The William Mahoney Brand

In 2015 the William Mahoney Brand was started with $2000. It would become valued as a multi-million dollar brand that re-engineered apparel for athletically tall & fit men around the world. It would also change my life for the better even after its failure, though it took me 8 years to see this.

Standing at 6'7 and having nowhere to find a designer quality brand that would fit properly caused considerable frustration, so I decided to do something about it. With no business experience, no fashion experience, and a pure passion to solve a problem not only for me but for millions of athletically tall & fit men around the world.
I wanted to empower those who had been alienated from the fashion industry. I wanted an off-the-rack designer brand that would give me and others confidence when worn for its quality, fit & style.

I was living in Wilmington, Delaware where no one started a fashion brand and few people pursued a career as an entrepreneur.  There weren't enough resources available in Delaware, so I started taking the bus to NYC once or twice a week. I would wander into the fashion district of Manhattan and sneak my way into skyscrapers that I  researched could offer me the assistance I needed to build this brand.  My pitch was always the same on  each door I knocked on, " Hello, I'm  starting an apparel brand and I'm looking for assistance, I know what  I'm looking for and I'm going to give someone my money, is that person  you, or do I need to go find someone else?"

After two and half years of researching fabrics, patterns, manufacturing,  fashion business, distribution, retail, other brands, and e-commerce I  had learned what it was I was looking for, I just needed the people to help develop it. So I had the confidence to know what I was talking about, although I didn't have the experience creating it.

I would go to trade shows, events, meetings, fashion events, and manufacturers in hopes of creating my first product. A button-up shirt that would have a European cut that would flatter that of an athletically tall & fit man.
I found a cotton factory in Shanghai China that could mill cotton into an exquisite fabric that I would come to use, yet I hadn't been able to get the shirt made properly. It would be a chance meeting with a man in a DSW in New York City who would point me in the right direction.

It took another year to finalize the product, trim, branding, labeling, packaging, importing, and customs. I was working with this cotton factory that would introduce me to a manufacturer in Ningbo, China that could produce the quality product I was looking for. I learned what it would take to mass produce my line, freighting across the ocean, customs, and land it here in the US to start selling.

Then came everything else I would have to continue learning from selling, distribution, retail, e-commerce, shipping, website design, social media, email marketing, targeted marketing, geo-target marketing, trade shows, fashion industry,  etc.

I was excited I found a demographic who had been seeking a product, there was a demand from men & women around the world, and I learned I was capable of creating it. I thought it would be as easy as showing it to them, bringing in sales, and growing the brand, Shit was I wrong.

 

I did everything I could think of from cold calling stores, DMing tall men on social media, DMing women, girlfriends, wives, sports teams, and influencers. The brand was able to start selling several hundred shirts. E-commerce retailers started selling my product on their sites. I was even invited to F.I.T  (Fashion Institute of Technology)  to give a speech and pitch investors on what I was doing. Through all the struggle things were beginning to work. I was selling what I created for others and getting great responses. I had to make a huge decision, do I stay in Delaware where there was zero support for what I was doing, move to NYC, or move to Los Angeles where a lot of the manufacturing and marketing in the fashion industry was thriving?  I decided I had already lived in LA, and loved the lifestyle, so I chose to head back to Los Angeles.

After selling most of my first inventory over that first year, I packed up my car with everything I had, my dog, extra products and I drove across the country to where I couldn't wait to arrive. I had a plan, agenda, meetings set, events, trade show appointments to attend, and everything I needed to hit the ground the DAY after I would arrive.

It took me 3 months to go completely broke and no longer able to afford an apartment. I did not move here to quit, so I moved into my car with my dog and found a place to camp out. Luckily this location was a short walk to the beach and in a town that would change everything for me.

I would become acquainted with the town and start to meet people. I quickly found two stores in town that would take on my brand, which started selling out in 45 days and re-ordering. I was attending events at night, by day meeting people in this wealthy town full of professional athletes, and more tall people than I had ever seen in one place. I would spend most of my days working on sales, and marketing, and learning how to grow this brand without funding.

Things started to take shape when I was invited to a Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's house, I walked into the house and bumped into a tall gentleman who had a shirt on that was way too short for him, but he wore it out of respect for the girl he brought who bought it for him. I had a few shirts in the car, (little did they know I was still living in it), I gave it to him and told him to try his own. I'll never forget his face as he came out of the bathroom with a huge smile and asked "What is this, and why does it fit me perfectly?" pure excitement for something that fit him perfectly. I told him this is what I do for a living. I re-engineered apparel to fit athletically tall & fit men.

He was blown away by how well the shirt fit him and asked everyone else to feel the fabric and quality. We spent the evening discussing everything I had done for the product, brand, business, etc. It was a moment you get as a creator when you realize you did something that mattered to someone else (Causing a physical emotion of joy). This guy would ask me to be a part of the brand, introduced me to an investor and things were about to get awesome.

I used the funding to develop another collection, build a small team, better develop products, and work on a marketing strategy. I was up by 6 am to get to the co-working space I had rented, working until 1 am because the manufacturers were overseas and 12 hours ahead of us.  I needed to work with them after I spent the day doing what was needed for the business.

