Matt and Carrie Eddmenson named Imogene + Willie after Carrie's grandparents when they started the brand in Nashville in 2009, not long after her family's denim facility, Sights Denim Systems, had closed down. Their first store opened the following year in a converted gas station, doubling as a workshop where jeans were designed, cut and customized on-site rather than shipped in from elsewhere. Production has stayed entirely in the US since, built around that same combination of classic American workwear shapes and modern fit.