Meet Allison Lee and Alicia von der Lieth of Whiskey Roots

Today we’d like to introduce you to Allison Lee and Alicia von der Lieth. Them and their team share their story with us below:

Alli has been working in retail for over 10 years, and it’s always been a dream of hers to have her own retail business one day.

Alli and Alicia met back in 2019 when Alli was working in a store on Broadway in Downtown Nashville. Alicia was visiting Nashville with her parents, and they just clicked. They kept in touch until Alicia moved out here in 2020.

They both have always loved hats and saw the potential for a business like theirs that hadn’t really been done yet in Nashville at the time. So when Alicia asked Alli if she wanted to start this business with her it was an easy “yes” and Whiskey Roots was born.

They complement each other quite well. Alicia’s background is in social media, branding, graphic design, and photography.

While Alli’s experience is in almost every aspect of retail, including but not limited to HR, sales, bookkeeping, operations, management, buying, etc. You name it, Alli’s probably done it. And they’ve pretty much adopted these roles within Whiskey Roots.

We are a small, but mighty team of 2! We do everything for the business, including funding it completely ourselves. From photography for the website to hat making to bookkeeping to customer service, to managing inventory, etc.

The two of us do it all.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been a pretty smooth road since we started in November of 2021. Like many other businesses, we have felt the economic impact of increasing supply costs.

We’ve also been taken advantage of by a couple of influencers and other local businesses. But we’ve learned from those experiences and have become better for it.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Whiskey Roots?
Whiskey Roots is a lifestyle brand, specializing in custom hats. We currently pop up all over Nashville and beyond bringing our custom hat station to the masses. People can expect to come to a pop-up and leave with a custom hat that nobody else will have.

The compliment we receive the most from customers and people coming to our pop-ups is that we have the best and coolest embellishments. People love the options for pins, charms, patches, etc that we offer. We spend so much time sourcing these and custom-making some of our own pins and patches. We have plans to expand our custom offerings as well.

Our aesthetic, the fact that we’re mobile, and customize your hat in minutes, sets us apart from others in our industry. Our aesthetic is rooted in our upbringing on the west coast and our love of southern culture. When Alicia was a kid she remembers her uncle who did cattle drives and visited his ranch on a dirt road and knowing that his cowboy hat was to be protected at all costs.

She remembers him bringing his hat protector with him at the start of a sprinkle of rain. She remembers their house is decked out in western country theme and going to restaurants with his ranch brand on the tables.

We would say our style is “coastal cowboy”. A taste of our west coast chill mixed with southern traditions and a little Nashville bling.

We would shop at our store. That’s what is most important to us. Staying true to who we are as a brand while also having an appealing aesthetic to other people and offering things to customers that we think they would love & resonate with.

We also offer handmade rhinestone bandanas, kids’ hats, men’s hats & much more to come.

Contact Info:

• Website: whiskeyrootsnashville.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whiskeyrootsnashville/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@whiskeyroots