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Four You’d-Never-Know-They-Were-Local Businesses That Have Made It Big

Made in DC 2019

About Made in DC 2019

This article is a part of Washingtonian’s Made in DC feature. Local artisans are creating bourbon and beauty products, handbags and hot sauce, clothing and jewelry. We found the coolest things being made here right now.

Custom Ink


It started in 1999 when three former Harvard classmates launched a website that allowed customers to design their own T-shirts. Now the company has more than 1,700 employees (or “Inkers”), and its custom apparel goes way beyond tees. Although actual production has moved out of the area, the headquarters remains in Fairfax.

Honest Tea


The bottled-iced-tea company that started in cofounder Seth Goldman’s Bethesda kitchen in 1998 is now a Coca-Cola–owned global company with more than $222 million in sales—though still headquartered in Bethesda.

Mason Dixie Biscuit Co.


Ayeshah Abuelhiga launched her biscuit company with dreams of opening a permanent restaurant. Demand outgrew her aspirations—in addition to a Shaw diner, she operates a Nashville factory that supplies frozen biscuits to 4,300 stores nationwide, making Mason Dixie the fastest-growing frozen-bread company in the US.

Mischo Beauty


These eco-friendly, vegan nail glosses were the brainchild of Kitiya Mischo King, a chemistry major and cosmetologist who grew concerned about the ingredients in standard polish during her first pregnancy. The line caught the eye of Macy’s, which started stocking it in May.

Product photographs courtesy of companies.

This article appears in the December 2019 issue of Washingtonian.

Food Editor

Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.

Assistant Editor

Hayley is an Associate Editor at Washingtonian Weddings. Previously she was the the Style Editor at The Local Palate, a Southern food culture magazine based out of Charleston, South Carolina. You can follow her on instagram @wandertaste.