Meet Brittany Coleman | Founder and CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brittany Coleman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brittany, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Everything about starting my business was about aligning my work life with my values. Over the course of my career, which included leadership and analyst positions for several outdoor and active lifestyle brands, I became increasingly frustrated as I noticed male-run product development and research teams not understanding women or including us in the decision-making process. An approach called “shrink it and pink it” –essentially taking a men’s product, making it smaller and making it pink, then selling it to women, often at a higher price point–is all too common in the industry.

I wanted to do things differently. I wanted to take a slow and intentional approach to developing our products and incorporate feedback from real women along the way. I wanted to build a brand known for listening to our customers and inventing on their behalf, delivering an assortment of products that add value.

I decided earlier on that I wanted my product to be made in the USA and at a women-owned factory. As a result of that sourcing decision, it meant I would have to buy a high quantity of socks initially and pay a premium cost compared to certain options overseas. I didn’t have the money but supporting women owners was so core to how I wanted to do business that I knew I needed to find a way to fund the business and stay true to my values.

I had heard a lot about crowdfunding and decided it was a good route for me given the high costs I was facing with manufacturing a product domestically. Unfortunately, that campaign did not go as planned and we did not reach our funding goal. It was a very public and embarrassing failure, especially for a type-A person like me. It was hard not to take the failure as a personal rejection of me and my brand value and values.

Fortunately, around the same time, I entered a pitch competition for women-owned businesses. Somehow, despite the fact that I was stressed that my hair was falling out and my nerves were completely shot, I managed to pull off an amazing pitch and won! In fact, I won a retail distribution contract with Title Nine, one of the most respected women-owned outdoor brands in the country! Within a matter of weeks, I went from completely losing to winning one of the best customers I could hope for. So it just goes to show you how quickly things can change and not to give up. The work that Title Nine is doing and has been doing for some time to elevate women in business, sports and the outdoor industry is so compelling and I am so grateful to be a part of their story and for them to be in mine.

Today, I’m proud to lead the first and only outdoor sock brand with a majority women-owned value chain and be among an estimated 1% of founders in the outdoor industry who identify as a person of color. I’m particularly proud that I have been able to do it in partnership with a woman-owned WRAP-certified factory.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Before I became the puffy vest-wearing, gear-slinging, occasional glamper I am today (before I used words like “gnar”, “pow”, and “shred”), I was deep in the corporate world, breaking glass ceilings on an entirely different frontier.

A recent corporate meeting inspired me to shift gears. The topic: how to market and sell a new women’s brand. The result of that exercise was horribly hollow. We weren’t designing for my friend Christine, who has backpacked over 1000 miles solo, or my friend Stephanie, who quite literally “shreds” the “gnar” on the regular. Or even me who simply enjoys getting outside and being in nature with friends. No. The most inspired idea these men could come up with was? Drumroll please… the girlfriend of the REAL outdoorsman who just needed to look the part. She didn’t even get a real name.

Most people I meet in the outdoor industry identify acutely with Christine or Stephanie and have a visceral connection to the outdoors. My journey to the outdoor industry started in a very indoor place, at the company where that infamous meeting took place.

I grew up in Las Vegas, the youngest of four kids to a single mom. We were sporadically homeless and at times we did not have enough to eat. In short, we struggled. I’m not sharing all this with you so you feel sorry for me; I’m simply painting the picture that going into the outdoors was not my reality growing up and it certainly wasn’t anywhere on my mom’s priority list to cart four young crazy kids on a hiking trip. In fact, it was only a few years ago that I discovered people travel to Vegas for more than just sin. That, actually, a robust outdoor community exists there. Who knew?

The point is, I know wrong when I see it. The men in that meeting, unfortunately, presented such a narrow and inaccurate approach to addressing our unique needs as women. So I literally made it my business to do something about it. I started Tough Cutie to support working women from the ground up in all the ways we work—as athletes, entrepreneurs, caregivers, and everything in between.

Together, we’re building a movement to empower women of all backgrounds and provide agency to individuals who have felt powerless. We’re here to inspire you to do the same.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We would probably do a mix of outdoor adventure and indoor wellness activities. No matter what, every good trip in Austin starts with breakfast tacos and coffee. So we would hit up one of my favorite spots – probably Lazarus Brewing Co, Halycon, Mozarts…honestly the list goes on and I’m not sure how the rest of the country hasn’t caught on to the magic that is coffee + breakfast tacos.

In any case, the Colorado River flows right through Austin so we would definitely have to get out there, maybe rent a canoe or SUP, and just flow for the afternoon. One of the awesome things about Austin is you do not have to go very far to experience some great hiking without leaving the city. We would definitely check out The Greenbelt or St. Edwards Loop.

If I were a good host, I would have scheduled you to come during either Austin City Limits Music Festival or South by Southwest and experience some shenanigans. After all that, we would definitely have to decompress. There’s this nice little spa called Miraval just outside the city. It’s a little bougie/pricey but sometimes you have to treat yourself.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would love to dedicate this to Renee Patrick, who has been such a great advocate for me and ToughCutie. Thank you, Renee for speaking my name in rooms I am not in!

Website: www.toughcutie.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toughcutiebrand/

Image Credits
Whitney Whitehouse Kelsey Phillips