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What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Penny Luck’s founding story
• What inspires Brian Munoz
• How Penny Luck was born out of failure

When Brian Munoz’s first clothing company went under he was left scrambling, trying to figure out what went wrong. He had tried as hard as he could, he took a big risk, but it just didn’t work out for him. He realized, he just didn’t get lucky at that time. So, when he had saved up enough money to start another business, he centered it on what was missing from his first venture: luck.

“I love shoes, so I decided to start a shoe company,” Munoz tells Founders of Fashion host, Jennifer Millspaugh. “I wanted to incorporate the American symbol of luck, the penny, and create the shoe for the American dream chaser.”

Thus, Penny Luck Shoes was born here in Austin, Texas. But as his brother pointed out to him, the American dream would not be possible if not for the men and women in the military who defend it. That idea, combined with his brother’s own personal experience serving the country and struggling with PTSD after, is what inspired the philanthropic arm of Penny Luck shoes. Munoz appointed his brother to head up Penny Luck’s efforts to hire veterans and their partnership with the Purple Heart Foundation. Penny Luck donates a portion of its profits to the Purple Heart Foundation which assists veterans struggling with PTSD.

This is the first installment of Founders of Fashion, a podcast that introduces you to the individuals, brands, and topics that are impacting the global fashion industry now. Listen to this episode to hear more about Munoz and Penny Luck’s inspiring founding story. If you like what you hear, be sure to share the show with a friend or colleague! Also, be sure to subscribe to the show so you don’t miss out on any of the fashion founding stories Millspaugh has to share!

Host: Jennifer E.S. Millspaugh, PhD

Guest: Brian Munoz

 

