Not Your Grandpa's Wood Shop

Woodward Throwbacks is a passion project turned business. Developed by Detroit residents, Bo Shepherd and Kyle Dubay as a way to furnish their apartments and clean up their streets. Their project began with them riding their bikes around the city searching for reusable materials. It quickly grew from a one-car garage operation to a 24,000-sq.-ft. facility and a nationwide brand that now employs six Detroit locals.

Detroit had over 80,000 abandoned buildings when we started. Buildings that were full of usable materials and relics of our city's great manufacturing history. As we developed our line, we focused on designing products that were affordable on nearly every budget, but were also simple enough for us to produce on a large scale. Being able to mass-produce products in Detroit was the goal. We didn't want to be a cool brand in someone's basement. We wanted to employ locals, renovate vacant buildings and be a model for modern manufacturing.

There is no manual for growing a brand around salvaged materials. As we've grown, so has our operation. We are constantly designing innovative products around every piece of wood in the shop. As a reclaimed wood company we feel it is our responsibility to strive for a waste-free process. And to show other industries that with creativity and desire it is profitable to be sustainable.

"It's not the easy way, it's the right way" - Kyle Dubay, Owner