We were lucky to catch up with Jeremy Dougherty recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jeremy , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

As most founders would likely agree, attempting to quantify the problems a business experiences over a six-year period is futile. They are infinite, enduring, and at times unnerving. These “problems” and our ability to navigate them, make up the life blood of the organization. I say that because seven years ago, when I was setting up Maroon Bell, I believed well run companies were immune from material problems. This is not true. Problems are as much a part of the company as the products we sell. They are like the air we breathe. The day they disappear will be the day we disappear as well.

While quantifying every problem is impossible there are some deserving of a gold medal and center wall placement. A certain greatest hits album if you will. At times I can be quite verbose so I will make this short and to the point. Hopefully.

I launched Maroon Bell Outdoor (website) in February of 2016. I was passionate, excited and naive to the fact that I didn’t know what I was doing. The plan was to create a fashion brand anchored to the concept of the outdoors being inclusive and available to everyone. You don’t have to be on top of a mountain to find the outdoors. We would scale slowly and produce unique designs, one at a time while supplementing with branded products (next level, champion, comfort colors). To spark growth I built a portable, 10×10 retail space then “popped up” at festivals and events around Colorado. With this grassroots structure, I avoided social media spend, reduced expenses, increased brand awareness and developed a consistent revenue stream.

Our first design was the Campfire Flannel. It took about 14 months from concept to market. The initial run of 100 shirts was manufactured in Los Angeles and delivered on August 7th. Our cost of goods was around $240 per shirt (MSRP is $129). This stage is referred to as the beta testing phase. It is expensive and risky. We presented the design on Labor Day Weekend at the Aspen/Snowmass Labor Day Weekend Music Festival. This was a massive 2.5-day event with big bands like Maroon Five, Hall and Oats and the Revivalists. The launch went great, we sold about 80% of our inventory and were cash positive going into the Fall. Right about the same time, Scheels, a big box retailer picked up our line for the Grand Opening of their new store in Johnstown, Colorado.

At this point I was seven months in. Things were going much smooth and much easier than I had predicted. I was full of confidence about what I thought I knew and how “great” I thought I was at starting a clothing brand. In hindsight, I was dancing blindfolded on a cliff, nearing the edge with every step. I just didn’t know it yet.

The first indication of trouble occurred to me during the Grand Opening of Scheels. I was there with my family, taking pictures, looking around and it hit me, we were out of flannels heading into 4th quarter. I started making phone calls at the actual event. I was starting to solve my first big problem. We needed more shirts. Over the next two days I paid out $15,000 for raw materials (fabric, fabric liner, buttons, thread), consulting fees and logistical administration to start production on our second run. Within a week the materials were delivered to our manufacturer in LA. They promised me the next 200 shirts would be ready in late October. I thought I had solved yet another problem. My confidence soared. This was around September 10th.

An important note: At this point I was now out of cash, had no financial history (so banks wouldn’t lend to us) and we were selling virtually nothing on our website. I used my life savings and was running up a credit card I wasn’t sure I could pay off. $15,000 was a lot of money and without those shirts we would be in a chilling spot.

Because I trusted my 200 shirts would arrive at the end of October, I began taking pre-orders for Christmas. I was overly confident about a Q4 revenue stream assuming additional Scheels re-orders and a verbal agreement to try our hats in 5 regional stores. I figured in a worst-case scenario the money from wholesale would cover everything else. This was a mistake.

By the end of September, we had pre-sold about 30 flannels when it occurred to me that I had not heard from our guys in LA for a few weeks. I called with no answer. I emailed with no response. I texted with no response. Over the next two weeks I texted again and again and called and emailed and nothing. They were completely ghosting us. By the third week of October, I realized they had disappeared and stole everything.

I was in full panic mode when I got a call from Los Angeles. I answered the phone and on the other end was a Latino gentleman I had never met. With spotty phone coverage he explained to me in broken English that our manufacturer was gone and had left behind all of our raw materials. In addition, this man told me he manufactured our shirts the first time and could complete the job. I was relieved to say the least, however; he needed money up front which meant $4,000 more for labor that I didn’t have. I was 60% sure it was more fraud but had no choice. I agreed and wired the money.

