She’s excited to be back home in Tahoe. Will & Ivey owner and fashion designer Sandra Ney is just closing her shop for the day in Stateline, Nev. She opened the boutique children’s clothing shop in early October and has already seen remarkable success. The clothing line offers durable, breathable, soft clothes for babies and toddlers that move with them and keep them looking adorable.
Ney spent her childhood vacationing in the cabin her grandfather built in 1939 in Carnelian Bay. She originally grew up in the Bay Area and when school would get out her family would head up to the lake. After graduating high school, Ney went to college at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles. That’s where she got her start in making clothing, learning everything from the history of fashion to sketching, illustration, pattern making, sewing and more. At the end of her senior year, Ney got to be part of a runway show; she handmade all her clothing and chose the models who presented them.
After graduating, Ney worked as a graphic design artist, creating T-shirt designs for popular brands such as Limited Express, Gap and Eddie Bauer. Ney eventually became the head designer for the women’s clothing company Beverly Hills Polo Club, specializing in creating comfortable women’s ready wear.
“I loved my son’s face and wanted to create a clothing line where the child’s face is the art piece.”
–Sandra Ney
Ney met her husband Karl in Los Angeles in the late 1980s. Even though her heart pulled toward Tahoe, sadly her family sold their Carnelian Bay cabin in 1987. Karl was the drummer for a Christian rock band, which was signed to a record label and the couple went to Nashville.
The Neys had their first son Hunter in 1991. Ney found that the baby clothing available had snaps and buttons in uncomfortable places, not ideal for an active infant or toddler. Children’s clothing also featured busy patterns, detracting from the best part of the child’s outfit.
“I loved my son’s face and wanted to create a clothing line where the child’s face is the art piece,” she says.
However, she couldn’t find anyone to help her with her clothing line, so she eventually hung up all her patterns and handmade clothes in the closet and moved on to another opportunity, becoming the wardrobe stylist for a TV show. She says that the experience was fun.
In 2012, her friend started designing men’s jeans, called Southern Blues, and enlisted Ney’s help. It became obvious that Ney liked the clothing company more than her friend did, though, and he offered to sell her the company. However, she didn’t accept the offer. Instead, it prompted her to go to her closet and pull out her children’s clothing patterns. At the time, the Neys had their fourth and youngest child William and when thinking of ideas of what to call her line, Will & Ivey just rolled off her tongue.
“My friend and I looked it up and the name William means ‘strong defender of eternity,’ so it just made sense,” she says.
One of her former contacts in the clothing industry agreed to help her launch her brand and in 2015, Will & Ivey was born.
Ney never forgot about Tahoe. Two years ago, when the COVID pandemic started, her husband lost a lot of his work because bands weren’t touring. It turned out to be an exciting time to make a change. The family decided to start looking at homes in the Tahoe Basin. A house popped up for sale in Zephyr Cove, Nev., and a friend told her that if they were serious about moving to Tahoe they needed to do it immediately.
“The history we have here is so sweet to me, it never left me,” she says, adding that her great-grandparents also built a camp in the Bijou area in 1913.
The relocation to Tahoe also allowed her to open her first brick-and-mortar store on Kingsbury Grade in Stateline, Nev.
“In Nashville, we’d do pop-ups and festivals. Before, we were doing all sales online direct to consumer, but I found that it’s nice when people come into the store and can see and feel the fabrics,” she says.
Now Ney is excited to display her comfortable, minimalistic children’s clothing line to Tahoe residents and visitors — and eventually figure out how to give back to the local foster care community.
“I’ve already had so much fun meeting locals and connecting with moms and dads. I maybe want to have more events here, have someone come in and play music, do arts and crafts or just make this a place for mommy time,” she says. | willandivey.com
