You’re reading Oak Drive’s Monthly Update — a newsletter about me and my brother building a clothing brand from scratch. Each issue shares honest updates, real thoughts, and the actual numbers behind creating something high-quality and sustainable.

No playbook. No overnight success. Just two brothers trying to do it right — one misstep at a time.

Let’s get into it.

— Nick

TL;DR

🎉 Hats are finally here — after nearly a year of chaos, 100 hats (in 2 colorways) landed on Johnny’s doorstep.

🌐 OakDriveBrand.com live — first orders came through, and we’ve built out the “vibe page.”

🧢 Next round incoming — new U.S.-based manufacturer with better communication; samples for wool, 100% organic cotton, camo, and dad hats on the way.

👕 Shifting gears — pants + sweatshirts on pause, moving forward with Peruvian-made heavyweight tees (black, white, navy, gray).

📦 Packaging matters — custom boxes + tape for an elevated unboxing experience.

🧵 Threads bet — Nick vs. Johnny, 90 days, one post a day. Sibling rivalry in real time—follow along.

After nearly a year of pain, miscommunication, confusion, and probably a shit load of Google translate leveraged by our friends in China, our first run of hats finally arrived at my doorstep.

As exciting as this is, it’s also a bit daunting. This is where the rubber hits the road. Up until this point, all this Oak Drive stuff has been more conceptual than real for both of us. We’ve tried to “build” our brand on TikTok, but relied heavily on the excuse that we don’t have products…meaning we “can’t” create any TikTok posts. This next month, if you are nice, come check out our TikTok page @oakdrivebrand, where we’ll be posting content. This newsletter will serve as our social affirmation of this.

100 hats. Two colorways. Honestly, I don’t even want to rehash the saga. It wore me down to the point where even writing about it feels exhausting.

The good news: the hats turned out pretty good

The bad news (just kidding this is GREAT news): we’re moving on to a new manufacturer

We’ve already lined up a new manufacturer. A US-based shop who subcontracts production out to China. Not our end goal, but a massive step up in communication and quality. Samples are on the way, and they’re pretty damn exciting. I can’t tell if I am just bored of our original styles or these ones are just that cool.

Once we get the samples, we’ll test them, get opinions from our friends and family, tweak them, and likely pick one or two to run next. The long-term play is still moving production to the U.S., but this is a big step in the right direction.

Right now, we’re looking at 4 new designs and we are looking for your feedback, so…

VOTE HERE WITH ONE CLICK (it takes 5 seconds).

This stings and it won’t ever stop. On August 27th, 2024, Nick paid our friends at TEG (this is the LA-based expert consultant we overpaid) $7,556. I am writing this in late September 2025, and what do we have to show for our money?? $0 in sales, 2 sweatshirt and 2 pant samples. Domestic manufacturing quotes came in sky-high — think $120+ per pair of pants or $20K+ in inventory to launch pants, hats, and shirts. Not exactly beginner-friendly, especially when we hadn’t sold a single thing. Because of this, we decided to take a raincheck on our pants and prioritize shirts.

We’re working with a Peruvian manufacturer that has a 200-unit minimum order per color, which is way more manageable. Within that 200, we can split between short-sleeve and long-sleeve shirts, which is really nice.

Part of what was driving this decision was inventory costs. Landed, it costs roughly $25/shirt on a minimum order quantity (MOQ) of 200—$5,000 for 200 shirts…not too bad!

We’re looking at four colorways right now — black, white, navy, and gray. Nick’s team black. I’m team white. Who wins? We’ll see.

Durable heavyweight cotton, clean design—nothing fancy, just our vibe.

Some people might think moving on from pants and sweatshirts was a tough call, but looking back, Nick and I never even questioned it. Yes, we spent a s%$t ton of money in development, but that can’t drive decision making, and pants just aren’t us right now. We have those designs in our back pocket and definitely intend to roll them out eventually, but it’s expensive to bootstrap a clothing brand and priorities were solidified.

We also started really dialing in oakdrivebrand.com

Big milestone: we got our first couple orders — shoutout to the friends who stumbled across the site and pulled the trigger.

We weren’t even trying to sell yet, but apparently, Oak Drive is now a thing.

We’ve been polishing up the “vibe page,” which is basically a pictorial representation of what Oak Drive is all about. Think natural, refined, curated, calm, and a little Buck Mason-esque, but with our own flair.

Link here if you want to poke around: Oak Drive Vibe Page

Playing college hockey wasn’t exactly a dream experience for me—but it did come with some life lessons I wouldn’t trade. Our coach was obsessed with motivational quotes. I’m talking daily quizzes before practice that felt like finals; so much so that some of my teammates swore hockey was their hardest class at UConn—and honestly, they weren’t wrong.

Out of all those quotes, one in particular stuck with me: “How you do anything is how you do everything.” It was plastered in massive letters on our locker room wall and repeated so often it’s basically etched into my brain.

That idea has carried over into how we approach our packaging. Details matter. Even the small ones that are easy to overlook. We wanted your unboxing to feel intentional, elevated, and like an experience. We want to evoke a feeling when you open the lid on your new hats. That’s why we didn’t just grab standard unadorned brown cardboard and call it a day—we wanted to create something that sparks a little excitement the moment it lands in your hands. Something that is our brand.

Nick and I made a bet.

90 days, 2 separate threads (Meta’s version of X / Twitter) accounts, 1 post per day minimum

Whoever racks up the most followers wins.

So far, I’m ahead and intend to stay there.

Engagement and traction is slow for both of us, but we’re learning.

If you want to watch the sibling rivalry unfold (or tip the scales in my favor), follow us here:
https://www.threads.com/@public.development
https://www.threads.com/@oakdrivebrand (click here!)

▶ Song on repeat: Dancing in the Moolight - King Harvest

▶ Current read: Careless People