Fall style includes spiked-cider candles, not-so-spooky body creams and totes for game day.
Tailgate totes
Carol DeShong thinks you should not have to pass on style to show your school spirit. That’s why she and her husband, native Texans, started Desden in 2007. The Houston-based company prints, cuts and sews stylish tote bags and other promotional products, such as aprons and coolers.
Made of thick, all-cotton canvas, the City Tote ($48) has been a best-seller for game day and every day since it was introduced several years ago. It features a damask print and the collegiate logo. Texas and Alabama logo totes are tops.
New this fall is the Chevron striped shopper tote ($30). Perfect for game day or every day, the carryall has a slick exterior with a zippered closure, inside pockets and leatherette handles. To order a tote from your college or alma mater, visit www.desden.com or www.totallycollegiate.com in Hickory, N.C.
Fall glow
After graduating from Purdue with a degree in restaurant management, Adam Fetsch decided to flee the Midwestern winters and move to the South. In Charleston, S.C., Fetsch worked in a restaurant known for its mimosas, a cocktail made with champagne and orange juice. After seeing the R. Roget champagne bottles tossed day after day, he had an idea for the green glass.
Fetsch bought a glass-cutting tool on Craigslist and brought some of the flat-bottomed bottles home to experiment with making drinking glasses. The bottles did not work for glasses, but they were ideal as containers for candles.
With his passion for wine and food, the candle concept seemed right. In 2008, Rewined Candles was a go. Rewined collects used bottles, donated by restaurants, cleans them, inserts the cotton wicks and hand pours the 100 percent soy wax.
Sauvignon Blanc is Fetsch’s favorite, but there are other fragrances inspired by wine varietals, including Cabernet, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. New for fall is Spiked Cider. The 11-ounce candles are $28 at www.rewinedcandles.com
Spirited scents
Angela Rogers likes stories. She also is a self-described beauty and fragrance junkie. In 2009, the Agnes Scott grad combined her interests to start the Poison Apple Apothecary in Savannah, known for its ghosts and legends tours.
The company, which has since relocated to Atlanta, offers a line of perfumed oils, foaming sugar scrubs and a moisturizing body cream. The products feature mysterious names such as Bloodlust, Garden of Graves and Pirate Anne.
Last year, the company debuted Ghost of the Knoxville Girl. Inspired by a song of the same name by musicians Doug and Telisha Williams, the scent has become a best-seller.
Prices range from $15 for the hand-blended, perfumed oils to $13 for a 6-ounce jar of sugar scrub. The company’s signature product, Embalming Cream, is $16.50 for a 6-ounce jar.
To order, visit: www.PoisonAppleApothecary.com or www.etsy.com/shop/PoisonApplePotions.
P.S. Rogers, a grateful alum, recently created a collection of scents to benefit Agnes Scott College's annual fund. The scents are: Black Ring Mafia (you know who you are), The Quad and You Bring the Whiskey.
Best of the South
Do you have favorite finds from around the South that you give as gifts, buy for your home or rave about to friends? If, so please share them with us. Send your suggestions to: ljerkins@bellsouth.net. In the subject line, write Southern Made. Include your name and a contact number.
