We recently connected with Jenn Hill and Nerissa Helpenstill and have shared our conversation below.
Jenn and Nerissa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Partwo came about organically when our Designer, Nerissa became enamored with mens button up shirts as she was thrifting. The fabrics, prints and patterns are gorgeous and these tailored masterpieces are plentiful now that most men no longer wear button ups to the office. She began buying and up-cycling them to wear around and the compliments followed with people asking where they could buy the shirts.
Jenn and Nerissa met 9 years ago at Tootsies and share a similar aesthetic and a love of classic shirting as well as an astrological sign – both Pisces. During a girls trip to Round Top, Jenn & Nerissa bonded over the idea and the plan for Partwo was born!
What resonated with our friends and clients the most is that our shirts can truly be worn everywhere. The French word for everywhere is “partout” and our name – Partwo is a play on that word as well as a nod to the fact that this is a second act for each of our thrifted treasures! Our clients also love how seamlessly our shirts work with everything in their closets as well as the fact that they are sustainable and better for the planet!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Our founders, Nerissa and Jenn are both veterans of the Dallas Fashion industry and members of the Fashion Group International board of Directors. They connected while working at Tootsies and have continued collaborating ever since! Both Jenn & Nerissa hail from small, Texas towns and came to Dallas to follow their dreams of working in Fashion. Jenn is the mother to two sweet girlies – Harlow and Ziggy; Nerissa has two teenagers – Stella & Brahm and each of the shirt styles are named after their children!
Nerissa serves as our Designer and focuses on sourcing (thrifting) and coordinating the local production of each of our designs. She creates new pieces for each drop and works with our network of Artisans to produce each unique garment. Our Creative Director, Jenn is an established commercial Stylist, Visual Merchandiser and fashion show Producer as well as a social media maven and she oversees our photo shoots, social media and online store.
In 2025, so many brands are sourcing from overseas and not even seeing their end products before they are sent to their clients. We physically select each shirt from thrift stores all over the US – we’ve enjoyed thrifting in Dallas, Palm Springs, New York and Nantucket. After cleaning and removing the tags, each shirt is given to a local artisan who sews the piece in their own home and on their timeline. The shirts are all made in Dallas with love and each one is a unique work of art. Our designs are also flex fit; the majority of the mens shirts we thrift are size Large – XXL so they fit most women. The same shirt can fit a size 0 or a size 12 woman, making them fun to wear and share with your friends, mom, daughter or roommates!
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
We founded Partwo with strong principals – Community, Sustainability, Inclusivity, Creativity & Playfulness and we make every decision based on these principals. At the inception of our brand, we immediately invited our community along for the journey by inviting our friends, family, coworkers and neighbors to model at our photoshoots. This collaboration has been magical! Our community has been incredibly supportive and has helped us to grow organically and reach more women. We have heard countless stories of our clients wearing their shirts and being stopped and receiving compliments from multiple people; this is what it’s all about for us! We are both busy moms who want to look stylish and effortless and our Partwo pieces always deliver on both fronts. We want our clients to see real, amazing, accomplished women wearing Partwo clothing and to understand how our clothes are made to go everywhere on EVERYONE!
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
We love the How I Built This podcast from NPR and the episode with Paige Mycoskie, who founded Aviator Nation was empowering and inspiring. The idea for creating this brand had been marinating for several months, but hearing Paige’s story pushed us into making it a reality. Paige taught herself to sew and audaciously marched a rack of homemade samples into Fred Segal and sold them a huge order that she didn’t even have the resources to produce. I love her confidence and it helped us get over the fear of failing and not take everything so seriously. We have so much fun together creating this line, we are both in our element and doing what we love; if the world loves it too and our designs speak to people, what else could we ask for?
Contact Info:
- Website: https://shoppartwo.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shop_partwo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61577405360261
Image Credits
Luis Martinez Photography