Matt Stang is the co-founder of
Swannies Golf, an apparel brand that started back in 2015 in Minnesota. In this episode, he shares the incredible journey of building a modern golf apparel brand that has scaled to a presence in nearly 3,000 golf courses.
Matt discusses the tactical reality of bootstrapping a physical product brand, the power of listening to "green grass" buyers, and why bank financing worked better for them than raising traditional equity. This episode is packed with insights on shifting after a product flop.
What we covered:
- The origin of Swannies Golf and how a failed golf sandal concept ultimately opened the door to their first accounts.
- Identifying a gap in a stale market to create a casual and modern golf apparel brand.
- Why they chose a "green grass" sales strategy to build nationwide brand recognition door-to-door.
- How to finance a product-heavy business through bank credit lines without giving away company equity.
- Why tracking manual sell-through data is vastly more important than initial sell-in numbers.
- Earning placement in iconic courses like Pebble Beach and St. Andrews, and launching their first physical retail store.
Swannies Links:
Parker Nash Links:
What is Uncommon Brands?
How do you build a DTC brand that breaks out in a noisy world?
The Uncommon Brands podcast interviews founders of fast-growing DTC, e-commerce, and consumer product brands with unique products and marketing strategies. In each episode, we dive into how these stand out brands built their business by going against the grain.
This podcast is for any DTC brand founder, entrepreneur, and executive looking to build a stand out brand.
Host Parker Nash spent more than a decade working at Nike where he learned first-hand how one of the greatest brands in the world develops product and marketing that turns customers into raving fans.