New Bern, North Carolina
A family-owned clothing brand built on something I learned a long way from here — on a train in the dark, riding to the markets of Guadalajara.
Hunting for a specific watch, ring, or piece? We’ll go find it →
The story
I moved to Guadalajara on a one-way ticket. No plan, no Spanish, no idea what came next.
The first friend I made was at a hotel there. His name was Marco — everybody called him the Grinch. He didn't have to help me. He did anyway. He showed me the ropes.
We'd get up before the sun and ride the train in the dark to the tianguis — the open-air markets that have run in Mexico since before the Spanish arrived. The big ones and the little ones. We'd buy shirts and shoes. Then we'd clean them, fold them, bag them, seal them, and go sell them — on the street, on the buses, wherever people were.
That's where I learned this business. Not in a classroom. On a bus, in a second language, with a friend who had less than I did and shared it anyway.
Marco's wife fed me. His boy ran around the apartment the three of us shared for a few months. Later I met friends out of Las Vegas and worked security at night. When I wasn't working I was home with two pit bulls named Babyboy and Smoke, taking care of the house and the dogs while everybody else worked.
Nobody in that story had much. Everybody in that story took care of somebody else.
That's what ubuntu means. I am because we are.
Years later I'm in New Bern, North Carolina, with a family and a few companies and a lot more than I had in Guadalajara. But it's the same work. Find something good. Take care of it. Present it right. Hand it to somebody yourself.
That's the whole company.
Ayden, North Carolina
01
My great-great-grandfather Thelbert Worthington ran Worthington's Variety Store on Lee Street in Ayden, North Carolina. Old toys in the back that I couldn't wait to get to as a kid, and a man behind the counter who knew everybody's name. The house he built in 1930 is still standing in the Ayden Historic District.
02
My mother, Anne — the yard sale queen. Up before daylight with a flashlight, her and Jody and Debbie, first ones to the tables. She ran booths at flea markets across the country selling her own books and tapes, sometimes working out of a van.
03
Then it was me on the other side of the world, buying at the tianguis before sunrise and selling on the street by noon. Nobody had to teach me to be up before the sun. I'd watched my mother do it with a flashlight.
04
Now it's New Bern, and it's clothing. The counter is a website and the store is wherever you're standing. But it's the same family doing the same thing it's always done.
Thelbert said it to every customer who walked through the door —
keep going, don't stop filling the basket:
“Keep picking.”
The first drop
Nothing here was invented for marketing. Each one is a real person, a real place, or a real morning.
The core collection
Tianguis (tee-AHN-gees) is the Mexican word for an open-air market. It comes from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, and those markets have run for five hundred years.
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Heavyweight hoodies
The 5 a.m. ride to the markets, before the sun came up and before anybody else was moving. Heavy fabric, built for cold mornings and long days.
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The founding tee
How the whole thing started. No plan, no Spanish, no return flight — which turned out to be the only way it could have worked.
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Named for a friend
For Marco, who didn't have to help a stranger and did anyway. If you only take one thing from this brand, take that.
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For the dog people
Two pit bulls who guarded a house full of people trying to get their lives together. They did their job. This one's for them.
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The house line — every season
The whole philosophy in five words. A person becomes who they are through other people. This one never leaves the catalog.
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Timepieces — buy, sell & consign · New Bern, NC
My dad taught me to ride. A little PW80 under the tree one Christmas, then a Yamaha TTR 225. He died when I was thirteen.
What came after that put a Harley 1200 in the driveway and my first good watch on my wrist — a Breitling Superocean, bought off my best friend Adam Santaw. I drove an hour each way to school wearing it, sometimes with my brother William in the car.
Then I sold that Superocean to buy a one-way ticket to Guadalajara.
That was the hard part. There was a stretch down there where I went three days without eating and then had a two-peso taco. It was also where I learned everything I know about selling — the markets before sunrise, the buses, the friend who had less than I did and shared it anyway.
Years later, Charlotte. A Breitling Avenger, bought new at the end of the hardest stretch of my life, standing next to Randy — a friend of Bill's who drove a long way to be there for somebody who couldn't do a thing for him. If you know what that phrase means, you know exactly what kind of man I'm talking about.
I don't wear it because it's a Breitling. I wear it because of who was standing there.
That's what a watch is actually for. Not to show anybody what you can afford. To mark the day everything turned — so that every time you check the time, you remember who you were with when it did.
