Looking Back to Look Ahead

Enjoying some 2016 nostalgia while we get ready for 2026.

Back when Parker Thatch began…we weren’t Parker Thatch. In 2001, Matt and Irene launched iomoi, a custom stationery and home goods brand. Iomoi specialized in personalization, in taking everyday objects—coasters, table trays, ice buckets—and making them entirely unique. Over time the brand evolved and started to include tote bags in the collection, which was the first step toward becoming what we are today. We’ve told the story of that bag many times, including here in Hold Everything, but it really represents so much about who we are. We created the Mimi ourselves, in our garage with canvas from a fabric store, having no idea what we would do if people liked (or didn’t like) it. Lucky for us, people liked it a lot, which is why we’ve been able to continue doing what we love for all this time.

We mention our origins because we’ve been thinking about the past lately. Like probably all of you, our feeds have been taken over with images from 2016: cappuccinos topped with foam art and soft around the edges thanks to the Gingham filter, selfies in tattoo chokers and straight-leg denim, ecstatic reactions to Lemonade. When we look back a decade, we see so much forward momentum. It was a year filled with in-person events (we did a lot of them), where Matt hand-customized every single piece. The most memorable of those events was definitely the one we had at St. Matthew’s in LA—we drove down from Orinda at 4am, spent the day meeting people and customizing their bags—and then wrapped things up with a literal splash when the school sprinklers accidentally went off!

A few major moments in 2016: our collab with Alexandra Knight and our bags for the Four Seasons.

Another massive project in 2016 were the bags we made for the shops at the Four Seasons hotel. Each one was hand cut and hand pressed, which meant a lot of time spent in the office working (with plenty of episodes of Southern Charm to keep us going). And it was also an amazing time for collaborations—Rihanna x Puma, Gigi Hadid x Tommy Hilfiger, Pharrell x Adidas—and we got in on the trend as well, with our own Alexandra Knight collab that combined our signature stripes with her hand-cut alligator leather lettering.

Tons of travel, tons of testing, tons of time spent together: wouldn't change one second of it.

And although our brand looks very different than it did back in 2016, in reflecting on where we are today, we see a single thread stitching together our journey: personal connection. Our very first products were quite literally personal, they could be customized and made one’s own. But our current collection is a different kind of personal. Our bags carry your essentials, the things you hold most dear. And sure, that can mean your phone, your house keys, your favorite gummy candy, but it can also mean the tattered photo of your parents on their wedding day that you still keep in your wallet, the lucky scrap of fabric from your firstborn’s blanket that you reach for when you need a little boost of courage, the post-it note your coworker left on your keyboard with an inside joke that never fails to make you laugh. Everyone has their own version of these small daily comforts, and those are the things we’re thinking of when we design our bags.

A few more throwbacks from 2016.

In 2025 we launched almost 200 new products, a feat that we couldn’t even imagine back when we were working with our local dry cleaner to produce our Mimi bags. And we’re so excited to launch even more in 2026, using the same expert craftmanship and quality materials, but exploring new shapes, colors, and ideas. But no matter what direction we go in, that personal connection to the things we make will remain at the heart of Parker Thatch. Thank you for trusting us with the things you cherish, and here’s to a great year. Onward!

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xo,

Team Parker Thatch