When brothers Bert and John Jacobs invested $200 to make T-shirts in the late ’80s, they never would have guessed they were starting a $100 million business.
John, finishing college, and Bert, delivering pizza and teaching skating, just figured selling T-shirts would be a good, cheap way to connect with people through their artwork. They started hawking their apparel on the streets of Boston and then moved up to selling door-to-door in college dorms, sleeping in the back of their van to save money.
Just as they were debating whether they should get real jobs, a philosophical discussion on a road trip changed their lives.
That discussion sparked the idea for The Life is good Company, which now sells a variety of apparel, pet products, a stationery line and footballs, frisbees and other recreational products in about 30 countries and 5,000 retailers in the United States, including 100 dedicated Life is good stores.
Like Jake, the character who adorns much of their apparel, the Jacobs brothers have found life really has been good, from living off peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in their early days to running a $100 million company and foundation today.