Dovetail Workwear

Where did you get those? When you see a woman wearing functional pants with a flattering fit, you must ask. Because it’s so hard to find such styles. Right, ladies? Not anymore.

But it was this question led Kate Day and Kyle Marie Begley to turn what started out as a side project into a full-fledged business. The two ran Moxie and Moss Landscape Design together. On any given day they’d be selecting plants at a nursery, reaching and bending to unload supplies at client’s homes and digging in the Pacific Northwest’s wet soil. Their everyday jeans weren’t tough enough to meet the demands of their work environment.

With help from Sara DeLuca, one of their residential landscaping clients who had a background in the apparel industry, Kate and Kyle developed a prototype dubbed the Maven which shattered stereotypes of traditional workpants. Comfortable yet durable, the Maven is a carpenter pant made for women by women and features 10 pockets. When Kate and Kyle started wearing samples of the Maven, they were frequently asked, “Where did you get those?” This inspired the three women to launch Moxie and Moss Workwear in 2017 and the company immediately sold out of its first production run of the Maven.

They’d found a niche in the market—a space full of fierce females employed in physically demanding trades and outdoor occupations—and knew that they needed help to expand their product line and revolutionize women’s workwear. Moxie and Moss Workwear merged with Portland Product Werks and rebranded their subsidiary company as Dovetail Workwear in a nod to the flawless fit and solid performance of the brand, much like that of its namesake carpentry joint.