Tuckernuck

Tuckernuck was founded in 2012 in Washington, DC by Jocelyn Gailliot and Madeline Grayson, who are sisters, and Grayson’s college friend September Votta. Gailliot and Grayson grew up in DC and attended National Cathedral School before launching the company, and the initial inventory was assembled and sold from their parents’ garage in Georgetown. The brand name references Tuckernuck Island, the small, privately owned island off the coast of Nantucket that represents the kind of American coastal lifestyle that the brand’s aesthetic draws from: understated, outdoors-oriented, classically American in its clothing choices.

The founding vision was to curate the American preppy wardrobe with more editorial judgment than the department store and the traditional preppy brands themselves applied, identifying the best versions of each classic piece rather than presenting the full catalog of every brand in the category. The initial e-commerce model, which emphasized discovery and editorial curation, built a following among the American classic style customer who wanted someone else to do the work of finding the best pieces across multiple brands.

The Georgetown store at 1053 Wisconsin Avenue NW, which opened in October 2016, was the brand’s first physical retail address, bringing the e-commerce curation to a brick-and-mortar context that also carries Tuckernuck’s own in-house label. The in-house label has developed into a significant product category alongside the curated third-party brands, and the combination gives the store both the exclusive pieces that only Tuckernuck carries and the selected external brands that the editorial curation identifies as the best versions of specific classic items.

The brand has grown from the garage startup to a nine-figure revenue business, with the Georgetown store and a New York location as its physical retail footprint alongside the substantial e-commerce business. The growth reflects the American classic style market’s scale when reached through the right curation and digital marketing approach. For the Georgetown customer who wants the classic American wardrobe assembled by someone with good judgment, the Wisconsin Avenue address is both the brand’s hometown store and the most convenient physical location for browsing the selection.

Hours run from 10am Monday through Saturday and 11am Sunday, with Friday and Saturday closing at 7pm. Online ordering at tuckernuck.com provides the full range. The brand’s bipartisan appeal in the DC context is something the founders have noted: in a city where most cultural choices are read as political signals, the preppy aesthetic at Tuckernuck draws customers across the political spectrum who share a sensibility about American classic clothing regardless of their political affiliations. The Wisconsin Avenue store reflects the Georgetown it opened in: a neighborhood where the American establishment aesthetic is a lived reality rather than a nostalgic reference. For the Georgetown customer who wants the curated preppy selection without the J. Crew or Ralph Lauren scale, Tuckernuck provides the editorial judgment that makes the difference. Hours run from 10am Monday through Saturday and 11am Sunday.