Austin Beamon’s journey to becoming an in-demand tailor before the age of 30 began like any other Austin teenager’s: “I guess I was, yeah, a little unsure, a little lost, up in the air. I liked music, clothes, normal stuff like that, and was trying to figure out just what to do with it,” he told the Chronicle. Thrifting at army surplus stores and staying up all night looking at T-shirts on Zumiez led him to study fashion design at the University of North Texas, where he developed a taste for menswear, denim, and technical styles.
After school, Beamon landed an apprenticeship with Ciano Farmer, a Denton shop specializing in selvedge denim – a process by which tight-weave denim is made on old-fashioned shuttle looms, creating a self-finished edge. It’s a process that has recently enjoyed a revival, but its roots go back to the 1800s up until the Fifties in America, at which point industrial production took over. Japanese artisans revived the craft in the Eighties and Nineties and are the world’s experts in selvedge denim to this day, though younger U.S. tailors like Beamon are picking up the craft more and more. “Early 1900s denim is super inspiring – it’s so interesting seeing the human thought process in the sewing itself, how they were thinking; sewing a waistband on, circling back, going around a back patch,” says Beamon. “It’s just like – efficiency.”
Beamon moved back to Austin to work as a tailor at Levi’s in the Domain. There he learned an embroidery technique called chainstitching, and even garnered a Levi’s tailor profile. He incorporated chainstitch into his own work, and after three years realized it was time for him to set out alone. “I had done a couple internships in New York under different designers, but I found out it’s hard for me to work under someone and feel fulfilled,” he says. “It feels so much better having control of my own brand.”
That control has yielded a smorgasbord of unique designs, utilizing the selvedge and chainstitch techniques learned from the masters, patchworked with Beamon’s eye for vintage fabrics from his early days of thrifting. What results are surprising combinations, like a welder’s jacket with Renaissance-style open sleeves, or a pair of workwear pants with lace doily appliques. He has eight different denims to choose from, different pocket designs, and add-on accessories like buckle bags and customized chainstitching. Since he doesn’t stock anywhere in town, Beamon says having clients come to his studio to feel the fabric is an important part of the process: “You can add on and make it fully your own piece from the bottom up.”
For Beamon, the perfect pair of jeans is “one that the wearer wants to wear every single day. So whether that comes down to the fit or the fact that it has matching copper buttons if that’s what the person wants – I want them to know that when they’re wearing it, they made that decision; they have this specific thing that’s special to them.”
Order yourself or a loved one a pair at avbeamon.com. Beamon is also available for live chainstitching at events like weddings or parties, where you want your guests to walk away with bespoke merch. Be aware – since every pair is one of a kind and entirely handmade, expect to wait 2-5 weeks.
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This article appears in December 12 • 2025.