Makers: Free to be you and

Bottom Drawer T-shirt company evolved through founder Kate Snyder’s creativity, desire to support her community, and sense of humor.

C’ville chic

Bottom Drawer is hyperlocal and hyper-absurd

By Dan Goff

It’s not an exaggeration to say the graphic tee revolutionized the fashion world. Its unique pairing of text and image allowed for an unprecedented level of self-expression, and gave birth to a slew of immediately recognizable designs—from I ♥ NY to Frankie Says Relax to D.A.R.E. (the latter being as ironic as it is iconic).

Kate Snyder, founder of Charlottesvillebased T-shirt company Bottom Drawer, just might have put together our town’s next iconic logo. The Townie tee, “the very FIRST perfect T-shirt in a line of completely perfect T-shirts” (or so claims Bottom Drawer’s Instagram page) was unveiled in early August, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. TOWNIE is displayed in all caps, block letters—in your choice of black text (“PLAIN BAGEL”) or rainbow (“EVERYTHING BAGEL”)— across a white background.

Snyder says her lifelong townie status— she was born and raised in Charlottesville—combined with a love of fashion, specifically graphic tees, inspired her to make this Bottom Drawer’s debut design.

Although Snyder has dabbled in T-shirt design before, creating and selling POACH tees (an edgy parody of COACH) a few years ago, she hadn’t planned to start an entire Charlottesville-based business. In fact, she hadn’t intended to remain in Charlottesville at all—a 2020 UVA graduate, her postgrad sights were set on New York. However, Snyder’s professional prospects were cut short by the pandemic. Like so many others, she found herself in “this weird townie space, living in my childhood bedroom.”

Hence the Townie tee. “This was my banana bread or my sourdough starter,” Snyder says. “I wanted to test out that creative side.” Her creative side, as it turns out, comes with a very unique sense of humor. Bottom Drawer’s Instagram features an interview of dubious authenticity with Karl Lagerfeld about breakfast and fashion, among other elements.

Under all the irreverence, though, is a real commitment to her community. Three dollars from each Townie sale goes to The Haven, an idea that Snyder says was brought on in part by the pandemic. “Obviously, the circumstances of people suffering from homelessness in Charlottesville has been exacerbated…it seemed like a no-brainer.” This charity pairs well with Snyder’s newest initiative: including a pre-stamped postcard in each Bottom Drawer package so that her customers can write a letter to someone and support the United States Postal Service.

Snyder has released three designs since Townie, each one punnier than the last. “Hautemeal,” the most recent, features an anthropomorphized and decidedly elegant bowl of oats. It is, as she is happy to admit, “openly ridiculous”—but then, she says, so is the idea of fashion itself. “Why not, when you’re getting dressed, make the thing that you’re getting dressed in as ridiculous as possible?”

Snyder, who still plans on moving to New York sometime soon, isn’t sure how much longer Bottom Drawer will continue to put out new products, but she says the venture has made her realize designing shirts is “something that I would like to do forever.” If wearing fashion is a form of self-expression, then Snyder has found that creating it is a form of self-discovery. “I’m trying to find my own language through my work for Bottom Drawer.”

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