Over the next month and a half, we stopped taking pre-orders, experienced no communication, missed delivery date after missed delivery date and finally, on December 20th, 30 of the 200 shirts arrived. Of those 30 shirts 15 of them were sewn together so poorly we had to give them away. My twin brother and I drove all over Denver delivering back ordered shirts to folks that had paid months before. Because we did not have flannels Scheels pulled out of the contract and my wholesale safety net disappeared.

After Christmas my wife and I flew to Philadelphia to see family. When I got back to my home office in early January, the stark reality of our situation set in. I remember sitting at my desk in our two-bedroom condo reviewing our accounts and current state of affairs. We had a 20K credit card balance with an 18K limit, no cash, no sales coming in and round $3,000 in returns from undelivered flannels. Because our credit card was overdrawn, we got a notice from Shopify that the website would get shut down any day. At a hotel in Aspen, I paid Shopify with a personal credit card so the website would not get shut down. We would not receive the rest of the flannels until April and 40% of them were ruined because of poor workmanship. I was unable to recover those funds and the second manufacturer had also since disappeared; stealing all the remaining materials. The chilling situation I never thought was possible in September, was on my doorstep in January.

That next year, I popped up everywhere could, including a bar in Aspen. I told our story to everyone, designed more items and by the end of the year we had no debt, $35k in the bank and another year ahead of us. I had solved my first of many problems.

That was six years ago and since then we have foraged through seemingly impossible storms because I believed this company would make it. I visualized a working image of this company for years and still do every day. The success of Maroon Bell Outdoor has become my destiny. Over the years I changed my relationship with problems. They are not bad; they are the life blood of what we do. Like life, business is imperfect. Once you become comfortable in a messy room, you stop spending energy on being a victim and start spending it on being a warrior. Times get stressful for sure, however; that stress means you’re in the game. You are building something that matters. That stress means you are living. Think of it this way, if you never had to save your company from almost certain defeat, you would never have to truly push yourself to becoming better. You would never achieve your greatest potential. You would never know how important the business really was to you. You would never know what you were personally, truly capable of.

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?

My name is Jeremy Dougherty. I am the founder of Maroon Bell Outdoor and a 4th generation Coloradan. I studied business at Colorado State University and have touched various industries over a 17-year career. From a young age I wanted to be an entrepreneur and during a seven-year stint in Washington, DC, I fell in love with fashion. In the Fall of 2014, I returned to Denver and in the spring of 2016, I launched Maroon Bell Outdoor.

While I wanted to design clothes, I also knew I wanted to change the way business was done in the United States. At present I feel like companies win a lot and consumers lose a lot. Founders win a lot and workers lose a lot. One of my goals was to flip that reality. I wanted to create unique designs of the highest quality while providing the best customer experience available. I would strive to create a winning environment for consumers. A winning environment for the work force.

I also wanted to shift the perception of what it means to be outside. For too long corporations have painted a picture of the outdoors that is exclusive, expensive, time consuming and unreasonable for most folks. Growing up in Denver meant being in the outdoors all the time. My outdoors was not inclusive, it didn’t matter what you wore or what you posted on social media (which didn’t exist). It wasn’t shiny or fashionable or time consuming. My outdoors was wearing painting clothes on weekend camping trips. My outdoors was spent in the fields behind my house; playing baseball, football, sledding, watching clouds or playing in the sprinklers. My outdoors was on my time, in my space and fully inclusive. While the idea of hanging from a North Face, shirtless with your hair blowing in the wind, or road tripping through Patagonia in a renovated VW van is awe inspiring, it doesn’t feel realistic for most of us.

