Welcome Aboard!

Text by Darren Dahl

Sick of their daily commute from Greenwich, Conn., into New York City, the Murray brothers, Shep and Ian, headed up to the sandy beaches of Martha's Vinyeard, Mass., in 1998 to search for the good life. That's where they hit upon the idea of selling unique neckwear emblazoned with things that help make life enjoyable, such as some of their favorite pastimes -- fishing, boating, and golfing. Helped along the way by sales to celebrities including George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and John Kerry, among others, the Murrays' now oversee a flourishing product line from their Vineyard Vines offices in Stamford, Conn., which now includes everything from T-shirts to handbags to flip-flops

Ian talks about how he and his brother got started:

"Our first jobs were in advertising. Shep and I rode the train one hour each way from Greenwich to Manhattan and back. We were miserable. Our folks were freelance travel writers, so they had taken us to exotic places around the world. One of our favorite spots was Martha's Vineyard, where we used to go on vacation. We love to fish, play golf, and hang out on the beach. So in the summer of 1998 we decided we were done with the commuting and headed up to the Vineyard to find something better.

"When you wear a suit every day, your tie is usually the only thing you can convey your personality with. So we came up with the idea of selling ties that were printed with things that showed what you did on the weekends or on your vacation up at the Vineyard. We chose the name 'vines' because of its connection to the Vineyard and because it wouldn't limit us to just ties down the road.

"We started with whales, tennis racquets, fishing lures, things like that. We would see all these people fly in on their chartered planes and head to their million-dollar homes, so we figured they would be our target market.

"We tapped a few friends we had who worked in New York City's garment district to help us print up our first batch. We didn't have much money, but before we quite our jobs, we had maxed out the limits on our credit cards. We spent the first few years just juggling the balances, transferring them to whatever cards had the lowest rates. Luckily, we were profitable from day one.

"We started selling the ties literally by walking the beach. We also had this great old Jeep with no top that we would drive around to the bars and restaurants at night, peddling one tie at a time.

"Our first big break came in 2001 when the CNBC cable news show 'Outside the Box' decided to run a segment on us. We had the whole crew wearing our ties. The day our clip ran was the best day the Dow Jones ever had. That meant that everyone was watching CNBC to see how their stocks did. Our phones started ringing off the hook after that.

"Our next break came in 2004 during the presidential electioni. John Kerry lives close to our retail shop on the Vineyard, so we heard that he was wearing one of our ties. He had ordered a custom version with his initials on it. Then we got a special order from the Bush team as well. We got a lot of exposure from that, and it was great to have both sides of the political spectrum represented, since you never know who your customer can be.

"We have spent the past few years really expanding the product line and our distribution network. We launched women's and children's product lines and partnered with a few retailers to open two more Vineyard Vines locations, one in Greenwich, Conn., and the other on Nantucket Island near Martha's Vineyard. Our biggest challenge continues to be finding enough warehouse space to hold all of our inventory.

"Even with our success, we still don't take ourselves too seriously. We're still two guys who like to put on shorts and flip-flops and go fishing."

Vineyard Vines; 800/892-4982 or vineyardvines.com

Yahoo Finance - October 2, 2006