Dad and Company
Join hosts Jacob Espinoza and Dylan Schmidt as they explore the joys and challenges of modern fatherhood. Each episode features candid conversations about parenting, work-life balance, and personal growth. Dylan and Jacob share their own experiences as dads and welcome guests to discuss topics like bedtime routines, discipline strategies, and building strong family bonds. Expect honest talk, practical advice, and a supportive community for dads at all stages of the parenting journey.
Dad and Company
The Rise of Dad Gang With Bart Szaniewski
Welcome to this week's episode of Dad and Company!
In this episode, Dylan and Jacob are talking with special guest Bart Szaniewski about:
- Creating a space for authentic conversations about fatherhood beyond stereotypes and dad jokes
- The origin story of Dad Gang, from a supportive text thread to a thriving community brand
- Balancing entrepreneurship and fatherhood, including overcoming unexpected challenges
- How Dad Gang is empowering dads to connect both online and in real life
- How Dad Gang fills a gap in the market with stylish hats for dads
- And much more!
Learn more about Dad Gang:
Dad Gang Website
Dad Gang Instagram
if you ever want to just like flow, now that we all know your past, you just want to like surprise us. I'm not saying this episode, I'm just saying in the future, just anytime you want to just inspire, just start, just start rapping yeah, I know that feels, like really cliche. I bet so many people are like they know you rap and then they go. Will you rap for? It's like a comedian tell me a joke and it's like it's not.
Speaker 2:It's not like that anymore, but there definitely was a time where it was like entertain me, you know, like that's not why I'm here right now, I'm just. I don't want to do that.
Speaker 1:But thank you for asking me would girls say that like do you interrupt for me?
Speaker 2:yeah, exactly, yeah, exactly. And if she was cute, for sure I'm gonna do it. You know what I mean. Yeah, I actually have gotten more comfortable back into that space, um, like fairly recently, where somebody will ask me to rap and I'm like, all right, just do it, because there'll be a memorable moment, like people will remember it, and it'll usually be. It'll lead to another conversation, um. So I actually have been more open to like bringing that piece back lately, for whatever reason you know. But we just had a great conversation with bar of dad gang. It was pretty awesome hearing how aligned the dad gang brand and their vision like what they were seeing as a need for community of dads and when he was talking about the dad gang mission of like authenticity and like I was like that's, that's exactly us, that's that was.
Speaker 1:It was pretty incredible to hear that something that was highlighted to me was being a father is different. It's just different when you have a kid versus when you don't have a kid. You know, and I feel like to be honest, some guys either accept that or they fight it. You know, they run away from that and they want to just not have a kid and just keep living how they're being and kind of ignore it or lean into it and something that as both, like a brand lover of someone who just really appreciates good branding and brand building and community, and like I, I love that stuff. And so seeing what bart has created and how it started from support text thread, just saying dad gang, like it got me thinking of like friends that are dads in my head, like that's something we would do. Yeah, why didn't we start a hat company?
Speaker 2:we did the podcast and said you know, we started this, a very similar mission. We ended up in a similar place, but I feel like our conversations were kind of a result, as a response to, like, the alpha dad type of movement. His was a was a response to the like running dad joke, like dad bods, like don't know how to dress, and we kind of ended up at the same place, though, like most of us, dads live somewhere in between those two ends of the spectrum and it was just interesting, like he started, his was a response to the the jokes, ours the response to the alpha, but we ended up in a pretty, pretty similar territory yeah, I like that a lot.
Speaker 1:I'm just gonna generalize. We live in a society now where, like, the men's grooming area at like target is way bigger than it used to get like a little deodorant section, yeah, maybe like a razor section, and now there's like walking around, there's products I don't even know what they do, there's just choices. Now you know, that's kind of like where we're at. It's just cool to see this pop up. You know I'm not doing competitor research for dad gang, but I'm really curious, like cause I'm. I would imagine target or these other companies see dad gang and like oh, oh, like we should do something like that. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But it's hard to like. It's hard to compete against community. Yeah, and that's your focus, like so much brand loyalty comes from that because you're the center of all the different connection points. It's really challenging to compete against that and the fact that, like, that's their focus it makes it tough to step into that space because, and even if you're not part of the facebook group like I'll use the example of, like me buying hats for my friends that we talked about in the interview but like now there's like the sense of community amongst us who are all dads and like we have this like thing in common where we want to be the best and like I think dad gang kind of kind of represents that.
