On the first day of the 2021 Family Weekend at TCU, members of the community have a unique opportunity to purchase new gameday attire and items ahead of the football game against Southern Methodist University.
A group of over nine different retailers, both local and national brands, will be on-site at Crockett Row Friday to sell their most fashionable gameday apparel and other items to the public.
“Whether you’re a TCU Alum, a current Horned Frog, or a stylish guy or gal with an affinity for cute pieces, our Purple Pop-Up Shop will have everything you need in order to stand out in the crowd and cheer on the Frogs in-style,” said Sierra Tuthill, marketing director for Vestar/Crockett Row at West 7th.
Tuthill, a TCU alumna herself, is pulling inspiration behind this event from her difficulty finding the right attire in her time cheering on the Horned Frogs as a student.
“This was kind of selfishly my idea,” said Tuthill regarding her plan of a luxury boutique themed after her alma mater, “because I think it’s hard to find gameday wear and I think a lot of people would appreciate this.”
This retail vision came to her after she started her current position with Crockett Row a month ago and was eager to make an impact.
“I wanted to hit the ground running… we have all these great restaurants that offer all these purple drinks and [TCU] specials, but we need retail too.”
The purple pop-up shop will feature a wide array of items from gameday apparel to handbags, jewelry, hats, accessories and home décor from big-brand retailers that will interest any kind of Horned Frog fashion aficionado.
“I try to only make it super high-end and super stylish for the TCU crowd,” said Tuthill.
The Purple Pop-Up Shop is from noon to 6 p.m. at 2959 Crockett Street, next door to Voicebox Karaoke.
Click here to view event updates, full vendor list and more.
Read more: Horned Frog family week: a guide to Fort Worth
Mizzen+Main
Since 2012, the Dallas-based Mizzen+Main has been producing, what their Shops at Clearfork Store Director John Rainey describes, as, “the best damn dress shirt,” along with a wide variety of comfortable, lightweight performance & active wear.
According to Rainey, their brand of dress shirts are a better buy for a litany of reasons.
“This is one of the only dress shirts you’re gonna have that does not require dry cleaning,” Rainey remarked. “It is truly machine washable, hang-to-dry… really no pressing or anything required.”
Their booth will feature a selection of their core comfortable dress shirts along with a well-rounded selection of what they have to offer locally in-store, taking advantage of this weekend’s festivities between the two local colleges.
“We’re a local brand, these are two local schools… we think (the booth) is a good fit,” said Rainey.
Another featured item displayed at the booth will be their entire stock of crew neck fairway sweatshirts, colored in TCU purple, with ‘FTW’ embroidered on the chest.
Click here to visit the Mizzen+Main online store.
Team RLN
Founded by TCU alumni Brianna Cannon, this jewelry retailer will feature what Cannon views as her statement accessory: earrings.
“It started with me wanting to create something for myself to wear to games… there have been cute game day accessories out there, but not anything I wanted for myself,” said Cannon.
Undeterred from the lack of interesting jewelry, Canon conjured a unique vision fueled by an affinity for big earrings. With the aid of a metal shop in Garland, owned by a TCU alum and fraternity brother of her husband, the idea came to fruition.
Today, her passion has evolved into a jewelry brand selling in over 500 stores nationally with a frequent business via Instagram and wholesale at markets.
At the Purple Pop-Up Shop, their booth will feature an assortment of earrings from officially licensed pairs bearing the Horned Frog or TCU logo to pairs in a variety of different shapes bearing the school colors.
In addition to game day products, Team RLN will also be featuring several items from their recently launched Halloween Collection, an assortment widely popular among their loyal patrons, and smaller stud earrings to cater to a wide audience.
“I will have something for everyone,” said Cannon.
Click here to view the Team RLN website.
Topped Hats
Established in 2020, the Dallas-based hat retailer has expanded vastly since its inception through the practice of creating a quality hat that will be a key component in anyone’s fashionable wardrobe. What initially began as a side hustle with the intention of remaining communal has blossomed into a popular hat-bar experience with an all-inclusive assortment of 20 hat lines sourced globally.
Dana Vidal, Co-Owner and Creative Director of Topped Hats, said that visitors to their booth will each have their own unique hat-buying experience that differs from the average department store.
