Why it belongs in ORBIS
Seattle down outerwear maker founded 1974 by Anne Michelson, a former Eddie Bauer employee, as a custom down-vest business. Now a family-run, multi-generation operation producing full outerwear lines domestically; factory moved to SoDo in 2021.
Crescent Down Works was founded in 1974 by Anne Michelson, who had worked at Eddie Bauer and drew on that manufacturing background to start a custom down-vest business in Seattle. In the late 1980s the brand gained traction in the Japanese market, followed later by Italy and France. It has since grown from vests into a full outerwear line filled with what the company describes as 100% high-grade white goose down, all still produced in-house. The factory relocated within Seattle to the SoDo district in 2021 to accommodate growth. The company remains family-run, with long-tenured staff, and each finished piece is hand-inspected before sale.