Speaker 2:Dad gang is just a cool company. I remember I was in bend, oregon, walking around downtown and I saw this guy wearing a dad gang hat. It was probably a year ago and I was not familiar with the brand at all, but I immediately immediately identified with this idea of dad gang. It's been awesome, like interacting with bar on Twitter over the last few months. I started a community of dad business owners in Salem and I reached out to him as like hey, I want to get this group hats just to thank them for being part of this community and he was gracious enough to hook me up with a discount code. Was super cool and now I think he's had so like super popular in Salem. I'm seeing a lot more people wear them and I think they're just something about the identity of dad gang that dads just identify with immediately yeah, it's super cool.
Speaker 1:when I first saw I think I learned about it from you dad gang and then I was like what this? And I started looking at? I started looking at their website. I'm like like the designs are cool, athletes are wearing them. I'm a huge Dodger fan so, of course, if Mookie Betts is wearing it, I'm like, yeah, sold, doesn't matter what it is. Mookie Betts says jump off a bridge. You know, yeah, which one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which one Exactly? So, yeah, I thought it was super cool and then when you were like, let's talk, I was like, dude, this is perfect. Let's cut to our conversation with Bart from Dad Gang.
Speaker 2:The leader of Dad Gang, Bart Schenefsky. Thank you so much for making time to be here today on the Dad and Company podcast. It's a big deal. We appreciate it. We really do, my friend. Thank you for being here.
Speaker 2:Appreciate it we really do, my friend, thank you for being here. So I started a community for dad business owners and I reached out to you via Twitter. I was like, hey, I got this group of dudes that we meet every month. I want to get them a group of dad gang hats and you're gracious enough to give me a hookup discount. So I really appreciate that, because everybody loves the hats. Like, they thought it was my brand, they're like this, your brand.
Speaker 2:You're starting is like no, I wish I could take credit for it. It is not, but it is. It's just a movement that I'm, uh, I've been excited to, to learn about. And how has it felt for you to like see the traction that dad gang has created? Because you got NFL quarterbacksbacks wearing the hats and their press releases. Like you got your. Your hats are everywhere and I feel like there's always this like moment of like when I see somebody wearing a dad gang hat. Okay, if, like, we are on the same wavelength, like we're part of this like inner circle that like not everybody knows about, like it's still at the level where it's like a cool insider club, I feel like, yeah, man, and thank you for that it's.
Speaker 3:It's it's like a cool insider club. I feel like, yeah, man, and thank you for that. It's been interesting. I've worked in direct-to-consumer and marketing for well over 12 years and have tried my fair share of brands here and there. I've worked at various companies as director of marketing and I will say like, like dad gang in a sense wasn't between myself, ej and grant were the, were the three founders of it, and there was never an intention to like go build some big brand or any kind of business.
