Our Story

Our Story

Today, the definition of a man is complicated. Now is the time to normalize the conversations around male positivity so all men can be strong for themselves and for the people in their lives.

SWADE was originally founded in 2012 by four close friends determined to spread a message of male positivity in today’s society. After an evening of food and drink while reminiscing about life, family, health and speaking freely about the people, values and the causes dear to their hearts — the ethos of SWADE was born. We envisioned a movement, not just a brand... but a message. 

One of male-positivity and the importance of men's self-care;  to not only help men be caring, kind and brave, cool and confident, but witty and a true gentlemen. A message that would identify with the social responsibility in which the world would want for all the men in their lives to be SWADE. 

We envisioned a brand that covered all the forward thinking, positive attributes any man would want to be and be proud to be. We started to randomly through out these characteristics, fingers quickly going over the keyboard doing Google searches and seeing what kind of random phrases or word combinations would result.  One hit the mark not too far into the exercise.  

".... super cool males. They tend to be good looking and witty. Typically genius' and always gentleman. Most are caring, kind and brave."

The source of this phrase?  UrbanDictionary.com : TOP DEFINITION for "swade."

Immediately, Jay said "SWADE. The Definition of a Man."  Boom. SWADE was born. 

2013 - 2016 would bring years of life's lessons and obstacles that anyone would have to adjust to and put focus on and away from our initial business plan. SWADE, its mission and vision were not forgotten, but lived each day through its founders while helping others bring the true spirit of the movement in everyday actions, caring for someone, paying it forward or simply in a kind gesture or giving a smile when saying 'hello' to a stranger. 

2017 brought a year of personal positive change, determination, motivation and passion back into the business. SWADECO, LLC was formed, research on our overall competition and brands that existed, those that inspired and emulated our message were dissected;  graphic ideation, designs and initial plans for the men's apparel and personal care products we would want to make & sell were sketched and outlined. SWADE was born, and just like any newborn, we knew we would have to learn to crawl, perhaps even rollover first, before we would walk.  

We spent some time thinking how the brand could come to life and be a message seen easily and focused on the graphic t-shirt and cap. We began with using our brand name to get the brand awareness and use the graphics we created thinking they covered a wide range of generic yet masculine designs to attract consumers.   One of the designs is born from Joey "Joe Swade". He is the inspiration of the SWADE ethos which comes directly from a beloved family member, Uncle Joey. Joey’s mantra was to have “LOVE in your life, RESPECT for yourself, and others will give you BALANCE for you to live in HARMONY.” .
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Launched during the COVID-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020, it was time to unveil our message. SWADE is an apparel and personal care brand that strives to highlight the positive traits of men in today’s society — all with a distinct focus on inclusivity, the environment, and social responsibility.   

2021 & 2022 are years of shift, or pivot if you will.  We know our past has built a solid foundation and provided us many lessons learned and will be applying this to our next set of goals in transforming the way we work, share our message and interact with our brand. 

SWADE 2.0 has begun. We are here for a purpose and blessed to have the voice and ability to keep spreading our mission and vision.