Transcript:
this is a founding media podcast
welcome to this edition of founders of fashion podcast I’m your host Jennifer Millspaugh I’m the CEO of aesthetic ventures and the Austin fashion an initiative on this podcast series we dive into the business of fashion with emerging entrepreneurs I want to thank founding media productions for producing this series today we’re talking with Brian Munoz founder and designer of penny luck shoes penny luck is a men’s shoe line based here in Austin Texas I am seeing so many great emerging men’s brands coming out of Austin and penny luck is one of them let’s jump into my conversation with Brian
Brian at one of the things I love about penny luck is that you have such a cohesive brand story that is intimately connected with your journey so to start us off fill us in on how you came to lunch penny lack and what it’s all about it’s a really long story do you have like two hours to talk give us the short version absolutely yes so penny luck started out from my misfortune I guess I would say I actually graduated college and started a company it was athletic apparel meets like science technology and I did that for about four years and it it went under long story short after I went bankrupt I relocated to Austin to take a job at SHI and I got fired the first week oh my gosh yeah and my wife was pregnant at the time so it was it was a crazy journey filled with ups and downs but I got to the point after I got fired that I came to a realization that I had to do what I love for the rest of my life and that was shoes I’ve always loved shoes and my wife would always say to me like like you have more shoes than I do you need to like get another closet and things like that but anyways I love shoes so I decided to start a shoe company I had no experience in it at all and everyone thought I was crazy they like what what do you mean you know and what what she’s like I don’t know I just really love shoes so I started issue company and I wanted to incorporate the American staple of luck which is the penny and the reason being is because I think I’ve I’ve told you the story before but for the sake of podcaster via when I was going around in in Los Angeles and Santa Monica area I was always going around pitching these these heavy hitter investors and I always ask them how did you get to where you are how are you living the American dream and the reason I asked that question is because I was super nervous and I want to break the ice and get them talking about themselves right and so they always give me a response that consisted of three things hard work risk in lock hard work risk in black and so will my company went under I realize that the one thing that I was missing was lock because I did not get my break I put in the work I took the risk but luck was on my side and so I wanted to incorporate the American civil a lot to the penny and create the issue for the American dream chaser essentially like bring your lock yeah so you can work a lot and the whole concert now for the company is with issue for the American dream chaser she could wear look as you chase the dream and we give back to the men and women to fight to protect it how we do that is I partnered with the Purple Heart foundation tell that to PTSD and I’m also hiring that’s as well so that’s penny look at school so how would you describe kind of your aesthetic for your shoes a static I would say a traditional static with a touch of modern and comfort very close yeah
so you know I think it’s such an interesting and unique message to essentially launched this business out of almost the failure of the first one it was definitely out of failure yeah yeah how did you how did you deal in that time with all this like term months of how do you deal with that anxiety as an entrepreneur honestly I block a lot of it out and I was asking that question it’s like it’s like resurfacing some emotions but I don’t think you ever really it was brutal yeah it was brutal so like when you’re be imprisoned broken in like on the ground to get yourself back up from a failure like that like it was really hard because it was almost like a public failure right get out of college in the school the boy I’m on my way and then boom like devastating blow on the ground got to relocate you can’t afford to live there getting evicted I mean just it was it was on at all and so I think one of the things that really helped me get back up is really finding myself and what I love no longer doing things for superficial reasons no longer like you know trying to keep up with the Joneses or anything like that you literally like I had to do what I loved and pay no attention to what people thought for any extrinsic factors right it was all internal so I think that that’s that’s what helped me get back up is really rebuilding inside intrinsically and then letting it spill over to my work into the yeah yeah that’s what I one of the things that I feel I hear so much from every entrepreneur and every story listen to everything I read about people watching companies and you know building even you know especially in fashion when you’re designing things that really are intimately connected to who you are and and it’s that idea that the entrepreneur who’s building something whatever your building is is possible just because of the unique set of experiences that you’ve experienced the unit you know the unique those are assets and resources and capabilities that you bring into developing the next you know the next thing or the next part of your journey yeah which I think is like so astounding I hundred percent agree with that like I would say that the company is a direct reflection of like my skills and just who I am for example like a table numbers and convert them right and I love cars like I do all the wood working and I’m in it you’ve seen the would like yes like pretty decked out issues I design I’m like it’s connected to my story so like the entire thing are because it’s my brother like everything is a direct reflection of of who I am yeah which totally agree with that well let’s okay so let’s go in and like break that down a little big size that’s such a cool you know you and I have had conversations a lot and I’m such a fan of what you’ve created but let’s going for them for yeah I think I’ve sold probably so many of you have as well our top seller so yeah so tell us the story because I love the idea of the Hummer and and the way you’re really incorporating elements like that into into your brand building around what you’re doing and why the Hummers important an important symbol to what you’re creating