Speaker 3:It was like we're always in a text thread talking to each other about fatherhood, um, about the, the struggles, the triumphs, the, everything in between. And we'd always end those text messages with hey, dad game, like if, if the day's hard, you're going through it, you're, you, maybe you're struggling with any like mental health stuff and you want to vent that to a community of dads, like our text thread was at the time. Then it's like man, I'm here for you, I uh, you know, praying for you, or or, um, sending you good vibes, dad gang. Like we'd always end with that and after a while I damn this term's pretty cool I want to put it on a hat. And so, put it on a hat, made a hundred of them, and EJ Grant and I were all like, hey, we made some hats. If anybody wants one, it's on Shopify, dadgangco, and from there we sold a hundred hats and it just kind of kept going. You know it, it was all friends and family at the beginning, which is always like really nice and supportive, but that doesn't mean you have a great business right up, the right out the gate, just like, okay, friends and family supported, that's awesome. Um, but let's, let's try again and order 300 hats this time, see what happens. And it just kept going that way, like I was shipping hats out of my garage. We all still had full-time jobs. It was a movement that was kind of bubbling, but not not scaling or any of those terms you hear across marketing, twitter, and so we just kept going and like we turn around like two and a half years later and you're like, oh, wow, hey, we've, we've got a brand and it all started from like a real meeting and a real conversation of one dad gang. I think we need a community of dads that can just vent to each other and find support, find advice, not be ashamed to admit when you have no idea what you're doing, because we all don't when we're starting as new fathers, and so that's been the true, like silver lining throughout the whole thing. And then the one other thing is like a true product market fit which we, we, we all want.
Speaker 3:It Like you're wearing a dad gang hat today. It doesn't feel like you're wearing a number one dad t-shirt or a. This is a dad bod mug. You know, like those things, those things are funny, they have their place, but like, come on, being being a dad is not funny all the time, and so we wanted something you could wear on a daily basis. It still looks good. It's a great quality hat. I'm wearing one of our running hats right now, but, um, and you have more of the A-frame shape hat, so they're like really good quality hats that you'd find at any hat retailer.
Speaker 3:Um, and then kind of, you know, once again changing the way dads are looked at on social media, cause it's all humor, funny, dad bod, new balance kicks mowing the lawn, like enough, we've seen enough of that.
Speaker 3:So that joke has been. I think those jokes have their place Once again, father's day. It just goes crazy. But like I wanted to and when we wanted to tap into something more real, and I think that's where the growth happens. So we're surprised by it, in a sense, every day. We're like the heck happened, how did we sell this many hats already and how is the community so big? But then, kind of when you think of the why of it's a real meaning and a gap was filled. I think that's the why And's you know a real meaning and and a gap was filled. That I think that's the why and people just resonate with it. And when it comes to celebrities and stuff like I don't know, that just happens and and we're very, very fortunate to have that happen um, because it's not some like crazy influencer strategy or anything like that. They're just customers or gifts they got from somebody.
Speaker 2:That's incredible.
Speaker 2:I think the something that we've talked about on this podcast is that a lot of times, as a dad especially when you're a dad and a business owner but you feel like you have to have all the answers, you have to present yourself in a way that you have everything together, but the reality is like we're all just waking up, figuring it out every single day, like life throws us unexpected curve balls, and sometimes I feel like it's challenging for us, though, to get used to saying I don't know.
Speaker 2:I don't know what to do with this, I don't have the answers to everything, and I love that you call that out as part of the brand, because there really are two ends of the spectrum. There's like the alpha dad who's has everything figured out, like the picture perfect family and like cold plunges five times a day and like does ultra marathons, and then there's like the dad bod, right, joke, like there's like those two extremes, but most of us live somewhere in the middle Right, and I think you've really found a way to to build a community around that, that idea.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you remove, you know, like we worked with Mookie Betts and like we have a hat coming out with Tiofimo Lopez he's a 10-time boxing world champion Like you remove their sport and their skill sets from that and we can all sit down together and talk about fatherhood. Um, it's not. Like you know, mookie, when, when we worked with him, the like this, the second time around the rankings came out for MLB best players and he was one and two on everybody's list and it's like awesome, love that, love that we're working with the best in MLB. But let's sit down and have a conversation about none of that. Let let's remove baseball. Let's look into Mookie Betts or Teofimo Lopez, the father, not the polarizing celebrity athlete. And you nailed it Even the cold plunging dads probably do not have it together whatsoever. They just so happen to show it that way. And we just want to tap into, like you know, what's it like changing diapers of a new year old when you're one of the most famous baseball players on earth and all these?
Speaker 1:for sure yeah, the identity shift I feel like, because my daughter, I have one kid. How many kids do you have, by the way, bart?
