Why Ignoring Conventional Wisdom Built a $250 Million Brand
Guy Raz Newsletter – October 17, 2025
When Mike and Alex Faherty launched their clothing brand in 2013, they didn’t “pick a lane.”
Investors told them to go either direct-to-consumer or wholesale.
Retail, they said, was dead.
The Faherty twins ignored all of it — and went with all three.
That contrarian move helped turn Faherty into a $250 million lifestyle brand with nearly 80 stores across the U.S.
But what struck me most when I sat down with them wasn’t the scale of their success. It was the discipline behind their dream — how they prepared for more than a decade before launching, how they built trust with suppliers halfway around the world, and how they turned a cross-country surf trip into a masterclass in early-stage sales.
Here are a few lessons from their story:
1. Preparation is underrated.
Most people rush to start. The Faherty brothers waited 12 years.
Mike studied design and worked at Ralph Lauren, learning how to make clothes the old-fashioned way — down to the stitch and the fabric mills in India and Japan. Alex went into finance, learned how to raise money, and saved enough to fund the dream.
When they finally launched, they weren’t guessing. They were ready.
“We spent a decade learning exactly what we needed to know,” Alex told me.
2. Learn from the greats — but make it your own.
At Ralph Lauren, Mike learned brand-building from inside one of the world’s most iconic fashion houses. But he didn’t copy it — he adapted it.
Faherty’s DNA comes from the beach, not the boardroom: soft fabrics, sun-washed colors, and a sense of freedom. It’s Ralph meets surf culture.
“Ralph Lauren was my masterclass,” Mike said. “But I wanted to take what I learned there and merge it with the coast I grew up on.”
3. Family can be your greatest competitive advantage.
The twins are the youngest of seven. Their bond is so deep, their mother used to find them as infants in each other’s cribs.
That closeness became their business superpower.
They describe themselves as “two halves of one organism” — Mike the creative visionary, Alex the financial operator.
They fought, of course. But they never lost trust.
“We handle adversity together,” Alex said. “We’ve been doing that since we were kids.”
4. Apprenticeship beats ambition.
Mike didn’t try to be a designer right out of college. He became one.
He spent eight years mastering the craft — from sewing seams backwards at 2 a.m. in college, to reverse-engineering vintage garments for Ralph Lauren’s Double RL line.
It wasn’t glamorous. But it built expertise — the kind that can’t be faked.
“I knew how to take a fabric swatch the size of a napkin and turn it into a finished garment,” Mike said. “That’s when I knew I was ready.”
5. The first believer changes everything.
When Mike quit Ralph Lauren, Alex didn’t hesitate.
He emptied his savings from Wall Street — more than $150,000 — to fund the first production run.
It’s hard to overstate what that kind of faith means for a founder.
“When you’ve got someone saying, ‘I’ve got you, let’s go,’” Mike told me, “you feel invincible.”
6. Distribution is strategy.
While most startups in 2013 were going all-in on e-commerce, the Fahertys went everywhere: wholesale, retail, and online.
They didn’t chase the algorithm — they chased relationships.
Small specialty stores across the country became their secret weapon.
A single boutique in Charlotte once sold $14,000 of product in one night — simply because the founders showed up in person.
“In-person, people cared,” Alex said. “Online, we were just another brand.”
7. Sometimes, you have to hit the road.
In their first summer, the brothers bought a vintage trailer, turned it into a mobile store, and drove cross-country from New York to California — 35 days, 3,000 miles, and countless roadside stops.
They sold clothes on the side of the highway in Big Sur.
They turned trade shows into pop-up parties.
They met customers face to face and listened.
That road trip became their marketing strategy — a rolling lesson in how connection beats clicks.
8. Contrarian moves compound.
Everyone told them not to start a clothing company.
Everyone told them not to mix channels.
Everyone told them retail was dead.
They built a $250 million business by doing exactly what “everyone” said not to.
Sometimes the smartest move isn’t to follow the playbook — it’s to rewrite it.
9. The best brands are born from authenticity.
Faherty isn’t just a last name. It’s a worldview — one that blends optimism, craftsmanship, and a deep love of the ocean.
That authenticity seeps through everything they make. It’s why customers connect to the brand, even when the price tag is higher than a Quiksilver hoodie.
“People love vacation,” Mike said. “They love that outdoor lifestyle. We just gave them a way to wear it.”
10. Every founder needs a north star.
For Mike, it was Ralph Lauren.
For Alex, it was his brother.
For both, it was the dream they wrote down as teenagers — to build something together.
That’s the thread that runs through their entire story: preparation, belief, and brotherhood.
If you enjoyed this story, share it with someone who’s building something slowly, patiently, and with heart.
Because sometimes the best ideas aren’t born in boardrooms.
They’re born on surfboards.
— Guy
P.S. If you loved the episode, follow the show in your podcast app so you never miss one.
On the Podcasts This Week!
Faherty Brand’s Unconventional Rise to $250M
Mike and Alex Faherty spent 12 years preparing for one moment.
While Mike learned the craft at Ralph Lauren, his identical twin Alex went into finance to stockpile cash and decode business mechanics.
Their shared dream, first sketched in Mike’s high-school essay as “coast to curb,” was always the same: blend Jersey Shore surf culture with Manhattan polish.
When they finally launched Faherty Brand in 2013, they made a move that investors called outdated, maybe even doomed. Everyone was going direct-to-consumer. The twins went the opposite direction.
