It’s by design that Faherty’s newest store in Montecito feels like a home away from home. The 75th location for the sportswear brand is not only housed in a two-story building that has a bungalow feel, it’s situated on Coast Village Road — a destination that chief executive officer and cofounder Alex Faherty often explores whenever the waves bring him to neighboring Santa Barbara.
“I’d always drive from L.A. to Santa Barbara to go surfing,” Faherty told WWD. “I just love the area and have wanted to do a store in the Santa Barbara market for a while now — it’s been one of our best online markets since we started the brand and we’ve always felt great about how the brand resonates there….We found this great location that’s right on Coast Village Road, and we felt like it was such a cool spot for the brand, it was kind of a no-brainer.”
Faherty’s Montecito store on Coast Village Road.
Meg Sandu
The result is a 2,000-square-foot store that’s an ode to Santa Barbara and the local surf scene.
“When you walk in, there’s a display from a local surfboard shaper showcasing his boards there,” Faherty said, describing the “bespoke boutique vibe” of the store. “We’ve been using local artists for murals in our stores. We’ve got a really cool local artist [Allison Kunath] who did a mural up the stairs that’s a main event in the store. Then there’s a wall of surf photos from local photographer [Dylan Gordon]. We’re trying to really bring together the surf community of the Santa Barbara area and local artists, so it feels special. As we’ve evolved our stores, we want to keep making it more special and more unique.”
Among the local artworks, a mixture of reclaimed and vintage wood tables showcase menswear downstairs and women’s wear upstairs. The in-store offerings range from the brand’s bestsellers — “the stretch Terry pants, which look like jeans and feel like a sweatpant,” Faherty described, and the Legend sweater shirt, “a great layering piece” — to graphic T-shirts, sweatshirts and hats that will be exclusive to the Montecito location. “We do this in Nantucket and Malibu,” Faherty explained, “exclusive logo merchandise to recognize some of the cool vibes of the area.”
While Faherty shared that the brand’s presence in New York and Los Angeles drives the bulk of sales — “our first two big markets that we started rolling out retail in were in New York and L.A. and those are still our two biggest markets from both e-commerce perspective and a store perspective” — the company will be expanding its footprint to other states in the new year.
“Some of the stores that we’re really excited about next year are Ketchum, Idaho — where Sun Valley is — which is a great town, and downtown La Jolla on Girard Avenue in the spring,” Faherty said, adding, “We’re opening up another store in Florida next year in Jacksonville, which is one of my favorite areas of Florida. It’s got great beaches and it’s been a big growth area. Then we’re opening up in downtown Nashville in this shopping development called the Arcade. It’s this cool old shopping area in downtown Nashville that’s getting rebuilt.”
Faherty’s Montecito store on Coast Village Road.
Meg Sandu
While he declined to comment on the company’s revenue, he said Faherty will grow double digits this year. “We’ve continued to open up new stores, which has been great, and opening up stores in new markets has been really helpful. And the evolution of casual wear continues to benefit us.”
Faherty’s business is 75 percent direct-to-consumer, 25 percent wholesale, and DTC is split half and half between online and retail.
Faherty’s Sun & Waves All Day Kitchen & Coastal Market.
Faherty
Opening stores isn’t the only expansion avenue for Faherty. In August the brand debuted its first restaurant, Sun & Waves All Day Kitchen & Coastal Market, in the cofounder’s hometown of Spring Lake, New Jersey, where he currently lives.
Brought to life by BHDM Design, the 4,000-square-foot breakfast, lunch and early dinner spot serves coffee, smoothies, juices, sandwiches, salads and rotisserie chicken. In a renovated old bank a block away from Faherty’s store, the space pulls double duty as a grocer, selling dry goods from Torres chips to sauces, almond butters, honeys, oils and more. “It’s a big community area, lots of indoor seating, outdoor seating, post beach type vibe,” Faherty said, adding, “It’s been a cool move into food and hospitality. In our Madison Avenue store, we opened up a coffee shop, and we’re looking at potentially expanding that as a new concept for the brand.”