Speaker 3:I have two.
Speaker 1:I have a one and a three year old one and three, when we had our daughter, who's now one and a half, the identity shift, the same kind of identity shift from when I got married. It was like, oh, I'm a married man now. And then now it's like now I'm a dad. The identity shift is weird because, you know, you get gifts Like I get magnets, bugs, t-shirts and none of this stuff I would wear, and it's, it's nice to receive it, Nice, like, nice thought, but it's I almost like get it and instantly I'm like I don't want this. You know, like it's nice, it's nice, but it's just like I don't know. And then you see something that come up, uh, comes along like dad gang, and it's like that's cool. That's cool, it feels it, it feels current, it feels like, um, not outdated at all.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we, we still try and we still I and thank you for saying that we we still try to like I've worked. My first job out of college was for a streetwear brand, and after that was an athletic sock brand called Stride Line, which is its own brand within its own right. They're great Worked there for six years and then worked with brands like Kappa, which is a like very well-known streetwear brand, for decades now. And, yeah, it's like not only making something that resonates with dads, but like being of the times, being of the trends. I think we're we're.
Speaker 3:Fashion recycles itself and it always has. We're in this kind of, in this nineties vibe right now bigger, baggier jeans, like light colored jeans. Um, the hats are snapbacks, they are a frames, they're not your typical like collapsed dad hat. Um, even fitteds are finding their place back into fashion and bieber's always wearing fitteds. Like there's just there's. We want to not just be like here's a hat company, like we want to be with it, um, and and not extremely like we're not going to make oversized dad gang jeans, but but we're still. But we're still going to make some awesome hats and I think we're a hat company at the end of the day too. So that's, that's mainly the product you'll see from us yeah, I have my.
Speaker 1:in my basement I have 80 hats, like I'm a hat connoisseur ironic that I'm not wearing a hat and you guys are right now. But you know like, just look at all the different options. You got like American Needle, new Era. You got these like sport brands and and there's like a hat, everything. There's the lids of course, but you're really limited to like sports teams and companies. Rarely do you get something that is bigger than that and no one's going to be like dad dad game. You know like what?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's different. Yeah, yeah and same here. I've always been obsessed with t-shirts and hats. My wife gives me shit all the time because my stacks of t-shirts are insane. And now, owning a hat company, there's hats everywhere. I'm looking in this corner, outside of this office I'm pretty O ocd or around like cleanliness. This place is filthy right now with hats. There's hats behind me everywhere and it's like, yeah, I, and it's like you said, it's tough to stand out in that world too, right, because I I think a lot of people can can find a hat manufacturer and and spin up a shopify brand and going and we've seen that too, and a lot of brands are doing great.
Speaker 3:But I just really really love, outside of the product, the community aspect of it. We have a private Facebook group. It's private but anybody can get in. You just request yourself.
Speaker 3:And yeah, there's dads in there asking questions around like man, my daughter's about to go to kindergarten. I don't know how to act. I hope she's okay, I hope she has a great day. How do you guys deal with it? Or potty training or sleeping, or self-doubt around, even if you're being a good father. All these things like that is, to me, is starting to become so much more important than the actual product, um, while the product grows with it, right? So yeah, I I just hope we like people ask us about our like future goals with dad gang and all the stuff and it's really grow the community. There's no like I don't I don't make up like random revenue numbers and all these other things, like a lot of founders do. I'm just like let's keep growing this community to the point where it's so powerful that dads just have like an ultimate support system if they need to go anywhere.
Speaker 2:Which is so important, because I feel like we just feel like we need to be that strong lone wolf and like, when we have problems, it's so easy to just go and hide and like be inside of our heads trying to figure things out, and it's never the best way to go about it. Um, so I mean the fact that you're creating this community where people are able to be authentic and support each other and ask for advice and share advice is is incredibly powerful, but it's not always easy to pull that out of dudes Like. Sometimes it's challenging. What have you found to work to like really create that community and get get some of those conversations started?
