The Baton Rouge entrepreneurs behind Woolly Threads, a sweater startup that traces its roots to a 2014 summer trip to the Massachusetts seaside, say revenues could increase as much as eightfold this year.
As Business Report details in its new Entrepreneur feature, the spark for Woolly Threads came two years ago when Mason Dupré convinced Natalie John to join him on a trip to the Cape Cod area before she started a master’s program in psychology at LSU. After discovering a sweater with a unique and comfy fabric in a thrift shop, John remarked about much sorority girls would like it.
“When she said that, it clicked in my mind that I could do this,” recalls Dupré, a 2013 LSU finance alum.
Within a week of returning from the vacation, he hit the ground running with an idea to start a company specializing in sweaters that are made in America and marketed to LSU sororities. For Dupré, it was a gamble of his entire $10,000 savings on entrepreneurial roulette.
“Imagine the anxiety of watching the ball roll for three months,” he says.
In that time, he was busy finding someone to fine tune and replicate the fabric, securing a factory for cut-and-sew assembly and earning a YouTube education in graphics programs and screen printing—all while drumming up sales. His magic number was 230.
“I had to sell 230 sweaters at retail to break even and make it out alive,” he says. “Luckily, we pitched three sororities at LSU, and it really took off.”
Woollys can now be found on more than 170 college campuses, and the number is continually growing. Last year, revenue eclipsed $1 million. This year, Dupré and John are aiming to generate revenue between $6 million and $8 million. Dupré says Woolly Threads has $50 million-a-year companies chasing its fashion and what it’s doing.
“That says a lot about us as a company,” he says, “that we’re doing things right.”
Read the full Entrepreneur feature. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
