An Eastern Kentucky startup that has been making waves in the clothing industry for its sustainably produced jeans has recently gained some star power from the country music world — for a good cause.
Recently, Morehead, Kentucky-based New Frontier announced a partnership with Grammy-winning bassist J.T. Cure, a fellow native of Eastern Kentucky (Elkhorn City, to be exact), who happens to be in the band of another Kentuckian, Chris Stapleton.
As part of the arrangement, New Frontier — named as one of 2023 Inno Fire recipients under the category of “Disruptors” — has produced a spruce green corduroy hat that was designed by Cure.
All of the proceeds of the hat, which can be purchased for $30 on New Frontier’s website as well as Stapleton’s, will go to Outlaw State of Kind, a charitable fund started in 2016 by Stapleton and his wife, Morgane. The hats will also be for sale at select shows of the band’s current tour.
In recent years, the fund has provided support to the recovery efforts of the severe flooding in Eastern Kentucky in July 2022 and the tornadoes in Western Kentucky in Dec. 2022.
“It personally means a lot to me to be giving back through this collaboration. Doing so with a partner who has the same passion for the region and giving back to the community we are both from is really very special,” said Cure in the release.
The hat features Cure’s bass guitar, affectionately known as “Purdy.” The instrument, a 1962 Fender Precision model, provided the rhythm behind the six-time-platinum “Traveller” — the 2015 debut studio album of Chris Stapleton that features radio favorites such as “Tennessee Whiskey,” which made it up to the top of the Billboard’s Hot Country Songs list in November of 2015.
The album would go on to win two Grammy Awards in 2016, including Best Country Album. Stapleton and his band have collectively won eight Grammy Awards out of 20 nominations. The band’s most recent album, “Higher,” was released on Nov. 10.
Cure first met Stapleton — who was born in Lexington but grew up in Staffordsville, Kentucky — in Morehead in 1998. Stapleton discovered he found the bassist to help propel his eventual success. At one point, Cure played as part of Billie Jean Osborne’s Kentucky Opera at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg. Furthermore, Cure was on New Frontier's first customers, according to the release.
“J.T. is a fellow Eastern Kentuckian who is doing big things out there and making us all proud back home. At the end of the day it is really fulfilling to use our platforms to bring awareness and funds back to a good cause founded by good people,” New Frontier co-founder and CEO Joshua Ravenscraft said in the release.
Ravenscraft started the company in 2016 with his brother, Jared, who serves as its COO.
In April, New Frontier made news by announcing a line of recycled denim jeans that use up to 40% post-consumer recycled cotton. To create the line, New Frontier partnered with Netherlands-based MUD Jeans.
Back then, New Frontier had 15 employees and had doubled its sales annually since 2018.
