Three Dads Started a Hat Company With $750 in a Garage—Now It's a $35 Million Brand with Gary Vee on Board

In 2022, Bart Szaniewski, Grant Eastey, and Ejay O'Donnell—three friends navigating new fatherhood on the West Coast—used a group text to vent, share parenting stories, and remind each other they weren't alone. The phrase "Dad Gang" kept surfacing as a rallying call. Frustrated by a market full of goofy, stereotypical "dad" merchandise, they decided to build something different: a lifestyle brand that reflected the real emotional weight and joy of being a father. Each put in $250—a total of $750—to print the phrase on 100 A-frame snapback hats, listed them online, and waited. Within 36 hours, every hat was gone.

For years, Dad Gang operated out of the founders' homes. Szaniewski handled logistics and packed orders from his garage; when his son was due days before their first Black Friday, O'Donnell took over—his house quickly became a warehouse, with in-laws drafted in and pallets filling the driveway. Eventually, operations moved to a Tennessee distribution facility, but the scrappy spirit remained. Their marketing philosophy was equally lean: post authentic iPhone content about fatherhood every single day on Instagram—late-night feedings, mental health struggles, funny moments—and let the hats appear naturally. Their ad budget was essentially zero; if anything was left over, Szaniewski might spend $10 boosting an already-trending post. Today, Dad Gang's Instagram has surpassed 350,000 followers, and celebrities including Post Malone and Teddy Swims have been spotted wearing the hats organically, without paid placement.

Four years after launch, Dad Gang has sold over one million hats and crossed $35 million in total revenue. In 2026, the brand expanded into national retail, landing in more than 200 Lids stores after Lids quickly added locations following strong early results. Shopify—whose president Harley Finkelstein had already been spotted wearing a Dad Gang hat—tapped the brand for a limited-edition collaborative drop, producing 2,500 units of a dusty rose and dark navy hat sold via both Dad Gang's website and Shopify's Supply Store. Then in June 2026, serial entrepreneur and VaynerMedia CEO Gary Vaynerchuk officially joined Dad Gang as a partner and strategic advisor, describing the brand as a way to make "the world a better place" one hat at a time.

Embroidered on the side of every Dad Gang hat is the phrase "IYKYK"—short for "If you know, you know." Co-founder Grant Eastey describes it as a quiet signal of shared experience: the sleepless nights, the identity shifts, the unexpected weight of fatherhood that few talk about openly. The brand's Facebook VIP Group has grown to nearly 15,000 members. Some of the most impactful stories come through direct messages—including a father who was evicted and simply asked for a hat as motivation. Nearly four years later, he messaged back: he'd rebuilt his life and credited the hat with helping him push through. The founders, each with two children, say moments like these define the company more than any revenue milestone. "If that part doesn't happen," Szaniewski said, "then this isn't really important to us."