Pop superstar Taylor Swift wore Wove’s gold-and-diamond bracelet at last month’s AFC Championship game. (Wove)
The momentary flash on national TV of a diamond bracelet on a celebrity’s wrist meant a sales bump for a veteran-owned jewelry company that created the piece.
A 2,000% bump, said Andrew Wolgemuth, a veteran of the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment and co-founder of Wove, a custom jewelry maker in Lancaster, Pa.
Call it the Taylor Swift effect.
The global pop star, also a Pennsylvania native, wore Wove’s gold-and-diamond bracelet last month at the AFC Championship game. Cameras zoomed in to catch her hugging boyfriend Travis Kelce, a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, who went on to win Super Bowl LVIII.
“We feel incredibly lucky,” Wolgemuth told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday. “You know, it’s everything you could wish for as a brand, that level of publicity and having such high-profile people wearing the products that you make. Our entire team just felt honored and excited. And we’ve seen such a tremendous outpouring of support.”
Wove founders Andrew Wolgemuth, left, and Brian Elliot are veterans of the U.S. Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment. They make custom jewelery in Lancaster, Pa. (Andrew Wolgemuth)
The idea for Wove came to Wolgemuth while he was serving in Afghanistan with friend and former West Point classmate Brian Elliot, also a veteran of the 75th.
Wolgemuth, whose family runs a jewelry business, and Elliot helped their comrades-in-arms order custom-made jewelry and have it reliably delivered in time for marriage proposals when they stepped off the plane home, Wolgemuth said.
“They wanted to design and buy an engagement ring while on deployment so that when they stepped off the plane back from Afghanistan they could have this proposal experience,” he said. “They could drop to their knee, the girlfriend’s families are there and everybody is there with signs welcoming people back.”
Wove is a U.S. Army veteran-owned company that creates custom jewelry popular with celebrities and service members alike. (Wove)
Wolgemuth didn’t plan to leave the Army, but he broke his neck and jaw in a military training exercise and had to end his military career, he said.
He and Elliot started Wove in March 2021. Their business concept is built on that Afghanistan experience. They provide a 3D model of the diamond jewelry their clients want before they commit to spending thousands on a purchase.
“I think veterans make great founders of companies,” Wolgemuth said. “I think there’s a certain work ethic with service members because they are expected to do a lot. Also, the military has a lot of key principles that are very parallel to what makes a great founder of a company and a leader within a company.”
Last year, the company, through an investor, designed a three-piece jewelry line for retired professional golfer Michelle Wie West, and a gold-and-diamond bracelet whose profits benefitted the relief effort following the 2023 fires in Maui, Hawaii, according to Wolgemuth and a report Feb. 10 by National Public Radio.
West recommended Wove to another athlete friend, Travis Kelce, looking for a diamond bracelet for his girlfriend, Wolgemuth said. West helped Kelce design the bracelet.
Pop superstar Taylor Swift wore Wove’s gold-and-diamond bracelet at last month’s AFC Championship game. (Wove)
Valued by the company at $6,060, the bracelet is made of 14-carat gold with diamond-encrusted gold beads that spell out the letters TNT, for Travis and Taylor, according to the Wove company website.
“And we believe he gave it to her around Christmastime,” Wolgemuth said.
He saw it next on Swift’s wrist at the televised AFC Championship game Feb. 11 in Baltimore.
Wolgemuth said the exposure attracted more opportunities with celebrity clients, but military veterans, service members and their families are still their business’s backbone.
“Since the founding of the business, a major portion of our clients are military,” he said.
Last month, Wove collaborated with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service to sell their products tax-free through the AAFES website.
“This was just kind of like one additional step that allowed us to continue to serve members and veterans by saving them thousands of dollars in sales tax,” Wolgemuth said.
About half the company’s 12 full-time employees and 15 contractors across the U.S. have some military affiliation, Wolgemuth said.
“The military is very near and dear to our hearts,” he said. “Not only do we love working with service members as clients but they’re also great teammates to work with every day. We have a sweet spot you know, in our hearts for hiring service members.”
