About Us

June & Louise

June & Louise, senior year. Yes, the perm was Louise's idea.

Twenty-five years ago, two best friends unlocked the door of a little boutique in Charleston and hoped somebody would walk through it.

We met in high school and have been finishing each other's sentences ever since. In 2001 we put our savings into one small shop and made one promise between us: comfort should never look like giving up.

We remember that first Saturday better than we remember most holidays. Louise straightened the same rack four times. June wrote the sign for the window by hand, and her hands were shaking. At ten o'clock the street was empty. At eleven it still was. We honestly didn't know if anyone would come.

Then the bell on the door rang. A woman came in, touched a sleeve, and took her time. She left with two pieces and said she'd be back. We didn't believe her. The next week she came back and brought a friend.

That is how it went, for twenty-five years. You wore our pieces to birthdays, to church, on road trips, and on quiet Sunday mornings. You brought your daughters. Some of you now bring your granddaughters. One of you calls before every family wedding to ask what we would wear. You turned our little idea into the best part of our lives.

All those years taught us what that promise means to a woman past fifty. She is not looking to hide, and she is not trying to look twenty-five. She wants to be comfortable and still be seen. She wants to get dressed in the morning and feel good about it all day. That is the whole job.

What we stand for

Trends are made for twenty-year-olds, and they can keep them.

We build our collections around pieces that earn their place in your closet. Fabrics soft enough to wear all day. Cuts that flatter a real body without squeezing it. Colors that work with what you already own.

Our rule is simple. Every piece has to pass one test: would you reach for it on an ordinary Tuesday, and would you still look like you made an effort?

If it doesn't pass, it doesn't make it into the store.

Two friends, one promise

People ask how two friends have worked together this long without a falling out. We still argue about hemlines, and we still agree on everything that matters. Nothing reaches the store unless both of us would wear it and both of us would be proud to hand it to you.

Every order still leaves with a handwritten card. June writes them in the morning, before we open, and Louise reads them over her shoulder. A store should know how to say thank you.

Thank you for walking through our door, and for coming back. This year makes twenty-five years, and every one of them is yours too. Here's to twenty-five years. And to you.

— June Whitaker & Louise Hartwell

Founders of June & Louise Charleston