Former Salt Life President Jeff Stillwell is the new CEO and equity partner in Beach & Barn, a Wilmington, North Carolina-based casual apparel brand that is mostly distributed in the Southeast.
Stillwell exited Salt Life in September of 2024 after parent company Delta Apparel ended up in bankruptcy court. Salt Life, which was a top-performing asset for Delta, was sold to licensing company Iconix Brand Group and Hilco Merchant Resources during a bankruptcy court auction.
Stillwell, who began working at Delta after it bought the licensed product company called The Game that he founded, was the one who noticed Salt Life in Florida. Back then, Salt Life was mostly a hard-core fishing brand that sold T-shirts and stickers and had $4 million in revenue.
Jeff Stillwell. SES file photo.
He and his team worked to evolve Salt Life into more of a lifestyle brand over the years, building on the strong brand name and logo by diversifying, elevating and expanding the product, growing its geographic reach beyond the Southeast, and adding retail stores. In the last annual financial results Delta reported, Salt Life had generated $59 million in revenue for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2023.
After Stillwell left Salt Life, lots of new opportunities came his way, but he wasn’t too interested in joining another large company.
Surfboards and Roosters
But when he saw the Beach & Barn logo – a rooster standing on top of a surfboard – he was ready to jump back in.
“I haven’t gotten so excited about a brand since I first saw the Salt Life logo,” he said. “I love building brands, so as soon as I saw it, I thought, ‘Damn, I’m going to have to unretire.’“
Beach & Barn founder Rusty Meador at Surf Expo. SESO file photo.
A Beach & Barn woven. Photo courtesy of Beach & Barn.
Currently, Beach & Barn is small, with five employees. The product range includes T’s, hoodies, hats, a few flannels and pullovers, and some shorts at fairly elevated price points. Flannels cost $98, for example, and T-shirts are $35.
The plan calls for expanding the range, improving sourcing, bringing in the right sales team and price point disciplines, and adding more marketing.
Lots of White Space
Stillwell believes there is lots of opportunity for Beach & Barn given both the Western rural trend and the success of brands like Howler Bros. and Sendero. And, with so many large surf brands going through major changes, retailers on the East Coast are looking for something fresh, he said.
“Right now, Vuori is gobbling up a lot of the white space” he said. “But there’s room for other new ideas.”
Beach & Barn is well funded, with a solid group of investors behind it. Now, they have brought on an experienced CEO to work with founder Rusty Meador, and Stillwell hopes to hire some of his old Salt Life team in the future as well, many of whom have worked with him for decades.
“I do think I can help build the brand,” Stillwell said. “I think I can help them avoid all the mistakes that I have made over the years.
“And it’s going to be really fun to work at a company that’s privately held,” he said. “To think long term, and make the best decisions for the brand, rather working quarter to quarter, just trying to hit a number, which is the downfall of many brands.
“I’m going to try to build another brand the right way,” Stillwell added.
