Happy Birthday Bards Clothing
Remember the scene, in Black Sheep, when Chris Farley is rolling/falling down the hill and at the bottom he looks back up and screams, “What in the Hell was THAT all about!?” well, thats a perfect representation for the last 3 years! For context here is the scene.
BUT WE MADE IT!!
Three years ago I decided to land on the beach and burn the boats. I quit a job I couldn't stand anymore and went after this dream. The world was in disarray, we had just come out of quarantine, job security was a myth; and I decided “luxury custom clothing”, this is what the people need.
Often when I’m talking to people about my start, I say to them, “You know it only seems crazy NOW, It didn’t back then. It was just what I had to do, and also Covid was only going to last two weeks” *collective nervous laugh*
But lets rewind the clock, to 2014. I was a store manager at Jos. A Bank. A whisper of a shadow began to loom, a reflection from a goal, a good idea-adjacent…what if I had my own store? Now up until then I had only worked in corporate retail, meaning every week boxes showed up and someone yelled at me to sell what came out of the boxes. I made due. I honed my skills as a salesman. I then began speaking this vision out loud to people.
I moved to a boutique store where I learned more about buying product and selling. I realized before, I was staring at a puddle thinking I knew what an ocean was. My years there taught me a lot, but most importantly, it taught me what I saw as “value”. I had been working at stores that had a very low ceiling for value, people came in because of sales, commercials, rewards programs, and trends. This new world opened my eyes to the vastness of value and how that changed person to person based on their story.
In 2018 a client told me, “if you write up a business plan I’ll fund it”. Spoiler alert, he didn’t. But what a spark he lit in me. I got to work and it wasn’t until I put pen to paper did I see how difficult this would be. I devoured books, I went to other stores, interviewed people, I made connections, and ultimately I pitched my idea to investors. A store of the future, filled with American made clothing and technology. The last investor to say no was in January 2020, I was devastated. Three months later Covid-19 arrived and in the midst of the devastation, I couldn’t help but feel relieved everyone had said no. Imagine if I had obtained the funding and then opened in a pandemic!
Quarantined in my house I thought about how to make this work. One night I watched The Greatest Showman and PT Barnum’s father was a custom tailor, he went to his clients houses with the fabric he measured right there. I’ll do that.
I got to work, making connections and planning. After quarantine ended, I went back to my job and after a few months living in this all consuming reality I couldn’t take it. I left and started Bards Clothing.
The journey has been wrought with disaster and triumph. I had a non compete that restricted me from selling to a lifetime of connections and forbade me from selling the product I intended too. Much like those investors saying no, this was a blessing in disguise. Forcing me to level up, I partnered with a new maker, 3xing my selling price. Hoping to get my start in a local town, I set my eyes on a larger vision. As of now I have customers in 8 states wearing Bards Clothing. Hoping for local accolades, I have now received almost a dozen Best Of’s including regional recognition. I’ve seen financial hardship that has accelerated my gray hair count but It has forced me to stay focused.
As of this week my 3 year non compete has ended. The Pandemic has ended. And I am 10x the salesmen I was when I thought I was ready. This was only possible because of you. Your support in this dream in whatever form keeps this story going. No matter how this story continues to unfold, I am forever grateful for the support these past three years as I can’t imagine how it could get worse. Thank you, and I will continue to stay true to my mission, to: tell your story.
