For Alex MacLean, what started as an Entrepreneurship class project to create a business plan during his senior business student days at Acadia University in 2013 has turned into the brand East Coast Lifestyle that now employs 24 people in Halifax.
Alex has always had entrepreneurial inclinations as he wanted to run his own business but had no idea how to go about it. However, his early exposure to shovelling snow, buying and selling hockey cards, and mowing lawns gave him a strong work ethic and a foundation in entrepreneurship.
East Coast Lifestyle began with a capital of $800 as a loan from his father and a passion for representing his coast. Alex’s first 30 East Coast Lifestyle hoodies were sold to his closest friends. Then, for several months until the well-known anchor logo was created, ECL distributed its products using the money from the first batch from the trunk of Alex’s car and on his mother’s front lawn.
Within a few weeks, ECL gained momentum and established itself as a global phenomenon on social media, with countless images of East Coasters displaying their pride. The hype grew daily as images of celebrities representing their coast circulated on social media. As a result, the largest clothing brand in Atlantic Canada and the fourth largest brand in Canada, East Coast Lifestyle, is currently sold online and in 260 locations across North America.
As East Coast Lifestyle developed into a significant and scalable business brand, it underwent an incredible entrepreneurial adventure. The sole investment Alex received was the $800 loan from his father, which resulted in the sale of more than 1.5 million goods. Their sales increased from $111,000 in their first year of operation to $5,200,000 in 2021, which was their highest year to date.
Alex’s journey illustrates how you can launch a business with a modest budget and work hard to achieve success. In addition to its venture in clothing, East Coast Lifestyle has also expanded into the alcohol and chip business and podcast industries. His future objective is to become a global brand.
His biggest achievement as a young entrepreneur is being named the 2014 Canadian Entrepreneur Of The Year by Enactus Canada. The prize honours college students who run their own enterprises in addition to taking full-time courses. In 2015, out of 2,000 participants from around the world, he came in second place at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards in Washington, DC, giving him the chance to meet President Obama inside the White House.
In 2020, East Coast donated $292,800 to the families affected by a shooting tragedy in Nova Scotia. All the money from the more than 15,000 shirts sold was given to the 10 affected families. Combining their social media platforms, East Coast Lifestyle has over 1 million followers. They used them to collect money for a cause that mattered and gained enormous community support, showing their business’s influence on their community.
They collaborated with a local non-profit African Nova Scotian organization to gather funds for local scholarships for individuals in need. Furthermore, they collaborate annually with the neighbourhood youth shelter to raise funds for local children who need resources like food and clothing. In the past 5 years, the kid’s shelter has received more than $55,000 in donations.
East Coast Lifestyle has received numerous honours for its young entrepreneurial endeavours, including the 2022 Atlantic Business Magazine’s Top 50 CEO, 2021 Candian SME National Business Awards Young Entrepreneur of the year, and 2016 Start Up Canada High Growth Award, to name a few.
East Coast Lifestyle is growing as more people continue to represent the clothing brand worldwide. To know more about their products and services, visit their website, https://eastcoastlifestyle.com/.
Entrepreneurship success at a young age requires perseverance and tenacity. To read more on such young entrepreneurial success stories, subscribe to CanadianSME Small Business Magazine. For the latest updates, follow us on Twitter.