Speaker 3:Yeah, when, when starting the, the Facebook group, which is like closing in on 10,000 members that can all just see what everybody's saying and huge Thank you, and it's like, um, I think when we were at like a hundred people in there, I I would post in there every once in a while like things that I was struggling with and um, and then people would be like all right, cool, but when's this hat restocking, you know, and, and. But then some people would chime in and help me, but I, I would re-emphasize every once in a while like yo, this group is not just for, uh, you know, restock alerts and new hat introductions. Like, please support, yeah, like, please, please jump in and like, let us help you with anything you're asking for. It's not like, not me help you, let's all these other dads that are in here that have experiences chime in and help you out. And I even did it myself.
Speaker 3:Like the the kid going to school, example, my daughter was going to preschool and it was kind of like that feeling of leaving her in a strange building that she's never been to for the first time, with strangers that are obviously, you know, educational professionals and it's great, but like she doesn't know that she doesn't. She's not going to be able to process that. And then how am I, as the dad, you know, like going to react and feel at home when she's a school? You know, in those thoughts of like, oh man, is she okay? I hope everybody's being nice to her. I hope she's, you know, having a good time, enjoying it. I hope she's not crying anymore because she cried at drop off.
Speaker 3:And then all of these dads would jump into the thread and be like you just got to understand that. You know, this is the first step to many of her like independence and education and all this stuff. And I would read through that and I genuinely felt better about all of it. Sometimes you just need a word from another dad and you're good, because we're just making up scenarios in our heads when we, when we worry about things. So it's, that's how it started. I would ask the questions. Then I would tell people like hey, this group is not just about hats. Let's ask your questions, please. And now, every, every once in a while, people do ask.
Speaker 1:I shared with Jacob like I wanted to do with this podcast the similar thing of like we don't have to be expert dads, like we don't need to be. You know I wanted to take that off myself of doing this podcast, like I don't want to be an expert dad like who has it all figured out. You know, let's just community approach here and and not like share something but not have the answer, cause to me that it just takes a weight off my shoulders. But I also know that dads are like kind of hesitant sometimes to reach out when they're kind of feeling isolated and there is so much value in the community, like as you've shared. What advice do you have? I say we're not experts, but like at the same time, like what advice do you have for dads that are feeling like hesitant to reach out for any support Because it can be scary at first? You know what I mean Like going into a community you don't know anybody, even as simple as like a Facebook group.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I almost think sometimes it's, it's easier to ask strangers than to ask somebody. You know, I think that's why we um, that's why people also go to therapy, because they're talking to a professional that isn't close to them, um, and they're giving them advice, so they don't feel like this uh, familiar judgment when they're asking for something Right, um, and then same with our group, like for one, if you say anything negative I'll just boot you immediately. Um, it's not. It's not a place to to breed negativity or bring people down. And two, it's like this brand started because of that, right.
Speaker 3:This brand started because we were sick of the jokes and the humor around dad culture per se and we wanted a brand that just supports fatherhood for everything that it is.
Speaker 3:So if anybody's in that group, they're there because of what this brand means to them, and we all understand that, that we don't have anything figured out.
Speaker 3:But as, like a, I know everybody says it takes a village to raise a child and you know, a village of 10,000 other dads is pretty strong, um would say in our group at least, and if you're reaching out to people outside of Dad Gang, there's just so much strength in numbers and it does take a village and asking for help and asking for anything, whether you know. I think you just have to remove that ego or pride or whatever it is that's stopping you for asking for help, because you're just going to get in your head about so many things and that's not where you want to be. But specifically to our group, we're all there to help each other and you can even post anonymously. If that is a barrier for you, you can post and it won't come from your profile, it'll just say anonymously and you'll still get the answers. So I think I won't say everybody can remove that kind of insecurity of asking, and if you can't, then it's fine, you can just post anonymously and get your answer that way.