Later, with cash running dangerously low, they built something unusual: a “beach house on wheels” that would either save the company or become the world’s most expensive mistake.
This is the story of identical twins who ignored every piece of conventional wisdom, built a quarter-billion-dollar family brand, and proved that sometimes the best strategy is the one everyone else abandoned.
HIBT Advice Line: Listen to the Line
This week on the Advice Line, I’m joined by Stacy Madison, co-founder of Stacy’s Pita Chips. Stacy turned a sandwich cart side project into a snacking empire. Her secret? Listen to customers and meet them where they are.
First up, Sam: How do I evolve into a real brand?
Sam’s Dough Guy hit $300K+ in revenue after a Dave Portnoy review launched his pizza steel business. With 130K followers watching him make daily pizzas, he’s worried about being too dependent on his personal brand. Stacy’s advice: you ARE the value for now. Be the brand until the brand stands alone.
Next, Alex: How do I build a brand when nobody knows what my product is?
Alex’s Suyo Pisco faces the classic challenge: teaching people about an entire category while building his premium brand. Our advice? Lead with brand, not category. Make your brand the flag people rally around… and let education follow.
Finally, Stephanie: How do I modernize my brand without losing loyal fans?
Stephanie bought back her grandfather’s Stuckey’s pecan candy empire and grew it to $10M across 4,000 stores. Stacy warned against chasing trends that contort winning recipes—guard authenticity while selectively refreshing. Lead with what already pulls.
Stacy leaves us with this: The best ideas come from listening outside your bubble. Her pita chips only became the business when customers kept asking for bags to take home.
If you would like to be featured on an upcoming episode, call and leave a 1-minute message at 1-800-433-1298 or send a voice memo to hibt@id.wondery.com
Gavin DeGraw on Feelings and Music
Before he was filling arenas or topping charts with songs like “I Don’t Want to Be,” Gavin DeGraw was growing up in a house full of music and no backup plans.
His dad worked as a prison guard, his mom in detox and social services. And both pushed him to pursue his voice, not a fallback.
In this conversation, Gavin looks back on the winding road to his breakthrough and reflects on the craft that keeps him centered today.
From his early days belting Sam Cooke covers in a lumber yard after hours… to walking away from a record deal that didn’t feel right… to co-writing a career-defining hit with Ryan Tedder… Gavin’s journey is built on one belief: the music has to feel true, or it’s not worth making.
Watch it on YouTube:
Keith Krach: Scaling DocuSign at Mach Speed
When Keith Krach discovered DocuSign, he didn’t just see a useful tool—he saw a market-shaping opportunity.
With decades of C-suite experience under his belt, Keith knew how to spot a winner…and how to scale it fast.
He moved with urgency, hired world-class talent, and applied every leadership lesson he’d picked up along the way. As he puts it, the goal was to “go Mach 3 with our hair on fire.”
In this episode, Keith breaks down the mindset and playbook behind DocuSign’s explosive growth. And why speed, vision, and culture are the keys to building a category-defining company.
Science Podcasts for Kids!
The T. rex Arm Mystery… Solved?!
Mindy, me, and the rest of the are tackling one of the biggest (and shortest) mysteries in dino history: What’s the deal with T. rex’s tiny arms?!
In this week’s Wow in the World, we dig into a brand-new theory from paleontologist Dr. Kevin Padian. Maybe those teeny arms weren’t so silly after all…
Maybe they actually helped protect T. rexes during feeding frenzies, keeping their limbs out of range of other chomping jaws!
Sometimes, the key to solving ancient mysteries isn’t asking why, but asking how.
Tune in for a laugh-packed, science-fueled look at the tiny arms of a not-so-tiny dinosaur!
This week’s theme: Hands! 🖐️
Why do bats have fingers?
Which animal holds hands in their sleep?
And could koalas really have thumbs like ours?
In this grabby (and grab-worthy) episode of Two Whats?! And A Wow!, Mindy and Guy Raz get a firm grip on the facts about hands, paws, and claws—with some surprisingly human twists.
From the Archives!
Stacy’s Pita Chips: Stacy Madison
In the 1990s, Stacy Madison and her boyfriend Mark were slinging pita sandwiches from a converted hot dog cart in Boston.
To keep customers happy in line, they baked up leftover pita into chips (sprinkled with parmesan or cinnamon-sugar) and handed them out for free.
Pretty soon, those snacks were stealing the show.
Customers started asking to buy the chips, and Stacy realized they might be onto something bigger. They left the sandwich cart behind and launched Stacy’s Pita Chips, hoping it might turn into a modest regional business.
Instead, it exploded. And a decade later… Stacy’s sold the business for $250 million.
Vuori: Joe Kudla
When Joe Kudla launched Vuori in 2015, he was betting on a bold idea: that men cared just as much about stylish, versatile workout gear as women did.
At the time, brands like Lululemon were dominating women’s athleisure, but the men’s market was wide open.
Joe set out to fill that gap with performance wear that didn’t look overly technical, and could move from yoga class to coffee shop without a wardrobe change.
Early sales were slow. So Joe pivoted to a direct-to-consumer model and leaned into a key insight: men would invest in activewear if it worked for everything.
He poured the company’s dwindling cash into a big marketing push… and it worked. Vuori turned profitable within two years and has since grown into a $4 billion lifestyle brand.
See you next time!
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