Shorewood graduate featured in NBC story

Head shot from photo by
Saengthong Douangdara

Shorewood graduate Tony Innouvong was featured in a recent NBC story about his designer ties.

Designer Tony Innouvong Turns Reclaimed Lao Fabric Into Custom-Made Ties

The ties are created from fabrics owned by a refugee, made by the son of refugees, and purchased by people who come from families of refugees," Innouvong added.

Driven to represent and the story of his Lao heritage, Innouvong's accessories combine old and new worlds much like Innouvong's Asian-American upbringing, he noted.

Innouvong, who was raised in Shoreline, comes from a refugee family that resettled in the United States after receiving sponsorship from a family who belonged to the Church of Latter Day Saints. He spent much of his upbringing between his Lao household and that of their sponsors.

He grew up in Richmond Beach, attended a local Mormon church, and was assimilated in that community, he said. It was this experience that led to his search for identity in college, where he attended a private Jesuit school, Seattle University.

Read the story here...