Bayou Gauche native Mason Dupre just knew that somehow, some way, he was cut out for business.
But even Duprè had to be surprised at the meteoric rise of his first true business venture: the 25-year-old Hahnville High School alumnus not only has built his own thriving company alongside business partner Natalie John, but he’s seen it become a million-dollar enterprise that continues to grow by the day.
Woolly Threads, Dupre’s apparel company, generated $24,000 in 2014, its first year in business; in 2015, that number grew to $1.2 million, and as revenue grows, so is interest nationally.
“It’s remarkable … crazy even,” Duprè said. “It feels like so much happened so quickly. So many people bought into this idea and helped make it a reality.”
While Duprè invested — and risked — thousands of dollars to get the venture off the ground, Woolly Threads truly was born of a small $10 purchase and a brainstorming session between he and John.
Duprè, who worked as a lobbyist at the time, was on a trip to Nantucket with John when the two came across a garment made of fabric John hadn’t seen before. It greatly drew her enthusiasm and interest, and the two bought it for $10.
“We went to lunch and it just stuck with her,” Duprè said. “She started talking about how sorority girls would really love this, and it rang a bell with me. The more we talked, I really began to believe in the idea of this fabric.”
The two decided to turn that idea into something bigger.
The fabric, called a “reverse loop terry” looks like a long, loosely woven towel and, Duprè points out, it looks as comfortable as it feels.
“It passes the optical test,” he said. “Before you even touch it, it just looks so comfortable. It’s very unique.”He said that finding a manufacturer in the U.S. for that style of fabric and clothing wasn’t an easy thing to do, though what was an obstacle at first ultimately became a competitive advantage.
“I later found out that the reason the fabric was so hard to find was because the last time it was prominent was in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s,” Duprè said. “When NAFTA hit, he American manufacturing industry was left for dead as clothing companies began outsourcing, so when we came around in 2014, it was nearly impossible to find. Luckily, we found someone that weathered the outsourcing storm who could make the fabric.”
He began to invest heavily into the venture. He first paid $5,000 to order 1,000 yards of the fabric. Next, he had to find someone to cut and sew the fabric into the pullover sweaters he and John envisioned, a manufacturer in North Carolina. He ordered 600 sweaters to build his initial inventory, costing him an additional $5,000. He had to max out a credit card to buy the $1,200 needed for screen printing equipment.
“It was everything I had left in my savings,” Duprè said. Finally, Duprè and John added this winning marketing touch: their company got a license to print the logos of sororities onto its merchandise; pitched and sold three Greek groups at LSU, then got to work. Duprè taught himself how to screen print, and his vision began to come together.
Although he was confident, Duprè admits certain times in the early stages were nerve-wracking.
“We started the process in August, and it took a month and a half to get the fabric made,” he said. “So that $5,000 of mine was tied up. Then, because of my age and lack of history, I had to pay (the sweater manufacturer) up front … it was November before we got our first sample.
“I’d walk around the house repeating, 230, 230 … I knew we had to sell 230 of these sweaters at the retail price point to simply break even.”
Prior to his first pitch meeting, the nerves really began to set in.
“I imagine it’s like a politician who stays up the night before with that fear of, ‘what if nobody votes for me tomorrow?’” Duprè said.
But after that meeting, his phone started to buzz. Within two weeks, those 230 sweatshirts were sold. Many more would follow.
The Woolly was truly born — and it was popular.
Woolly Threads sweatshirts have since sold, Duprè notes, to over a third of the sorority chapters in the country. The company has also secured 45 collegiate licenses from major universities around the country, enabling it to print merchandise featuring the logos of LSU and other schools.
Fifty more licenses are currently pending.
“If it’s a top 40 football program, we probably have them,” he said.
The company’s remarkable growth can be put into perspective when considering Duprè was only 23 when he began this venture, and is now 25; the company’s home base grew from his apartment, where his two roommates worked with him to get the company started, to a 4,200 square-foot space with more than 30 people on the Woolly Threads team—including Duprè and those then-roommates.
Or there’s this: the company just purchased a darkroom for a price of $25,000. Duprè began the Woolly Threads company at roughly half that cost.
While Duprè admits his story is a rare one, he’d like to make that less so.
He will be presenting a $5,000 scholarship to a student at his alma-mater, Hahnville. Applicants submitted business plans, and the best were selected to make a live pitch of their idea. Duprè made the trip back to Hahnville to listen to the pitches of those three students last week.
“Growing up where I did, most of the time parents just want stability for you,” Duprè said. “People sort of tell you what to think and what you should be doing … I want people to know that it’s OK to blaze your own trail. I want to make a mentorship chain and see these kids grow up and become providers for the economy.”
Perhaps those students will go on to become future self-made success stories, like Duprè himself.
“We were fortunate to kind of catch lightning in a bottle,” Duprè said. “At the same time, while it seems like an overnight thing, a lot of work went into it. That’s where a lot of my drive and confidence really came from. I always felt I’d work hard enough and do everything I needed to do to turn Lady Luck my way.”
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