Beardowear
Beardowear Inc. is a privately held company based in Toronto, Canada that designs headwear, beard hats, beard beanies, tees, other accessories. Beardowear is the "original" designer of the Beard hat and holds several patents for their unique design. In 2011, Beardowear was featured as a main presenter on Canada's "Dragons' Den" television series on CBC.
Beardo was founded in 2007, and in early 2008 changed its name to Beardowear. They have maintained a large online presence since the launching of their online store in July 2009. Their initial product was the beard hat, which was the first of its kind with a foldaway, detachable and adjustable beard. Though they do own several design patents for this design, it has been infringed by a few individual sellers and mainstream companies including Neff headwear and Deluxe Distribution. Beardowear products are targeted to the snowboarding, skating, surfing and lifestyle markets. Beardo Beard hats and their other products are currently sold through their online store and are also available through several retailers, specialty outlets and other online stores. In June 2011, Beardowear was featured in the Globe and Mail Newspaper which lists the company as one of the top twelve quintessentially Canadian small businesses.
Company History
Jeff Phillips founded Beardowear and designed the first ever beard hat while snowboarding atop the "7th heaven" run in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada in the winter of 2006. The first products were hand-knit untagged beanies sold to friends and through market stalls. Beardowear has now expanded to a full snow, skate, surf accessories company, sold worldwide and becoming a key leader in beanies sales. In 2009 and 2010 the Beardowear brand expanded to include international hubs in the UK [beardo.co.uk] Australia [beardo.com.au], Russia and the Netherlands.
Celebrities and Press
Beardowear has received various press hits from celebrities including; Marilyn Denis, George Stromboulopoulos and Yumi Stynes. The Toronto Star featured the Companies namesake product on the front page of their national paper in 2010 .