Patrons will be able to select a hat from their wide variety of lines, made from materials including straw, ultra suede, wool & beaver felts, with the option of adorning it with accessories colored in purple, white or silver. The accessories for customization will include feathers, python snake bands and silk wraps.
To round out the personalized experience, the booth will also feature a custom branding station where patrons have the option to brand their hat with initials or one of many custom patterns.
“We like everybody to walk away feeling like ‘I didn’t just buy a normal hat at a retail store,” saiid Vidal regarding the importance of their unique customization options.
According to Vidal, a crowd-pleasing characteristic of hats from their own personal label is their durability.
The packable-crushable felt hats go right back to their original shape after being packed in a suitcase or crushed in various ways.
“You can take it everywhere with you… you can sit on it, run over it and it’ll take its shape back,” said Vidal.
Click here to view the Topped Hats website.
C+B Furs
This Fort Worth boutique has been bringing unique furs at an affordable price since 2016.
The owner, Blair Cantrell, is an Aledo, Texas native and former Louis Vuitton employee whose fashion-forward outerwear company has pride in their Cowtown vision. According to Cantrell, that vision is luxury furs without a hefty price tag that serves as a form of self-expression.
“They’re not like your traditional heavy-duty grandma’s outerwear furs… these are that accessory piece that kind of shows a little bit of your attitude,” said Cantrell.
Their booth will feature a collection of reversible cashmere & wool blended shawls, created specifically for TCU, with a purple outside and gray inside. The shawls have a silver fox fur trim collar that is removable.
Aside from TCU-related attire, the boutique will also be selling their line of multi-colored fox vests and a brand-new Sheep’s Wool Bomber jacket for those that don’t fancy furs.
Though a graduate of Texas Tech University, Cantrell is a Horned Frog at heart who fondly remembers the school’s significance in her childhood.
“My roots are here,” said Cantrell. “I’m from Aledo originally, but everything I’ve ever done in my life has been in Fort Worth… I grew up always wearing TCU kid’s cheer outfits.”
Always looking to help anyone in need of a new wardrobe wonder, Cantrell is willing to search far and wide for new pieces of clothing to spice up your closet.
“If people are looking for something we don’t have, we try our hardest to reach out to vendors all over the world to find a piece that could be special in their closet,” said Cantrell.
Click here to view the C+B Furs online store
Color Shout
As described by co-founder Ed Turle, Color Shout’s vast line of jewelry, candles, hats and bags are a great way to show school spirit and camaraderie
Founded last year, this retailer creates jewelry products, designed from fine jewelry, among other items in specific school colors. Customers can also personalize their items, whether it be candles or makeup pouches, with an array of mascots and patches matching the individuals’ respective school.
The Color Shout pop-up booth will feature its popular stacked enamel rings bearing TCU’s colors, a product that is widely popular among its shoppers, with matching earrings.
“We’ve put them online through multiple platforms like Amazon for all the colleges, and they are flying out,” said Turle. “Girls seem to find it’s such an easy way to wear jewelry on your hand while being in university colors.”
Other products that will draw the eyes of Horned Frog fans are customizable handbags, pouches and color-striped candles that can be customized.
“You can choose how to decorate your pouches and candles… personalize almost everything, customize any of the jewelry with your school name or personal number,” said Turle regarding their inclusive inventory.
Click here to visit the Color Shout online store.
More to do
After you are finished perusing through all that the Purple Pop-Up Shop has to offer, there are still plenty of fun and family-friendly ways to celebrate family weekend at Crockett Row.
Encompassing five city blocks, Crockett Row is full of options to fill your leisurely Friday afternoon, with shopping boutiques, spas, a movie theater and a wide variety of restaurants & bars to choose from.
One of their popular destinations is the recently-opened Crockett Hall, housing over fifteen unique food-and-beverage vendors under one roof. Attendees of the Purple Pop-Up Shop that spend at least $25 there can walk across the street to the food hall and receive a free bag of purple popcorn.
According to Marketing Director Sierra Tuthill, the restaurants and bars of Crockett Row are a great place to find Horned Frog food specials and purple drinks.
“Almost every single one of our restaurants on property have some type of drink special or menu item that goes along with TCU,” said Tuthill.
For those that fancy an outdoor meal, many restaurants at Crockett Row have spacious patios for those that wish to dine outside and enjoy the sunny weekend weather.
