Faherty Brand: Alex and Mike Faherty. How Jersey Shore + Manhattan Chic grew to 80 stores.

How I Built This · 13 Oct 2025 · 1h 13m

What this episode covers

Identical twins Mike and Alex Faherty, founders of Faherty Brand, explain how 12 years of preparation—Mike at Ralph Lauren and Alex in finance—enabled them to launch a clothing line blending surf culture with Manhattan chic. They detail their contrarian 'all channels' strategy, utilizing a mobile beach house pop-up, wholesale partnerships with retailers like Nordstrom and Journal Standard in Japan, and a print catalog to drive early growth. The brothers discuss overcoming severe cash flow constraints through PO financing and a key angel investor from Nantucket, and how they leveraged the COVID-19 pandemic to expand their retail fleet from 11 to 80 stores by signing long-term leases at favorable terms.

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early-stage companies and companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies: Ralph Lauren, Nordstrom, Barney's, Journal Standard, United Arrows, Fred Siegel, Unify, Warby Parker, Harry's Razors, Casper, J.Crew, Vilebrequin, Quiksilver, Patagonia, Tommy Bahama, Rag & Bone, Vineyard Vines, Spanx, Panera Bread, WHP

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Faherty Brand: Alex and Mike Faherty. How Jersey Shore + Manhattan Chic grew to 80 stores.

What this episode covers

Most relevant to

Topics

Mentioned

Related episodes from other shows

Founder Feature - Fane He and Kyle Nguyen of The Lucky Ox

How to Ask Someone to Invest in Your CPG Brand, with Fave's Ryan Raish

044: Turning customizable jackets into a multi-million dollar business, Elyse Daniels of Exodus Wear

Founder Feature: Nikki Seaman of Freestyle Snacks

#117 Rebranding, Fundraising, and the Success Behind Launching Myles Comfort Foods at Target with Myles Powell