Tanner and Fletcher are self-taught designers and creative directors, which they see as one of their greatest strengths. They both have a business degree in fashion merchandising from LIM College, and worked at a small luxury boutique in Minneapolis while attending the University of Minnesota. This is what they consider the launch of their fashion careers. Fletcher went on to intern at Zero + Maria Cornejo on the wholesale team, while Tanner worked as a merchandising intern at the home textile company Schumacher. Shortly after officially moving to NY, Fletcher was offered an internship at Barneys. At the same time, Tanner was offered a position staging real estate, which required him to work on three to four projects per week, each with a completely different design aesthetic. He quickly became familiarized with an array of design disciplines and historic architecture styles. Tanner would keep this job until the start of the pandemic. With the closure of Barneys New York, Fletcher began an internship at Saint Laurent, where he remained until the pair officially started to work on Tanner Fletcher, throwing themselves into every aspect of the business.