Shelby Marquardt, the creator of blue sky scrubs, LLC, was an anesthesiology resident at Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas when she introduced the scrub hats that were blue sky's first product. As a medical student spending much of her time in the operating room, she was dismayed at the prospect of wearing unattractive, ill-fitting scrub hats for long hours every day. Worse, her long hair didn't fit under the regular scrub hats, and she couldn't bring herself to don the "bouffant," the hairnet-style hat that reigned supreme. 

Using scraps of extra material, Shelby created the first (now called) Pony hat in her living room. After cutting, sewing and altering the hat numerous times, she finally perfected the pattern—a sleek, slim-fitting cap with a ribbon-tied pouch that neatly ties back a short or a long ponytail. Once she started wearing the hat to work, her co-workers clamored for their own Pony scrub hats, and she began spending her weekends sewing. Shelby was unable to keep up with all of the requests, so she looked for someone to help sew the hats. Her husband, David Marquardt, who is an entrepreneur and the President of a successful business in Austin, saw the potential with the scrub hats and began the process of securing Patents, creating a website, and marketing the product.

Before selling the hats online, Shelby "abused" the hats to make sure they would hold up and so that she could improve upon any imperfections she found while washing, drying, stretching, bending, and folding the hats. Once she felt that they were perfect, she let David know and the "official" production began. In 2005, the website at http://www.blueskyscrubs.com went live. David and the one employee that he had hired watched as the first order came through for a $24.00 hat. A good day was selling at least one hat. Now, only 4 years later, blue sky scrubs can barely keep their products in stock, and fulfill roughly 100 orders per day...read more

Tags: Shelby Marquardt, blueskyscrubs.com, designer scrubs, designer hospital uniforms