Couverture and The Garbstore

Merging ethereal design with fine fabrics and slick graphics, Sally McDonald and Micah Hamdorf manage to create everyday basics that are smartly tempered with skewed detailing.

The story goes back to 1997, when the two met through friends in Melbourne. Sally was sharing a warehouse in Melbourne's Chinatown with a friend of Micah's, and eventually, they ended up working at the same company. "We fell in love, then left the country separately to go to New York and London," says Sally. "Eventually we ended up back together in Philadelphia, pregnant, and eating cheese steaks!" It was in Philly's Rittenhouse Square that their label was born.

After returning home to Sydney, the couple settled into a "ghetto style basement/loading dock" that was the former home to Paramount Studios. Here, the two design classic collections for both men and women that are tinged with street- smart flourishes. "We've always enjoyed playing with traditional realizations of things like sweatshirts or T-shirts. And the playing could be as simple as exaggerating a twisted seam," says Sally.
Textiles and prints are another area where the duo shines. From sweaters lined in zigzags to light skirts peppered with exaggerated blotches, Rittenhouse's more classic pieces have elements that transform the basic into the unusual. "We love reinterpreting your average polka dot or gingham with a completely oblique print technique," Micah says.

Rittenhouse sits somewhere between “boutique” and “street” and appeals to a customer who appreciates fine quality and is not fad driven. This unique positioning appeals to other designers and artists who clamor to work alongside with the pair.