Speaker 2:How has your own journey been in balancing business and dad life? Because they've kind of worked in parallel. For you. It sounds like they both started around the same time and this thing has just blown up. You know, beyond your, your original expectations, which I know comes with its own unique set of challenges. How's how's that been for you?
Speaker 3:yeah, you know, being in a partnership with with two other dads, running this thing has been awesome, um, mainly because, like ej has two daughters, they are and ej don't kill me if I get this wrong, but I believe nine and four, and so he's got the oldest of kids, and then Grant has his son, who's eight years old, and then I have my kids, who are one in three. So I was technically the last one to have kids out of the group and so I got to, like you know, get some game before it all started. But starting a brand and running a business while being a dad for me in the beginning, like I had my daughter before dad gang was even a thing um, was a little insane. I was, I was working at an agency and I was overseeing the growth of over 30 brands in less than two years, so it was like just in intensive marketing warfare at all times, my goodness uh, yeah, so I was, I was managing that somehow.
Speaker 3:And then, um, as lucy got older, started dad gang and it, but dad gang wasn't a full-time gig for for a while and, yeah, lots of up and downs, like the house that we're in right now, I was when we got it, um, just kind of moved more closer to my parents and just to have some more family around. But, like the house that we moved into, I was a director of marketing for another company and the day of closing on the home, I got a phone call that I was being laid off. So, literally as I'm like, I got a call, random, google meet was being told that, like investors are pulling out funds or something like that and they have to let go. A bunch of people like, okay, well, right after this call, I'm heading to the uh, what's it called? Uh escrow office or whatever to sign for our home and I'm sitting there and signing and, uh, like, all right, well, it's time to. We got the house, we're moving, but don't have a job whatsoever.
Speaker 3:And then this is, uh, lucy's like almost two and then my wife's pregnant with our second kid. So imagine that scenario. And so I don't. I've been in marketing and direct to consumer. For I don't know 10, 11 years at that point and instead of and I say this all the time like to people that ask me like damn, how was that? Because that sounds so hard to deal with. But I think the when you're in that like pit of struggle or despair or you don't know what to do, like lean into it rather than like running from it and being scared of the scenario, um, I just kind of leaned on myself and and said, okay, well, just go crazy with applications and interviews and networking and lean into what you have done and also lean into dad gang. Like it's, it's growing, it's there for a reason. Let's see what can happen out of it, right? And then I have the support group of EJ and Grant and some other dads too that are like you got this, you got this.
Speaker 3:And it was just that like it's a continuous theme of having that kind of like other dad support that'll get you through things. And so I leaned into it and got like three interviews and three job offers in a week, but it was. It was like this, even to my wife. I was like hey, I need to. I need to like block out everything right now, outside of obviously being a great dad and just like zone in on finding something, while at the same time leaning in on dad gang, and she's always been.
Speaker 3:Jacqueline has been super supportive of anything I want to do, whether it's ridiculous or not, and a lot of the time it has been, you know, like wild ideas, but she's always been there to like support me through anything I want to do. So, yeah, it's, it was very tough, but at the same time, instead of leaning into the fear of what could be, I would lean into the actual struggle and lessons of what had happened. I got another job, but it kept growing, dad Gang and eventually left that job. Now it's just Dad Gang full-time. There was quite a ride there for a little bit and I don't speak about it too often because it's like it did suck, but at the time I just had to like accept it and see what could happen next.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What I love about that story, though, is you're able to keep yourself in a confident, clear headed place.
Speaker 2:It's easy in those moments to let anxiety and fear control our thought process, and sometimes they can spiral in a really negative direction, but just taking those moments to like take a deep breath, all right, what do I need to do? I need to block everything out. I need to figure out you know how I'm going to figure out my next opportunity, and not forgetting all the value that we bring, and community can play such an important role in that, and I want to recommend anybody listening like don't miss out on this community that's available on Facebook, like you have no idea one how you'll be able to help somebody else that's in that community that might need something you can offer. But also, when it comes time like there's going to be a be an opportunity for people to help you out as well, as you're dealing with struggles that that come at all of us, right? We all have our own things that we have to deal with on a day-to-day basis, so that's a powerful story, man. Appreciate you sharing that.
