BEARS IN BUSINESS – JOE MONROY

Joe Monroy is the creator of BearWood Apparel and Underwear a new brand launched last year aimed at bigger guys. From: Bear World

 Joe is based in California and I had a chance to chat with him recently about how he got the brand started and the future for Bearwood. 

Joe Monroy – CEO

 David Goodman: Tell me a little bit about yourself and your background.

Joe Monroy: My name is Joe Monroy,  I am 31 years old and am originally from a small town in Riverside County, California.I moved out to Los Angeles right after high school and went to Brooks College, a private art school in the city of Long Beach. I have been working as a graphic designer right after graduation ever since. A few years later I decided to go back to school, so I enrolled at FIDM in Downtown Los Angeles. There is where I got inspired to one day maybe start my own line. Even though I didn’t go for the fashion design program, I was surrounded by fashion around every corner there.

DG: When did you found BearWood –

JM: I originally came up with the idea after joining my mother on a small business convention at USC one day back in April of 2015. It was so inspiring hearing everyone’s success stories and knew I wanted to do something. That day, during dinner, Bearwood was born…

I told my mom the idea I had and she decided to invest in it. After that, i did all my research and hired a professional designer to help me design the perfect underwear fit for a larger framed man.

DG: What made you decide to get into the underwear market?

JM: Being a big guy myself, I always struggled with finding comfortable underwear. I would always complain to my partner how I wish I could change this or that on my underwear just to make it custom fit to my own body. That’s where the original idea came from. After I had come up with the concept of Bearwood and what I wanted it to be, I hired a professional designer, like I had mentioned, and we went thru many fittings with an actual plus size model until we finally got the fit and feel just right. I wanted to make something that people would want to wear and look good in. Although we were supposed to be just an underwear brand, we decided to expand and do t-shirts, hats and tank tops as well. They have been very popular as much as the underwear.

DG: Do you have help other team members?

JM: My family and friends have helped my journey along the way, but I do have a very small team that I always count on. My photographer, Geo Rey has been doing all our photography since Day 1. He is a local photographer in the Long Beach/Los Angeles area with experience in product and apparel photography. People can check out his work all over our Social Media pages and website, plus on his Instagram @GeoReyPhotography where you can see all his different shoots he has had with many models and brands. 

Rich Allen

 We have our Graphic Artist Rich Allen, who lives in the U.K. He is the guy who brings all my ideas to life. He is the one responsible for the artwork you see on our T-Shirts and Tank Tops. We brainstorm and come up with new designs to keep adding to the line. He has also been busy working on some LGBT design for his own page. People can check out his other artwork on his Instagram page @illustratedforfilth where you will also find a link to his online store. Finally, there is me, I’m the founder and creative director for Bearwood. I am the one in charge of making sure every order gets processed and shipped,  and thinking of new items and design ideas for future products. Along with everything else the comes with running a business. 

DG: What do you love about creating fun underwear for bigger guys?

JM; I love getting the emails from guys telling me how much they love their new underwear or swimwear and how it made them feel so confident with their body and felt good about themselves. I get those all the time and it never gets old. It gives me goosebumps as I read it because knowing I made someone who is probably self-conscious about their weight or size and knowing that they feel good wearing my product is what makes it worth all the hard work I put in. 

Geo Rey

DG: Whats a typical day for you when you are working on bearwood?

JM: I work on bearwood anywhere I go. My phone and laptop go with me all over the place. The typical day would be answering emails about questions customers might have and processing orders. I like to answer people’s emails as soon as possible so they know they can always count on good customer service. I’m the one who does everything from processing orders, shipping on certain products, answering emails, booking models for photoshoots, and coming up with new ideas for future items.

The more exciting days are when we have a special event or a photo shoot. We usually set up at the photographer’s home studio. We get the models ready with their outfits and make them feel comfortable, and then let the magic happen.

DG: What advice would you give to aspiring designers out there?

JM: I would say, just start writing down your ideas and keep note, because when you have a good idea and don’t write I down you will for sure forget most of it later. Find yourself a good team to work with and suppliers that can produce your stuff and after you do then anything is possible. I had no experience at all with the fashion industry, and it was all from doing research every day for months and learning from other brands what they do and not do that I now have more knowledge and am confident that 2017 we will make Bearwood Apparel grow even larger than last year. 

DG: What are your future plans for the brand?

JM: in April of 2015 Bearwood was just an idea, that was the year we spend developing the new style of underwear with the designer. By September 2015 our Instagram page was officially on. We created a Kickstarter to get the underwear into production that winter, but it was not successful. I refused to give up and decided to start off with Shirts and hats. By the beginning of 2016, our website officially launched and started selling to the world. By that summer we had Swimwear now available. Fall of 2016 we officially started selling our underwear that was on a hold until we were able to launch it. 

For 2017, after over a year of learning about the business, I plan to expand the line and bring in more products. We just launched our first set of Sweaters. We are working on new designs and styles for our Swimwear line for the summer time as well as a new shirt design. I plan to add accessories and many other things to give people more options of their favorite items. We also plan on hosting more Bear events in our local bear bars and hoping we can get some out of town events as well. It won’t be easy but it sure will be worth it. 

DG: Finally tell our readers how Bearwood has affected your life. 

JM: Coming up with Bearwood has really changed my life. It opened me to a new world that I didn’t know was out there. Broke me out of my own shell and even helped me with my confidence as much as it helps the clients that buy it. I have made a lot of new friends, and even lost a few, but its part of the journey. I want people to know that Bearwood is here to stay and that my goal is to make people feel their inner beauty on the outside as well. Seasons and styles change and I want to be here providing my client’s different style options so they won’t have to settle for anything basic. I want Bearwood to be a well known brand not only in the Bear community but all over the world. I want people to know that we are not a big company with hundreds of employees that don’t really care about your product, it’s just 1 guy with a laptop and a big bear dream. Just want to thank my photographer and graphic artist for their hard work, and also my supplier for helping me keep my brand Made in the USA with high-quality standards,  and for delivering the products on time to all our clients from all over the world. 

www.bearwoodapparel.com