so fill us in on that background so yeah the Hummers important so I should give you the backstory so when I first are the company I was out of my garage and feeling that the first order I ever got was a I think that she still was Lauren in Santa Monica and there’s three prominent they bought like forty pairs issues I’m freaking out processing the order like yeah yeah yeah the brain and exactly exactly and so I’m processing the order my brother comes over to help me and at the time he was in a really bad place and so I I called him over and I’m like he did come home yeah he was struggling a lot with PTSD and he comes over he helps me out and we start having the conversation of my brain and what I’m doing I told them I’m creating issue for the American dream chaser everything I just discussed and he’s like you know rather the American dream wouldn’t be possible without the men and women who fight to protect it now it’s like dude your so right at it was much longer than that obviously and he inspired me to to to reach out and try to connect to the nonprofit organization in order to start giving back and I came up with the idea to actually start customizing the year of your lucky penny hiring that’s to do it and and donating a hundred percent of the proceeds and so he’s the one that kind of like brought it forth and because of it I’d put him in charge of a spear heading our entire veteran initiative and just kind of evolved from there and so then we started buying military vehicles converting them into shops and it’s just kind of been a snowball and it’s been really cool that’s cool how many how many vehicles do you have in your fleet now we’ve got like four and adding a lot more that’s amazing I think last time I talked to you in like one or two yeah yeah so
so you really you’re kind of on a on a quick growth pass yeah interjection there Severine yeah so what what had to walk us through what that looks like how long have you been in business and kind of what are the steps you’ve taken over the years you know some of the major major points in the business for you so from where I started to or I am is like insane because I literally started selling shoes out of a suitcase on south Congress and the like I started literally with nothing so when I first tried to get sore seeing an established my supply chain I got taken a few times you know like just people that I was in here into the business and people that were just predators looking to take advantage and so it took me quite a bit to get set up and by the time I was able to start selling shoes I was almost out of my but I kept going and I would see some of the hardest things were two were just over coming all the adversity that comes your way you know yeah I feel like on printers in general is just solving one problem after the other it’s like well I don’t know how to do that but let’s do it exactly exactly I think even like we started selling online is figuring out how do we should this would get the label we just like all of the right things are on little things and it’s just but that’s that’s what it is it is all the little the little things yeah yeah absolutely so getting back on track your question from where I started to where I am now it it was so many little things and big things as well you know trying to figure out how to finance is finally got a loan from the bank I still own a hundred percent of the company and I’ve bootstrapped it all the way through which has been brutal yeah but it’s also been good because I’ve been able to to really control the development of the company to what it is today and have no like external influence and how how long have you been in business now two thousand certain two thousand fourteen launching fifteen okay yeah so yeah so about three years here’s so that’s awesome it’s a journey
so out what when you were first starting okay so you had failed in this first business I think this is a really interesting idea you found in this first business you had to file for bankruptcy or the company went bankrupt so then how how did you get the revenue they at the initial capital that you needed to finance your first like collection of shoes so I was actually I got fired message I. NA start taking a lot of like a dead end jobs yeah and I got a job selling cars in Georgetown and I see it all of my money literally like every dime I think I got I see the blank I want to see like twenty thousand dollars and I took that and I just can you and you want to add any thousand dollars yeah totally bootstrapped and yeah going yeah kept it going the entire way through and your whole I mean really you’ve been supported as well by your whole family your brother’s job yeah or and your wife as I was leaving amazing’s amazingly supportive absolutely yeah it’s been a communal effort yeah percent but I will say this when I was doing research and talking to people and said you can’t launch issue company or fashion company without a million dollars or yes and that the I’m sure you’ve heard it before and that’s a lie thank you can do it it’s not gonna be easy but you can not a hundred percent do it you can launch a company as long as you know what you’re launching and you’re not trying to just put a product out there Scott meaning I’m I truly believe that people can can make it happen yes yeah yeah and what so talk to us about like some of those things that you’ve had figured out how to make happen so your production you do your production in Mexico so you went down there you figured out you know how to you know part of I think in in launching any company part of it is just jumping in and going well I’m gonna I’m gonna research I’m gonna find this person or I’m going to find the best person to do X. Y. Z. yeah so I I will say that one of the things that I realize is I spent a lot of time research especially with my researching especially my first company and I I realize that if I spend more time doing then researching I get a lot farther and so when I went when I took when I started this company I kinda re structure my mindset and I’m learning a lot of the things that I had learned and I became more about action right still like anything that would think up I would do brief research maybe an hour to understand and then execute execute execute it’s all about execution and so I think it’s also about trial trial and error because what works for me doesn’t work for the big companies what works for them doesn’t work for me so you really have to spend your time executing rather than researching and finding the balance obviously you know get informed as informed as you can but don’t obsess over it right then you’re just gonna start yourself out exactly yeah because you’re never going to have all the answers yeah
