In the summer of 2014, brother’s Owen, Baxter, and Wiley Shea grew their beards. In the process, however, they grew something much bigger—an American-made men’s grooming product company, fittingly called Brothers Artisan Oil.

Recently, we sat down with the Shea brothers to ask them about their company, their path to success and their commitment to keeping business in the United States of America.

COMPANY ORIGINS

“The idea of starting a family business was something I’ve always wanted to do,” says Owen. “I was a new father and I wanted a dad beard—It just kind of caught on among the three of us.”

As one would guess, brothers who grow beards together require beard oil together—so they attempted to create one from scratch. “Two of us have backgrounds in bartending,” says Owen, “so we hit the drawing boards right away, mixing concoctions of scents and oils until we found recipes we liked.”

After a lot of trial and error, the brothers had a product they were proud to put their names on (and also proud to put on their faces). Brothers Artisan Oil was born.

With products in hand, the brothers needed an impactful, cost-effective way to reach an audience that shared their values. So, they turned to American Field.

PATH TO SUCCESS:

“Our first big coming out was American Field 2014 in Brooklyn,” says Owen. “We owe a lot to that show—we talk about it a lot.”

At the show, the brothers met thousands of American-made fans. In addition, they formed relationships with dozens of existing Made-in-USA brands. He explains, “As a new company, we knew starting out would be very tough. Fortunately, we formed and maintained very strong partnerships that continue to help us grow.”

COMMITMENT:

Today, the brothers offer an entire line of all-natural men’s grooming products. In just over a year and a half, they’ve built inventory consisting of grooming oils, shave oils, beard pomades, hair pomades and moustache waxes.

“What’s important is that we’re all-natural,” says Owen, who—along with his brothers— still fills each bottle by hand. “The idea of standing behind our company is important to us. We really want to build “The Shea Family” brand. We hold that very close to our hearts.”

After a successful event in 2014, the Shea brothers participated at all four events in 2015 and have signed up once more for 2016. “We heard American Field was expanding. It was a no brainer for us. We signed up immediately.”

When asked why, Owen said, “We love the guys at American Field. They go the extra mile to make sure we’re taken care of. We’re loyal to them and plan to work with them more in the future.”

We wish Brothers Artisan Oil continued success and look forward to partnering with them this year.