Tom Beckbe

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Thomas H. Beckbe & Co. is a brand of outdoor clothing and accessories founded in 2015 by former attorneys Radcliff and Mary Menge. The brand's signature product is the waxed cotton "Tensaw Jacket", conceived by Menge to, "bridge the gap between professional attire and sporting attire."

The Menges had returned to Alabama from New York City in 2013. He took a job with Bradley Arant Boult Cummings and she clerked for Judge Madeline Haikala before resuming private practice with Spotswood, Sansom & Sansbury. After a failed search for a high-quality waxed cotton field jacket, Radcliff decided to work with a Florida-based patternmaker to design his own. The resulting jacket was well-received by friends, so they kept making more and launched a clothing brand from home. A runner-up mention in Garden & Gun magazine's 2017 "Made in the South Awards" issue boosted sales, and they moved out of their basement in 2019.

The name "Tom Beckbe" was chosen as a reference to the term "/itumbi ikbi/", meaning "coffin maker", which was the name the Choctaw gave the Tombigbee River on the eastern boundary of their territory. They created the fictional persona of "Thomas H. Beckbe" to represent that geographic heritage, also drawing from memories of his grandfather and great-grandfather, both avid sportsmen. In addition to its own expanding line of clothing, bags and accessories, Tom Beckbe has partnered with Alabama Sawyer, North Carolina's Terrane Glass Co., and Tennessee's Heartwood Forge for exclusive products. Further collaborations with Wisconsin's Russell Moccasin Co. and South Carolina's Jack Rudy Cocktail Co. have expanded the brand's presence.

Most of the company's sales are online direct-sales and wholesale to specialty retailers. The brand's first "Tom Beckbe Outpost" concept store opened in Wilson, Arkansas in 2020. In 2021 the company raised $1.5 million from private investors to fund growth.

In September 2021 Tom Beckbe opened in the 1,300 square-foot former Christine's Across the Street space at 2423 Canterbury Road in Mountain Brook Village. The store includes a "Loading Dock" whisky bar with private lockers. A third shop, just over 4,000 square feet, was opened on Courthouse Square in Oxford, Mississippi in 2023.

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