Meet Suzanne Akin | Designer, Maker, Adventurer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Suzanne Akin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Suzanne, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Honestly, starting Akinz was never some big master plan. It kind of grew right alongside me.

The thought process itself was pretty simple: I wanted to make the kind of stuff I actually wore for the life I live. Casual, Functional, Gear for everyday adventures. And anytime I couldn’t find something the way I wanted it, my instinct was just to make it myself. That’s literally how the handmade beanies started. I couldn’t find a manufacturer with the flexibility and small minimums a brand like mine needed, so I started with crochet and then got a vintage knitting machine and learned to make them myself. Now it’s one of my favorite parts of what we do.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
At its heart, Akinz is a handcrafted lifestyle brand for the adventurer at heart. We design and hand-print all of our shirts and hoodies right in our Fort Collins shop, but the thing that really sets us apart is our knits. We still make the majority of our beanies and knit accessories in-house on vintage, hand-operated knitting machines. If you stop by the store, you can usually watch us working, pick a beanie style, choose your own colors, and we’ll make it for you.

What I’m most proud of is that we’ve held onto all of that as we’ve grown. It would have been easier at almost every step to send the handmade work elsewhere, but keeping it in-house, and keeping our prices something a regular person can actually afford, is the whole point for me.

It wasn’t a fast or easy road. I launched Akinz on a small amount of savings rather than a loan, so it was grassroots from day one, and it grew slowly, one honest step at a time. The biggest early challenge even turned into my favorite part of the brand: I couldn’t find a manufacturer with the flexibility or small minimums a brand my size needed, so I got some vintage knitting machines and learned to make our beanies myself. That taught me the lesson I come back to most: if the option you need doesn’t exist, you can usually just build it.

If there’s one thing I’d want people to know, it’s that Akinz has always been a reflection of me and of my community. It’s a brand for people who love getting outside, whether that’s a big mountain day or just a walk around Old Town. We’re a small crew making real things by hand in the back of a shop, and we’re proud of exactly that.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
A week in Fort Collins means an adventure a day.

I’d build the whole trip around getting outside, because that’s the best of what we have here. A morning paddleboarding on Horsetooth Reservoir, a day mountain biking up in Horsetooth Mountain Park, a drive out to Poudre Canyon for a hike, and a trail run on one of our awesome in-town trails. We’re lucky to have that much beauty right on the city’s edge.

After a ride or run at Horsetooth, Horsetooth Tavern is the perfect spot to land for a drink, and if you time it for a weekend there’s usually live music. For dinner and drinks downtown, Sugar Salt Sand is my current favorite, the atmosphere is just as fun as their drink menu.

I’d save a slower day for Old Town, grab some coffee at Bean Cycle so you can check our Makerfolk, a local shop featuring local makers (including us), then wandering all the independently owned shops, ours included (I won’t pretend otherwise). And you can’t leave without ice cream from Edison’s, which is conveniently right on our block.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d dedicate my shoutout to my husband, Dana.

For years before he ever officially worked here, Dana was supporting Akinz behind the scenes, in a hundred small ways most people never saw. Running your own business can be all-consuming, and honestly a little lonely sometimes. Having someone in your corner who believes in it as much as you do changes everything.

A couple years ago he made it official and joined the team, and these days he mostly runs our screen printing side of the biz. Since every tee and hoodie we sell is printed in-house, that’s a big piece of Akinz he’s carrying now. It’s freed me up to focus on designing and knitting, while knowing that side of the shop is in such good hands.

Getting to build this with him, and now actually work alongside him every day, is something I don’t take for granted. (Working with your spouse isn’t for everyone… turns out it’s pretty great with the right one.)

Website: https://akinz.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/akinz_co

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/akinzco

Image Credits
courtesy of Akinz