite small business in the area. They are helping ma and pop shops gain the attention they deserve – sometimes making them go viral online, which helps bring in tons of new customers!

There are a few things that set Made in Marin apart from the rest –
It’s a small business clothing company that is run by locals and for the locals!
They’re “LOCAL SUPPORTING LOCAL”
And are known for spreading the love. They want all small business to thrive and be successful, not just them! So Made in Marin shouts-out as many local spots as they can for followers/customers to see.
Their in-house screen printing is done by hand on a manual press.
For the embroidered items, or anything outsourced for the brand, the owner specifically chooses to work with locally owned and family operated Marin County based companies.
We are a small team with a BIG dream! Made in Marin strives to become a household name across the Bay Area and California.

Have you ever had to pivot?

We started with an iron-on Cricut machine for all of our logo applications when we started our business. We took shirts to sell for the first time at a local farmers market, and sold almost all of them in three hours.
When we went home that night, we realized we had to be smart about production and make our items faster. We also wanted to provide our customers with a high quality product that would last a long time. We started researching and learned about screen printing.
So, we bought a simple manual press and a few inks, and I started to learn to screen print in our garage. I spent three months learning the new craft knowing it would give us total control of production, as well as eliminate the need to pay another person to help us. It was the only way we could keep margins good enough to maintain staying in business.
Pivoting our strategy to make merchandise was key to our success. It is still the way we make every single one of our screen printed items. One by one, in the garage, using a small manual press. A labor of love indeed. It brings me so much joy to have a connection to each individual piece. And even cooler when the items are tie dyed by Carson first.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media is a big part of Made in Marin’s identity! We have a huge following of people who are Marin County and Bay Area locals on Instagram, and we are growing rapidly!
We are known for shouting out local shops and small family run restaurants, etc.
So when people come to our page they know what to expect:
They’re going to learn about our experiences as small business owners in Marin County (us at local events, making shirts or tie dye, seeing new merchandise launches) or they are going to learn about a local small business that we think they will love!

With this growth we have learned a lot about how to post, what to post, when, etc.
Here is the best advice we could give anyone who is starting out and trying to get eyes on their social media page.
Be yourself and don’t copy too many trends. You have to show your audience the real you, and if you are out there copying other ideas, then your customers aren’t going to resonate with your story.
Share about yourself, your struggles, your wins, and take your followers along for the ride. They don’t want to see a cookie cutter version of your business – they want to connect and be your friend!
One more piece of advice, don’t be scared to post every day. You have to post consistently to be seen by more people. Post post post! And don’t worry about being perfect!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.madeinmarin.org
• Instagram: @themadeinmarin
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/TheMadeinMarin

Image Credits

photo by Made in Marin