By Marice Richter
Photography by Thanin Viriyaki
In Southlake, Friday night spirit isn’t just an emotion — it’s an aesthetic. For years, Carroll Dragon faithful ducked into the Dragon Den at Dragon Stadium for standard-issue green and white tees. Enter Merritt Westmoreland and her daughter, Ferrin Tucker, a mother-daughter duo armed with hand-applied rhinestones, modern retail savvy, and a mission to give the stadium’s merchandise a high-end boutique upgrade.
The Dragon Den sports a fresh look and feel thanks to the duo, who introduced customized merchandise and built a wall-to-wall hat display for a larger selection of Dragon-branded headwear.
While Westmoreland and Tucker didn’t originally have deep roots in Southlake, they brought years of experience designing custom spirit wear — specifically embellished tops for women and girls. Westmoreland launched Team Glam in 2009 while Tucker and her two siblings were involved in competitive dance and sports in Colorado.
Back then, stylish spirit wear for parents was scarce, so Westmoreland took it upon herself to hand-apply rhinestones to a unisex black cotton tee. The custom shirt caused a sensation among other mothers, sparking the creation of Team Glam.
“It just grew from there,” Merritt says. “I’ve always loved bling and sparkle. What I was going for was something unique and high quality for girls and moms.”
With her children grown, Westmoreland and her husband, John, relocated to Las Vegas in 2016, where she continued running Team Glam for youth baseball mothers. Meanwhile, Tucker and her husband, James, moved across Denver, Oklahoma City, and Austin for his engineering career before settling in Southlake in 2022 with their four children. Eager to get acclimated to the Southlake community, Tucker immersed her family in local sports and activities.
In 2023, Westmoreland and her husband relocated to North Texas to be closer to Tucker’s family.
“We wanted to be near our children, but we also really like this community,” Merritt says. “It reminds us of the community where we grew up in California, which was very into youth sports like the Southlake community. This is our happy place.”
Shortly after settling in North Richland Hills, the women attended a Carroll Dragon pep rally and decided to revive Team Glam, which Westmoreland had paused in 2017.
“We both looked at each other and agreed that we need to bring back Team Glam,” Ferrin says.
Westmoreland immediately applied for an official license to use the Carroll Dragon logo. The duo then launched their updated line at a holiday pop-up market.
“The pop-up event was very successful,” Ferrin says.
That initial momentum led the Dragon Youth Baseball organization to commission custom jerseys for mothers the following spring.
“That really put us on the map and got us noticed,” Merritt says.
Recognizing their success, the Carroll Athletic Booster Club — which operates the Dragon Den to fund athletic programs — approached the pair to assist with retail operations.
The mother-daughter team designs and produces Team Glam’s line for women and girls out of a workspace in Westmoreland’s home, continuing to apply every rhinestone and crystal by hand.
“It’s a lot of work,” Merritt says.
While Team Glam produces apparel exclusively for women and girls, the duo also designs men’s and boys’ items, outsourcing manufacturing to external vendors for the store. The expanded line has drawn an unexpected customer base.
“They seem to really enjoy the selection and they come back regularly to see what’s new,” Merritt says of the men who shop at the Den.
When the women stepped into the Dragon Den, they carried out a complete overhaul: painting the walls, installing new display racks, building storage space and streamlining business operations.
“We wanted a clean slate,” Merritt says.
To elevate the shopping environment, they introduced boutique merchandise packaging, expanded apparel options, a dedicated hat wall, and novelties like green metal license plate frames. They modernized point-of-sale systems with mobile Shopify readers that reduce checkout queues on busy game nights.
“We have made it possible for us to walk around and check people out without a long wait in line,” Merritt says.
Tucker also launched an e-commerce platform, dragonden.one, enabling customers to order online for store pickup. The pair set consistent operating hours (10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays) and strictly managed Booster Club volunteers to keep staffing smooth. On varsity football game days, the store remains open continuously from 10 a.m. through kickoff, with additional hours planned for junior varsity and freshman games. Select merchandise is also available at the Carroll ISD Administration Building.
Under their leadership, the store also gives back to the community by supporting local Special Olympics initiatives.
Beyond the Dragon Den, Team Glam creates gear for programs like the Dragon Youth Dazzlers and Dragon Youth Baseball, alongside neighboring districts, such as Fort Worth Christian, NISD and Birdville ISD.
Entering their second year managing the Den, the duo feels fully embedded in the Southlake athletic scene.
“It is really nice to have a physical space,” Ferrin says. “We feel like we are making a difference in the community.”