Our logo represents this philosophy by showing the Maroon Bell Peaks staring into a lake at their base. Instead of seeing its own reflection, it sees the city of Denver. The outdoors are part of who we are. It doesn’t matter if you are in the city, desert, beach or on the plains. If you can see the sky, smell the grass, hear the trees, you are part of the outdoors. All our designs track this philosophy. From the backpack to the gloves, our innovations meet consumers where they are. We accomplished this unique versatility by only working with exceptional materials and then hyper focusing on design and construction. Because we think consumers should win, we stand by everything we sell. Each personal experience with the outdoors is as unique and independent as the person experiencing it. Our products should weave into your story, into your life, into your place.
In the summer of 2021, we donate 15 backpacks to the students taking part in the changemaker program with the Cottonwood Institute. This organization helps young people coming from lower socioeconomic environments get into the outdoors. This spring we donated 15 more bags and over $2,000 worth of apparel to the Denver Police Brotherhood; they help young people in tough spots achieve their greatest potential. Both organizations bridge opportunity gaps. Finally, as a minimum we give 3% of everything back to charity. At Maroon Bell Outdoor we believe the outdoors is for everyone regardless of where you live or how much money you have. We also believe all ships in a harbor should rise together. We will always support the community we work in.
In conclusion, we operate with the environment in mind. Currently all our original designs are delivered in zero waste packaging, with GS1 bar codes and marketing on the bags. This removes plastic wrapping, stickers for bar codes and wasteful marketing tags. Our manufacturer is working with solar power and taking additional steps to filter water before it is discarded. We use Water Buffalo for our gloves due to strength, but they also make a much smaller carbon footprint than cows.

Maroon Bell Outdoor was built to mean something more than just a product. We represent respect to consumers, the environment, our community, economy and our world.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

About 2 months ago I was contacted by one of the largest AI startups in New York City. They were having their annual conference in Boulder in two weeks and needed custom hats. Now, while we can get you a custom beanie it is not our core capability. Our core capabilities are designing unique, one-of-a-kind assets like the Weekender Backpack or our Buffalo Leather Gloves.

During the conversation I convinced the buyer to consider letting us make a prototype backpack with their branding for this event (we would give them that hats for free). She agreed and we moved forward. I had to work quickly because this conference was two weeks away and we were designing from scratch a new product and then shipping it from Pakistan.

The first prototype came 3 days later. I sent the buyer pictures and while it was excellent, they came back with what they believed was a fatal issue. The issue was there were two vegans on their team and those folks could not have leather on the backpacks. We were at a place during this time where we desperately needed to close this deal. I told the buyer that is not an issue and we would design an all new, all fabric backpack just for their group and we would add hand knit, wool branded beanies to each bag. The buyer was surprised that we would go to this length to get their business and skeptical that we could meet the deadline. It was going to be a nearly impossible feat, but it had to happen.

The next day they agreed, wired the funds and we got to work. The conclusion to the story is that 50 bags, with hats, were sitting waiting for their team at the hotel in Boulder when they arrived 11 days later. Each bag came with an outer carrying outer bag, a custom wooden key chain with their company logo and custom embroidery on the bottom indicating 1/50, 2/50 for each bag.

I tell this story quickly, however; this was a huge win for our group. It was filled with problems (the life blood of a company), some fake it till you make it but most importantly a confidence in our capabilities. Don’t let sales walk out the door. Tell folks that you will work with them to get whatever they need done. It will matter a lot years down the road.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

This is an easy question but it was hard work. The first 3 years we popped up at hundreds of festivals. I would stand in fields, parking lots and meadows telling my story and selling our line. When COVID hit those stopped abruptly so we had to go completely online. At that point we needed video and blogs. These were not as effective as person to person so I started answering as many customer calls as possible. I started talking to consumers again about what they liked and didn’t like.

Finally, we have a Nordstrom style return policy. We take back anything for any reason. We trust our customers and take a lot of responsibility in accepting their hard earned money for our designs. We want them to feel like they have won and we will do whatever it takes to accomplish that.

I will say, that these are not get rich quick ideas and a lot of time not profitable ideas, however; I have always believed that I we can keep our heads above water for 10-20 years it will all work out in the end. This generation of entrepreneurs has to start companies in a socially conscious way. If we dont extend an olive branch of respect to each other our kids and their kids will have a tough go of it. We can change a lot of things with how we run these tiny businesses.

Contact Info:

• Website: MaroonBell.Com
• Instagram: MaroonBelloutdoor
• Facebook: Maroonbelloutdoor
• Linkedin: Jeremy Dougherty
• Youtube: maroonbelloutdoor
• Other: Pinterest: MaroonBellOutdoor

Image Credits
Beartooth Photography