My watch box came in the mail today. It's mostly empty. I'm starting to fill it again.
Where it actually starts
The watch that taught me what a watch is for cost fifteen dollars at the commissary at Johnston Correctional, and I could barely afford it. Plastic. The little one everybody had.
A man I knew in there fixed radios — soldered, repaired electronics for whoever needed it. He built me a custom band for that watch. Best band on the block.
It had an alarm. I set timers on it for workouts. It kept me on schedule when the schedule was the only thing I had. It did the whole stretch with me and it never missed.
We're still in touch. He looked out for me in there, and these days I get to look out for him. That's the whole idea behind the name on this store.
From the bottom. Now we're here.
And I still buy the same way
A beater is what I call a watch I can actually live in. In the water, at work, out playing. If it gets banged up or lost, or somebody walks off with it, that's a bad day — not a disaster.
Mine are mostly G-Shocks and things like this one — a chronograph I picked up at a steep discount, with a new band I found on eBay for a few dollars. It's what's on my wrist most days.
Everybody should own one. If the only watches you own are the ones you're afraid to wear, you don't have a collection — you have a safe.
It's also the honest answer to whether we can find you a deal. We do it for ourselves first.
The one I sold
My first good watch, bought off a friend. I sold it to buy the one-way ticket to Guadalajara — which means that watch paid for everything this company came from.
The one I kept
Bought new in Charlotte on the day everything turned, standing next to a friend of Bill's who drove a long way to be there. This one isn't going anywhere.
The empty slots
The box came in the mail today, mostly empty. A collection fills the way a life does — one at a time, and usually because somebody else was involved.
It came in the mail mostly empty. It didn't stay that way — and not because I bought anything.
From Adam
Blue dial · Chronomètre Officiellement Certifié · Automatic · 200m
Adam Santaw sold me my first good watch when we were kids — the Superocean I later sold for a one-way ticket. Years later he put another one in a box and mailed it to me.
Forty-four millimeters, automatic, day and date. A serious watch. That isn't the part I'd tell you about, though. The part I'd tell you about is that he mailed it.
From my brother William
Cosmograph Daytona · Oyster Perpetual · Superlative Chronometer, Officially Certified
My brother gave me a Rolex for my birthday — not to mark something finished, but to start something. He called it a foundation present for Hahn Technologies Corp. He handed it to me in Florida and told me to bring it home.
Here's the honest part: I was never a Rolex guy. Didn't want one. But open-mindedness is one of the first things I was taught in recovery, and a gift you can actually receive is its own kind of gift. So I wear it.
Same brother who rode in that car with me while I drove an hour each way to school wearing the first one.
Why they're here and not for sale: these two aren't inventory. They're on this page because they're the whole point of the page — a watch is worth what it marks. What we do sell is listed under Buy · Sell · Consign below, with everything we actually know about each piece.
Selling something?
Send photos and whatever paperwork you have — box, papers, service records. We'll give you an honest range, and we'll tell you straight if you'd do better selling it yourself.
Buying?
Every piece is listed with what we actually know about it: where it came from, what's been serviced, and what's missing. No "estate find" mystery stories.
Consignment
We'll list, photograph, and sell it for you and take a cut of the sale. You keep the piece until it sells.
Watches · Rings · Jewelry · Clothing
Most people don't want to scroll through a hundred listings. They want one specific thing — a ring for somebody, a watch they've had in mind for years, a jacket in the right size that's been sold out everywhere.
Tell us what it is and what you'd like to spend. We'll go looking, and we'll come back with what we found, what it costs, and where it came from. If we can't beat what you'd find on your own, we'll say so.
Text us what you're looking forWhat’s coming
Everything on this page so far is my own collection — watches I was given, watches I saved for, and one I bought for fifteen dollars. It’s a man’s wrist in every photo, and I know it.
Rings, necklaces, bracelets, and women’s pieces are next. They go up the same way these did: photographed properly, described honestly, with everything we actually know about each one. No stock photos, and nothing goes up before it’s shot right.
Looking for something before then? Text us what you’re after and we’ll go find it.
How we keep it clean: pieces sell through marketplaces that run their own authentication on luxury items, so you are never taking only our word for it. We do not deal in replicas, "homage" pieces, or anything we cannot document — not at any price. Our own collection is insured through Jewelers Mutual, who have been good to us.
The craft
We did this by hand on a bus with no money. We still do it.
