We recently connected with Troy Hurley and have shared our conversation below.

Troy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with 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?

Originally, my business name is my middle and last name, Alexander Hurley. However, I wanted to create a deeper meaning that allows a space for the community and myself to explore together. So, the meaning to Alexander means, “One who assists men.” And therefore, I aspire to assist men and create essential footwear for their journey. We all have underlying similarities as human beings, including enduring challenges that bring us together, and so Alexander Hurley strives to create products through curiosity and empathy.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was born and raised in Chandler, Arizona, with three older sisters and three nieces. I studied Mathematics in college but soon developed an interest in fashion, and thus, my passions have shifted. This passion led me to create Alexander Hurley in 2019.

I started as a model, from walking runway shows to becoming an influencer for major fashion brands, and then slowly transitioned to styling and working as a personal stylist for my friend, an NFL player, for a number of years.

As I gained experience in the fashion space, I was driven to create the company. Today, my level of curiosity is still constantly pushing me to visit new realms of design.

I believe the idea of footwear is more than just an industrial design or about making boots or shoes; it is about making connections between all of the aspects of daily living – the past, present, and future. I was curious to see how we can interact with the ideology of human experience through footwear. I sought out to achieve this with my unique take on boots – which led me to reflect on the mission of the company: to intertwine humanity and fashion so conversations can be held throughout different communities. It is my hope that the brand will serve as an inspiration to others, allowing them to create a space for themselves to relate with each other.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

While building the foundation of the company, the pandemic has started to become highly effective and caused the world to shutdown. During this experience, I was in contact with many manufacturers trying to articulate the idea and the silhouette of my first collection. There were many nights that doubt had became overwhelmingly powerful such that I didn’t think I would able to get a concrete product from my initial idea. Through many sessions of prototyping – the trial and error process – I began to understand how important it was to be resilient, especially starting off with an idea to designing/creating a product that is concrete. After seven sampling products, I was able to learn to never give up on your vision or even settle for what has been given to you knowing that the final product is not aligned with your vision. I believed in the vision of the boots so confidently that the idea of the boot was aligned with the product that I received. Settling was not an option for me.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Going into business, I never understood the idea or the categories that formulated a business. I had a vision and wanted to implement this vision into something that was concrete. I never quite comprehended when people said that it was a challenge to try to do every task – essentially working as a “technician” in your business. I had to unlearn and trust my capabilities and inabilities. I had learn how to: one, work on my business rather than in my business; and two, develop critical thinking as an entrepreneur and learn how to delegate to my weaknesses. Initially, I thought I had to try to do all of the work since it’s my business. I also believed that a business was nothing more than an aggregate of the various types of work done in it. However, I learned that I easily became mentally exhausted and burned out. So I had to educate myself on how to delegate, which areas I should look for expertise, and utilize my time and space in the area of my capabilities.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.alexanderhurley.com
• Instagram: @alexanderhurley__
• Facebook: Alexander Hurley

Image Credits
Mike Dunn (@_mjdphoyography)