About this episode
Kevin Lavelle is the CEO & Cofounder of Harbor. He’s also the Founder and Chairman of the Board at Mizzen+Main, where he invented the world’s first performance fabric dress shirt, ultimately driving it to hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.He successfully raised a growth round from L Catterton and established partnerships with athletes like Phil Mickelson, JJ Watt, and dozens of others. Today, Mizzen+Main has more than ten of its own stores with 1,000 retailers also carrying its products.We discuss:- Starting and growing Mizzen+Main- The intricacies of celebrity-equity deals- The inspiration for founding Harbor- The realities of building physical products vs. software- Stories with Phil Mickelson and J.J. WattWe'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. https://www.thefortpod.com/surveyLinks:Mizzen+Main - https://www.mizzenandmain.com/Harbor - https://harbor.co/Kevin on X - https://x.com/kevinslavelleThe Phil Mickelson Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45xF1C76I88Support our Sponsors:BetterPitch: https://bit.ly/42d9L0IFort: https://bit.ly/FortCompaniesFollow Fort on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fort-companies/Topics:(00:00:00) - Intro(00:03:49) - Kevin’s early career and inspiration to found Mizzen+Main(00:07:25) - Building the prototype(00:11:38) - The early days of building the brand(00:15:16) - The impact of sponsoring the Tim Ferriss Podcast (x)(00:21:35) - Choosing the name “Mizzen+Main”(00:23:50) - Inventory Management (00:26:55) - Starting today, what would be your hiring order?(00:28:32) - Celebrity partnership stories: J.J. Watt & Phil Mickelson(00:48:17) - The inspiration for founding Harbor(01:03:17) - Bringing on a Co-Founder and building hardware(01:17:19) - Marketing approaches(01:14:56) - How celebrity equity deals workChris on Social Media:The Fort Podcast on Twitter/X: https://x.com/theFORTpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefortpodcastLinkedIn: https://bit.ly/45gIkFd