If we wouldn't wear it every week, it doesn't go in the catalog. We order and wear every sample before anything is listed.
Checked, pressed, inspected. Nothing ships that we haven't looked at with our own eyes.
Clean, folded, bagged, sealed. How it arrives is part of what you bought.
Text or call and you get a Hahn — not a ticket number, not a chatbot, not a call center.
Fit guide
The easiest way: take a shirt you already love, lay it flat, and measure it. Match those numbers to the chart. If you land between two sizes, size up — these are cut for comfort, not for squeezing into.
| Size | Chest (flat) | Body length | Roughly fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | 18" | 28" | 34–36" chest |
| M | 20" | 29" | 38–40" chest |
| L | 22" | 30" | 42–44" chest |
| XL | 24" | 31" | 46–48" chest |
| 2XL | 26" | 32" | 50–52" chest |
| 3XL | 28" | 33" | 54–56" chest |
These are standard unisex measurements. Exact numbers for each piece go on its product page when the first drop ships — and if the fit is wrong, text us and we'll sort it out.
How we choose the fabric
We order and wear every blank before it earns a spot. If it pills, shrinks strange, or feels thin, it doesn't make the drop. Our partners include Queensboro, a North Carolina maker in business since 1982.
Wash & care
Turn it inside out, wash cold, and hang or lay flat to dry. Skip the hot dryer, and don't iron directly on the print. Treated that way, a good tee stays a good tee for years.
Made to last
We'd rather sell you one shirt you keep for five years than five you throw out in one. Exact fabric weights and materials go on each product page the moment the first drop ships.
Shipping & the promise
Ubuntu pieces are made to order — printed and finished after you buy, not pulled off a pile in a warehouse. That means a little more time up front and a lot less waste, and it's why we can put a real story on a real shirt without holding stock we'd end up throwing away.
Ships from North Carolina
Every order goes out with tracking, folded and sealed the way we learned to do it in the markets — clean, and like it mattered. Full rates and turnaround times post with the first drop.
If the fit is wrong
Text us. We'd rather get you into the right size than win an argument. Exchange and return terms go up with the first drop — and a real person handles it, not a return portal.
A Hahn answers
Questions before you buy? Text or call (252) 626-6236. No ticket number, no call center — the same family that packed the box.
Be first
Join the list and you'll hear before anyone else. No spam, no daily emails — just the drop, and the story behind it.
Prefer to text? (252) 626-6236 — a real person answers.
Questions
The first collection is being designed now. Join the list and you'll hear the moment it's ready — no spam, just the drop.
Designed in New Bern, North Carolina and produced with partners including Queensboro, a North Carolina apparel maker in business since 1982.
It's a southern African idea, usually translated as "I am because we are." It means a person becomes who they are through other people. It's the whole reason this brand exists.
Use the fit guide above. Measure a shirt you already like laying flat and match the chest and length. Between sizes? Size up.
Pieces are made to order and ship from North Carolina with tracking. Because each one is printed after you buy, allow a little extra time up front — and a lot less waste. Full rates and turnaround times post with the first drop.
Text us and we'll get you into the right size. Full exchange and return terms go up with the first drop, and a real person handles it — not a return portal.
Turn it inside out, wash cold, and hang or lay flat to dry. Skip the hot dryer and don't iron directly on the print. Treated that way, it lasts for years.
Yes. We buy and sell authentic watches, rings, and jewelry, and we take pieces on consignment — we list, photograph, and sell it for you and take a cut of the sale, and you keep the piece until it sells. Everything trades through marketplaces that run their own authentication on luxury items, so you're never taking only our word for it. No replicas, no "homage" pieces, and nothing we can't document.
That's most of what we do. Tell us the piece and what you'd like to spend, and we go looking — watches, rings, jewelry, or clothing. We come back with what we found, what it costs, and where it came from. If we can't beat what you'd find on your own, we'll say so. Text (252) 626-6236 with what you're hunting for.
Yes. Text or call (252) 626-6236 and a Hahn answers. That's the whole point.
Who's behind it
I learned that one selling Kirby vacuums door to door. It's the same thing ubuntu says, just in plainer English — nobody does anything good alone.
Founder
Learned the business in the markets of Guadalajara. Now builds companies from New Bern, North Carolina, with his family.
Creative Director
Leads brand, design, and creative for Ubuntu My Life. Founder of Shoreline Socials, a New Bern social media and marketing studio. View Sophia’s profile →
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