Boat House Apparel

The shop at 1061 31st Street NW sits along the C and O Canal towpath, in the cluster of small businesses near the boathouse that gives the block its particular canal-side character. Boat House Apparel opened here in 2023, which is described in the Georgetowner’s October 2023 coverage as the brand anchoring on the Georgetown towpath. The location is deliberate: the canal, the kayak rentals, the waterfront park, and the pedestrian traffic of people walking or biking the towpath provide the customer base and the atmosphere that a resort-wear brand organized around lake life requires.

Laura Bjornstad and Samantha Ring founded the brand as college best friends who spent their summers at Lake Okoboji in Iowa. Both had worked in the fashion industry before the partnership, and the first product line started at what Ring has described as a glorified lemonade stand at Lake Okoboji, where Bjornstad curated the merchandise and Ring designed the first graphic tees. The initial run sold out immediately, which gave them the validation to scale. The brand now operates through more than 150 retail partners across resort communities in the United States, including Martha’s Vineyard, and the Georgetown location is the Georgetown flagship managed by Ring, who is a longtime Georgetown resident.

The product range is organized around the lake and water lifestyle that defined the brand’s origin. Graphic tees carry lake life imagery and Georgetown-specific designs. Sweatshirts, hats, totes, and accessories round out the selection with the items that a resort wear boutique builds its impulse-purchase business around. The Georgetown editions of the graphic tees, which reference the neighborhood and the canal, function as the kind of location-specific keepsake that gives the Georgetown Canal location a distinct inventory from the brand’s Iowa operation.

The 31st Street address is on the block between M Street and the canal, shared with the Georgetown Boathouse, Baked and Wired, and the towpath entrance. For visitors arriving at Georgetown from the waterfront rather than from M Street or Wisconsin Avenue, it is one of the first retail addresses they encounter. Weekend towpath walkers, canal kayakers, and Georgetown waterfront visitors provide foot traffic that is different in character from the M Street shopper.

Hours run from 10am Monday through Friday, 10am Saturday, and 11am Sunday, with Friday and Saturday extending to 7pm. The website at boathouseapparel.com carries the online selection including the Georgetown-specific graphic designs for customers who cannot visit the canal location in person. The Georgetown-specific graphic tee designs, which carry canal, waterfront, and neighborhood imagery, serve as the kind of location-keepsake that the towpath location naturally generates. Visitors who arrive by kayak or on foot along the canal and who want a physical record of the visit find the 31st Street boutique a natural stop. Ring’s longtime Georgetown residence means the designs reflect insider knowledge of the neighborhood rather than generic tourist iconography. The website at boathouseapparel.com carries the online range including the Georgetown-specific designs. For gifts, the packaged candle and accessory selection rounds out the product range beyond the apparel.