Speaker 1:Yeah and I don't know if I mean you're not probably allowed to make this claim, but I probably can that the dad gang hat will get you three job offers within a week of losing your job right. Is that accurate? Within a week of losing your?
Speaker 3:job right? Is that accurate? I won't make that claim, but I've seen a lot of uh. I've seen a lot of uh dad gang hats on zoom calls and uh, yeah, just somebody will send me like my buddies will send me screenshots of like dude, this guy was on a call with us. He had a hat on. So I don't know, it's a, it's a. It's a proud fatherhood crown that you can wear on your calls and it should inspire some confidence if all-star mlb players wear it, come on and athletes right like come absolutely absolutely yeah, yeah, no, I I think, uh, one of the the other crazy things that's happening in this, in this facebook.
Speaker 3:Dads are like yo, I'm in the Northwest, in Washington, grant's, in LA, ej's in Tacoma, like half an hour from me.
Speaker 3:But dads will be like, hey, I'm in Dallas, any other dad gang dads in Dallas want to grab a beer or grab lunch or go hang out. And yeah, dad's like we'll gather without us having any say and it's, it's awesome. Like the brand, the, under your logo there it says designed by dads and like we always say like sure, we're, we're running this thing, but everything is like driven by you, it's driven by the community. If you want to see a different color, if you want to see, um, uh, flat bill hats, or if you want to see something else, like go ahead and ask us for it and we'll probably make the sample and if enough people want it, like we'll continue making it. If you want to go gather in orlando or dallas or los angeles and go hang out with some dads like please go for it. Like it's, the brand is out of our control, but besides, you know, being the founders, like we really want to give the power back to the dads that are part of the community.
Speaker 1:My wife asked when I told her we're talking. She wanted to know is there, is there a mom gang?
Speaker 3:I don't know nothing about that. I'm here for the dads.
Speaker 1:I like it All right.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of Boss Babe movements. There's a lot of those that are out there, yeah moms have gotten the coolest things forever.
Speaker 3:I mean you'd hop online. It's like jewelry, beautiful, everything, emotional stuff, funny stuff, somewhere, somewhere in between, like moms have really gotten the coolest stuff for a long time and I was like, wow, I get a number one, dad mug, that's, that's all. That's the pinnacle we've reached.
Speaker 2:So I got. I got the dad mug and a pair of air monarchs and like that's what I'm wearing now yeah, come on like, stop Like we're so much more than there's so much more to this than than that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3:So, um, yeah, love the moms, but we needed we needed a slight level up here. Yeah definitely.
Speaker 2:Well, man, I appreciate you making time for the the podcast and they have a lot on your plate and appreciate so much what you're doing with the community and bringing dads together, because it is it is so needed. Like guys are lonely right now, they're kind of living in their own heads and I mean there's as people we're designed, we're wired to be better, but we have people around us so we can support and can support us, and I think it can start in the online communities. But, to your point point, meet a few people there. Like you know, putting together events to invite other people to be part of is kind of a next step and it's a lot easier, I feel like, than maybe people originally would think.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for sure, and thank you so much for wanting to talk to me and talk about. You know the brand and what we've built and super exciting stuff. You guys have going too, so it's an honor to to chat with you. And, yeah, if you, if you ever need anything else or, you know, want to want to do a round two with, with EJ and grant on or something, then we can do that too.
Speaker 2:Definitely That'd be awesome. Dad gang hats. I've taken over Salem, oregon, like I have flooded the city with dad gang hats, so like we see him around and we got the, we got the nod and we see each other wearing them and myself been on zoom calls and there's like multiple other people with dad gang hat. So it's been.
Speaker 1:It's been a lot of fun seeing it take off for sure I'm in los angeles, so you know if mookie betts is wearing it, the city's wearing it. Yeah, thank you so much. See you, bye, see ya.
