Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike and Alex Faherty.
Mike and Alex, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Growing up in a small beach town, my twin brother Mike and I always dreamed of starting a clothing company that combined our love of carefree style with high quality goods. After high school, my brother Mike went to college for design and then later worked at Ralph Lauren for 8 years, while I immersed myself in the world of business and finance. In 2013, we left our respective jobs to found our namesake brand.
The company is truly a family business. I run the business, my wife Kerry, a lawyer, spearheads our partnerships and marketing, my mom Ninie designs all of our stores (Boston, Nantucket MA, Malibu, Newport Beach, CA, and Bleecker and SoHo stores in NYC), and Mike serves as creative director. Besides our 6 stores, we sell to specialty stores across the country and have a robust online business. Our main focus is to continue grow in a way that feels true to who we are as a family and our values. We prioritize the use of sustainable fabrics (organic cotton and swimwear made from recycled polyster), work with ethical factories, guarantee our products for life, and seek to build out stores in communities that we love (obviously Boston being one of those places).
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Starting a company is never smooth, but you simply adapt and learn with the challenges and continue to grow. One of the difficulties in clothing is managing inventory successfully, and as a young company, you have no idea what will be your best sellers. We’ve overbought styles that didn’t do as well as we thought and then didn’t make enough of others that sold through in a week. But the more you learn about your customer and his/her wants and needs, it’s easier to plan for next season.
Other struggles were the balancing of resources. We had so many ideas on what we wanted to do initially, but due to limited resources, we had to stay focused and small before doing everything at once. We started with our swim collection first, then built in our casualwear collection, and we now feature a full line of product ranging from outerwear to flipflops to scarves, and dresses.
Faherty Brand – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We design premium casual clothing for life’s great moments–clothes designed to wear with the people you love in the places you love. We’re most known for redefining casual style. We utilize the extreme high quality fabrics and design that you find in higher end brands but in a style that is easy and laidback.
We’re also proud to use sustainable fabrics like organic cotton (that doesn’t pollute water ways) and our novelty swim fabrics made from recycled plastic bottles. We also guarantee our products for life.
As a family, we also feel strongly about giving back. We’re a part of 1% of the Planet, which donates 1% of all swim sales to organizations helping to protect the environment , and this past spring, we shot our catalog in Haiti and donated over $50,000 to sponsor a high school classroom for 40 kids that live in the poorest slum in Haiti.
Because it’s our name on the brand, we want to make to ensure that everything we do reflects who we are as people.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success for us a few things:
(1) Being profitable, meaning we’re running a healthy business that can pay the bills. So many companies prioritize growth and the sacrifice of being profitable. We want to make that sure we’re always making smart, lean decisions that help both grow the company, but also that make financial sense. We now have a team of 30 people and their livelihoods depend on a healthy business
(2) Sustainability: both in the fabrics we choose, the vendors we partner with, and the decisions we make.
(3) Stamina We want to be doing this for a very long time. We love our jobs, we love the clothes we design, and can’t imagine doing anything else. For this to be our life’s work, we want to ensure we’re taking care of ourselves physically and emotionally and are surrounded by a stellar group of people.
Pricing:
- Wovens (shirts) $145
- Knits $60-98
- Sweaters/Layering Pieces $150+
Contact Info:
- Address: Faherty Boston Store
115 Newbury Street - Website: fahertybrand.com
Image Credit:
Photography by Matt Catalano
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