We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brenden Scott a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Brenden, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

As a large person, it’s often hard to find cool clothes, so I essentially started with the idea of making cool clothes for big dudes. I’m in my late 40s, so the most influential styles of my youth were early 90s rappers and skaters. I’ve also loved lowrider style since I was a kid – simple and totally bad ass. Essentially, the idea was to make things that I want to wear, so that’s the guide rail.

In the 70s and 80s, the big department stores like Sears and Montgomery Ward always had a boys section called husky for the chubby kids. So, Husky Boy started as a bit of a reclamation project on that idea with my initial launching only including sizes L – 4XL.

Pretty quickly, it became apparent that people of all sizes were interested in the product. As such, the Summer 2024 Collection will now include small and medium. I’ve shifted to thinking of Husky Boy as a state of mind – you don’t have to be large to live large.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I launched Husky Boy in September 2023 while working at Feels So Good, a print shop and lifestyle brand in Austin, TX. I’ve always been interested in clothes and style, mostly alternative and retro style, but never saw it as a professional avenue. I sort of stumbled into the job as sales manager at FSG and loved it from the start. I began to learn a lot about what went into making designs and choosing garments and used the opportunity to pursue the Husky Boy project.

Prior to that, I’d worked for years as a copywriter, communications director, corporate marketer, customer service rep, and tons of other things. I’d made the conscious decision to move away from corporate life in early 2022. I started teaching kayak and canoe lessons and did that for several months (it’s still a part time thing for me) and then landed at FSG.

Today, I just make things I love, which is a powerful experience. Turning simple ideas into a product I’m proud to sell has been a thrilling experience. I do some design, I select all the garments, and lay out the final products for production. I also work with illustrators and graphic designers I love to bring life to ideas I can’t execute myself.

I honestly never saw myself as someone who could launch a clothing business with any degree of success, and yet here we are. I would encourage anyone reading this to be ready to take a risk and jump when the opportunity presents itself. Be open to the universe and it will come to you.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

My secondary revenue stream comes from a separate product line that are basically jokes turned into merch. A local grocery store chain (HEB) was founded by a man named Howard E. Butts and it’s been something people here laugh about as long as I’ve been in Austin. I had a simple idea on the way to work one day, “I Go Nuts for H-E-Butts.” I made some bumper stickers, which sold quite well, and then I started printing oversized tote bags with the same artwork and they’ve been wildly popular.

Today, those totes and stickers sell at both FSG and ATown, an iconic local gift shop. These products bring in several hundred dollars in monthly revenue, which goes directly back into growing the Husky Boy line. As a result of these totes, I’ve even met Howard E. Butts IV and printed t-shirts with this same joke for his family at Christmas time last year.

While succeeding with Husky Boy remains the big goal, these additional products, which sell separately from Husky Boy provided a great source of additional capital and very little strain on me as the sole business owner.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Surprisingly, walk-in retail clients at FSG have been my best source of new clients. I’ve yet to invest heavily in online marketing, so a lot of people learn about the product when they come into the FSG shop in South Austin. I insist on using high quality garments, so I think people are impressed when they can actually pick up the products and feel the fabric themselves.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fsgprints.com/collections/husky-boy
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darealhuskyboy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553670430003

Image Credits
Photographers: Garrett Stanley, William Sellari Models: Brenden Scott, Casey Switch, Max Hernandez, Darryl Diggs, Bo Fahs