The ACL Podcast 010: Huckberry

As promised, a conversation with Huckberry founders Richard Greiner and Andy Forch.

Over the past several years Huckberry has grown and evolved to be an important company in the gear/outdoor/clothing/home/ space for men. It’s everything we all want in a brand: humble, genuine and adventurous. And where else can you buy a cooler, an avocado vase and a therapy notebook — highly considered, well-made and unique things all in one place?

Every interaction I’ve had with Huckberry over the years has been positive and when I met co-founders a decade or so ago they struck me as nice, easy-going guys. Part of me thought maybe they are too nice — fake nice? They weren’t. Maybe that was just me having lived in NYC for too long? Maybe I had become cynical where I didn’t expect people to act that way unless they needed something. Fast forward to 2020 and we all reconnected and actually had a Zoom happy hour. I couldn’t believe that I was having a happy hour virtually for starters, but I was also surprised that the Huckberry guys were still as incredibly humble and nice as I remembered.

In between when I met them around 2012 and when we reconnected last year Huckberry has become incredibly successful and beloved by its customers. It has quietly grown to be a significant business that has a huge 3rd party brand offering (I bought my Ooni from Huckberry) and also has a few of its own in-brands. Huckberry has become an important retailer and expert storyteller. I admire how Andy and Richard have done what they have and forged their own path with Huckberry. If you read the founders story you can’t help but to walk away inspired and impressed.

We have a nice conversation about how Andy and Richard built the business, about hustle culture, FJs, what they look for when making a hire and so much more. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

The ACL Podcast is more of an add-on to the newsletter than a full fledged podcast. You can listen in Apple Podcasts or via Spotify directly if you prefer that to Substack. If you enjoy this edition, please consider subscribing and sending to a friend who you think would like this. I appreciate your support.

Thanks to Al James for lending me his music. The song is: Hard Working Dogs by Dolorean.