Things were progressing we scheduled a launch event with fashion editors, athletes, celebrities, influencers, and stores in town carrying the brand. Fashion magazines were giving us press, and the LA Clippers GM stumbled into one of our "Bourbon &  Beer" events and offered access to the entire LA Clippers organization. So we packaged up a collection of shirts took them to the Clippers practice facility and were excited all the players would be wearing the William Mahoney Brand. I had a celebrity stylist reach out on behalf of their taller clients for red-carpet appearances they would be attending. The brand was sold in 9 countries around the world, I was able to move into a house 5 blocks from the beach in Los Angeles. The dream was happening. Emails were coming in from around the world grateful for what we were doing and how well we were doing it.

Except it would only last 6 months, the problem was I had not figured out how to stabilize sales anywhere near as well as needed. We weren't getting enough exposure and the budget wasn't enough for marketing, which became a weakness of the brand. The team I had wasn't really in it for the right reasons and things started to fall apart, I was burning through cash, barely eating so that I could afford to pay my contractors, employees, and vendors I had lost 25 pounds and was starting to head into a funk seeing what was coming. The collapse of everything I had worked for.

Within months everything I had gone through, and everything I had built was crashing down, on top of it all COVID was coming and people were being told to stay at home. No one needed the products I had just spent 5 years perfecting I lost my house, and all the money, my car broke down, and I had no idea what I was going to do.

Until an angel came back into my life and offered my dog and me a place to stay until I figured things out. We had only known each other for about a year when COVID was putting everything into lockdown.

She allowed this dog and me to stay with her during this scary time. As a social worker who at times had to go to the hospital to check on her patients, she would see bodies being removed daily from hospitals she had to visit, I would do everything to make her smile and fill her evenings with joy and laughter. I would spend my days trying to sell what I could to help. I'd obsess over email marketing, brand exposure, contact building, social media marketing, influencers, and doing anything to try and earn a living

After two years of becoming a family with this woman, covid was beginning to lift and I was as determined as ever to get this brand that gave my life purpose up and running again. I had begun to get some success with email marketing and with discounted goods sales orders were flowing in, I moved out of my friend's place back to the town where I had found some success earlier, still struggling financially and mentally but I kept going. The responses and emails from people around the world thanking me for the quality of the product and asking me to expand the collection to offer more pieces kept me going no matter how tough.

Yet with all these accomplishments and emails. I still couldn't get this thing working steadily enough, I owed money to investors and friends, and the stress was overwhelming, so I made a huge decision. I would call a liquidator who would give me pennies on the dollar for my entire inventory and I would quit. I would take the money and after 5 years I decided it was time to figure out what else to do with my life. I spent a weekend counting inventory, boxing everything up, called a neighbor over to see if he would help, on Monday I would call the liquidator and have them come get everything. It would all be over.

However, it seemed the universe had another idea. That neighbor was shocked at what I had gone through, impressed with the product I had created even buying several for himself and friends he knew. That Sunday the neighbor was attending a St Patty's Day party with a gentleman who owned an empty retail space in the most perfect location of this town I came back to, they offered me the opportunity to have a pop-up shop FOR FREE. The very next day instead of calling the liquidator I would set up a pop-up with everything I had garment racks, shirts, banners, signs, a small Liquor cart, and music that turned this space into a menswear lounge where anyone could come hang out, try on products and enjoy the vibe.

I would spend every day for a month and a half in that shop selling 400+ shirts becoming the "shirt guy" around town. The city's Chamber of Commerce heard what was going on, they asked me to build an entire store and offer more of a full collection of apparel.

Everyone who touched, and bought the product became a fan of what I was doing, even telling me I should raise my prices that the product was way better than I had priced. What they didn't know was I was selling everything and ready to quit. I didn't think this would continue, yet was receiving such high regard for this product and the journey I had been on. In person this brand was great, yet I couldn't keep sales steady enough for when the pop-up was over.

After the success of the shop and support from people around town, I decided to try Palo Alto. I packed a bag, grabbed my dog, and took a train to Palo Alto where I knew there were venture capitalists, and investors thinking with all this success and failure that I would offer equity to find partners. I knew I couldn't afford to live anywhere, so I rented a Uhaul van got some bedding made it livable, and spent a month emailing, knocking on doors, and going anywhere I thought I could to find investors. (Just like I did in NYC to make the product).

Unfortunately, the town was empty from Covid, investors didn't see the size of the market even though I had engineered the apparel to fit a significantly larger market than just tall men. The secret sauce was not just our demographics' needs, but the way our product fit them. I was completely drained of trying everything I could to get this brand to work. Things were worse than they had ever gotten, I finally called my family after 7 years of beating the concrete, that beat me back. I was homeless, I was broke, I was starving and I couldn't do it anymore.

I came back to Delaware and would spend the next two years in a depression so deep, that nothing else mattered anymore. I would drink and use marijuana to numb every day I was awake, if it weren't for my dog getting me out of bed to feed her and go for walks, I honestly don't know what I would have done.

It has been two years since I worked on this brand, 400+ shirts are left at a friend's in Los Angeles and on Aug 2Oth, 2024 I fly back to the place that gave me life, to deal with what I left behind.  I have no idea what I am going to do with them, the sad part is they are still in a town full of people they were made for. Would I still open a shop in that town? With the right resources,  partners, capital, and experienced help, you bet your ass I would. At the same time, I can see myself giving all the shirts to some homeless origination that just may find a better use for them.