Former North Carolina attacker Carly Reed has been busy since leaving Chapel Hill in 2017. She’s always had a passion for fashion, and decided to build her own clothing and lifestyle company, On The Line, soon after graduating.

On The Line has continued to grow over the past two years, eventually being worn by the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals. She’s also balancing a professional lacrosse career with the WPLL’s New England Command.

When did fashion become a passion?

If you look at my closet, it’s always exploding with clothes. Once I got to Carolina, I realized, “Wow, my dorm room closet is exploding. No one else buys this many clothes.” It kind of became my thing. My junior year, I would wear Jordans with sweatpants and I would really try to dress for game day and have a lot of swag. I started a nickname of “Swagness” after Stephanie Lobb’s “Sweetness.” At first, I was kind of kidding, because if you asked my teammates at the time, I probably had the least amount of swag on the team. Once I started calling myself “Swagness,” I took it to heart and started dressing the part. 

What grabbed your attention about design?

I would be studying for something like my bio exam and I would find myself reading about textile fabrics and taking YouTube courses on design.

How did you connect with Capitals players?

My boyfriend was originally drafted to the Washington Capitals out of college. He was playing with the Hershey Bears for two years. All of his friends now play in the NHL with the Capitals. When they all got called up, he said, “My girlfriend lives in D.C. Do you guys mind taking some pictures in this gear?” I went over by myself, gave them gear and took pictures of them. ... It ended up being our year. I was like, “Whoa, that’s pretty cool. This is the first year of On The Line and the first year that they win.” I’m not taking credit for it, but I just might.

You’re saying On The Line is why the Caps won the Stanley Cup?

Exactly. That’s my point.

What’s the future of On the Line?

Ten years down the road, I want to start opening locations and member-only gyms across the country, in New York City and L.A. and areas where there are a lot of retired athletes.