After selling clothing to boutiques, warehouses and customers around the world for more than a decade, fashion designer April Spring and husband Alex Emmermann celebrated bringing her FOXERS clothing brand to physical stores in Dawson County. 

The Dawson County Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting event on December 8 to honor the brand’s first physical store, located at 124 Storage Way Ste. 100. 

The boutique opened in July and opened its doors on Saturday, December 4th. Its shelves and shelves offer a range of women’s and men’s home wear and intimate clothing, as well as other clothing and accessories. 

Spring describes most of her and Emmermann's business as wholesale business, generating business through their website.

She said that they have been working on designing hut or mountain hut style clothing, such as cotton sweaters and large jackets with mannequins. 

She also added items such as lightweight tops and interesting patterned belt buckles to cultivate the feeling of luxurious home wear. 

"They were designed in this [warehouse] room," Emmermann said of his wife's work. "Everything is done here, so you have a local fashion brand in town." 

In the past two decades, he and Spring have run several successful businesses together. Spring founded FOXERS in 2007 and applied for a patent for her initial products, which are women's underwear that utilize the features of a male boxer band. 

Emmermann helps run the digital elements of the business, such as its website and e-commerce operations, while also doing full-time technical work. 

After its debut, FOXERS was called "Big Brand Mark" by Spring almost immediately, becoming one of the top brands in 2008. 

With the coming economic recession, she and her husband had to start all over again, as she said, moved to Atlanta and started rebranding. 

In the next few years, they focused on participating in trade shows and highlighting the company's fashion at events in their hometown of Virginia. 

Their business was boosted by celebrities’ comments on their boxers on social media, and their sales gradually began to shift to more online traffic. 

The company has operations in several countries in North and South America and Western Europe. 

"Even during COVID-19, I never ended, and never ended," Spring said of encountering business challenges. "I just said,'Keep moving slowly and you will go back.'"

About five years ago, they bought a house in Dawson County and moved to the area full-time when they opened the FOXERS warehouse part in March of this year. 

Spring explained that they bought the building for its rear space, but appreciated the relatively complete storefront. 

"We have always hoped to have a flagship store to test the market, meet customers and listen to feedback," she said. 

Now, FOXERS is not only marketing to people all over the world, but some of its customers or their spouses also come to visit the actual location of the store. 

"I have a whole family from Chile here just to watch FOXERS," April said. 

She added that in the future, the company plans to expand to a full set of homewear for men and women and expand its distribution network. 

"We firmly believe that we will be the best community you have ever joined. You have seen some of them," said Mandy Bowles, chairman of the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce.

As FOXERS grows, Spring cherishes the support from close friends and colleagues, the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center, and various other locals. 

"Everything is fine," she said optimistically. "The community supports us 100%. I have never received this kind of support in the community in the past 13 years."