so what are some the things you’re working on now what are some of your goals that you have now so I’m actually working on opening up a few more shops and and these are all like pop up shops out of commerce yeah are they mobile do they are they more essentially like a food truck but for clothes no it’s more like position then like really like quiche yeah we do have a mobile one yeah I was I think we just went to New York can be traveling a few other that’s all yeah yeah places but what I have in mind it is really like I’m focused on doing it different for the shoe industry I think it’s it’s kind of been initiates remained unchanged for a really long time and although there’s like big companies like Nike and an income just like that that are really innovating in doing some cool things I think that there is like a huge gap that companies haven’t really covered yet and that’s personalization and I’m really focused on on creating more of a customizable product in innovating that’s that’s kind of what you’re always is that kind of an offer Newt opportunistic up strategy for you you’re kind of looking like how do you decide when you have different opportunities to pursue potentially new aspects of animation art to incorporate something into the company how do you decide whether or not it fits with your brand or not so going back to like what we talked about earlier about like how my company is a direct reflection of like who I am yeah so one of my biggest passions is marketing and and and understanding destructive you know technology and how to bring it to market and I think that in a way to organically any like it’s kind of become a vehicle to be able to do this and I think we can do it while still doing good implying that and disrupting the market I really want to go after it take a shot and we’ll see maybe will be sitting here again in a couple years talk about how I fail there how I really hit it out of the park and yeah but as a matter of you just keep going to try yeah yes it just keep taking action executing and we’ll see where it takes solving one problem after another yeah yeah today is your question I think so I think it’s a mad so it’s kind of like water well let’s get like kind let’s talk about some of the guts of it like what are some of the things you were talking earlier about about Facebook that you’re learning about it now online advertising what are some of the things you know when we’re talking about on your ship essentially being problem solving what are some of the problems that you’re solving right now yes it’s no secret that like every company sign about Facebook and how huge of an opportunity it is like center at and it’s also no secret that when your start up you don’t have the resources to execute it as well as one of these major companies right they can just you know burn cash like crazy and and we stand it so what I’ve tried to do is kinda start everything myself and then see if I can outsource it so what we did Steve it’s effective in the now source and have no how to monitor it know how to track it no if it’s effective or not so in the beginning we’re talking agencies and we realize like this is way too expensive we have to commit all of our capital and if it doesn’t work we’re gonna go under so I decided to kind of take it on ourselves I first we don’t even know what a pixel code was we had no idea how to go about executing but we did we start talking to everybody we were even calling Facebook just trying to get connected and and and get it get it done Isaac took us about a month to fully connect everything in a launcher first ads on and never seen it is really effective in actually is a good a good platform for us and so now at this point we want to keep growing it organically within the company and then eventually if we getting a volume or gains enough traction than outsource it to somebody that can do it much better than us but I would always recommend to a startup entrepreneur that’s bootstrap do it yourself first understand it and then see if it’s a good fit to kind of outsourcing job well I think that’s so important to is it like a CEO of a company is is kind of everything stems from you first so when you’re first starting a company it helps as you grow and as you’re kind of dividing up different jobs and figuring stuff out you know what all the jobs are because then you can actually you know coach people coach your team is so okay this is actually what we need to be doing absolutely yeah yeah I track the success yes and you know how they’re all kind of connected together so how you know how your marketing and advertising you know spend is connected to your sales is connected to you know the logistics for your distribution channels and things like that because it’s all it’s all connected because if you spend cash over here you don’t have it to spend over there exactly and so what is that balance and that formula comes down to you and that’s the skill in the beginning right when you don’t have a lot of money and you have to like really fine tune where you allocate every single dollar yeah
so okay cool we’re coming down to our last questions here what inspires you now what inspires me now what inspires me now is to really create a company that becomes a platform to help veterans transition after war and to innovate so it’s those two things I really want to innovate and create something cool while doing good in the world yeah I think that’s so cool that it’s connected to the fashion industry to because we don’t often think about the military and veterans being kind of part of that industry they’re almost segregated even though everybody wears close right now and and that yeah they kind of create a cool you know it cool intersection and how has your life changed now that you’ve achieve this ever what you’ve done so far is is successful so even if yeah I would say I don’t know if it’s really change much yeah I would say that like I’m more at peace I’m mark peace I think I’d there was like a lot of like unsettled feelings because you know I I the first company didn’t work out it took me a long time to gain momentum in traction on this one yeah and I I’m kind of getting to the point of self actualization if if yeah yeah yeah what I love that about fashion to is like it is a creative path to self actualization on it all the time I’m like guys you don’t understand how important this industry is so sent all right before we get to our last question where can people find you and how can people get involved with what you’re doing any work shoes dot com is where you can find us we also have like our hometown Hummer is what I call it at Barton creek mall that was like where the first location one app so you can check us out there is well go get fitted and what was the other question and how can people get involved with what you’re doing so if you are a veteran a combat veteran I’m looking for a job please shoot me an email at Brian at penny look shoes dot com and anyone else is looking to get involved just reach out I mean we’re always doing things are always trying to get involved in other nonprofits or charity is we give she used to you know see in David’s and try to do everything that we can that’s awesome
right so what’s next for you in your company what’s next is stealing we’re trying to scale it and really do it the right way so we’re kind of all systems go in and trying to light a fire under our beds to to really grow this okay well that’s going to have to be another conversation will have to get you in for another day let’s do it okay well thank you guys for listening don’t forget to subscribe where ever you get your podcast I’m your host Jennifer mills spot in we’ll talk to you next time bye guys by thank you for listening to our founders of fashion podcast don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts if you’d like to see the vet cast of this and other founding media productions join our masters and founders group on Facebook I’m your host Jennifer mills spa to learn more about my work at the intersection of fashion and entrepreneurship check out a static dot benchers founders of fashion is produced by Mariah Gosset an audio engineer Jake Wallace thank you to all the folks at founding media and thank you for listening