Kanye West has already stopped by the showroom. Tory Burch is an unofficial adviser. It’s been featured in Vogue, on E! and the “Today” show. And talks are in the works for getting George Clooney’s Casamigos Tequila to sign on as a spirits sponsor.
All this, and the beachwear-inspired clothing line Faherty Brand is just 7 weeks old.
Most fashion designers struggle for years to get noticed among a sea of fabric wielders. And yet, 30-year-old twin brothers Alex and Mike Faherty — the comely, shaggy-haired lads behind the label — seem to be riding a tidal wave to success.
It helps that the duo is a pair of all-American handsome brothers with the financial and creative talents to impress fashion insiders and celebrities alike.
Thanks to Alex’s years toiling in private equity, he’s got a treasure trove of financial and business wherewithal. And Mike’s career as a designer for Ralph Lauren’s RRL line has provided him with an overflowing Rolodex of fashion connections and factory hookups in Asia.
Clearly the Faherty boys are doing something right considering that they’ve already sold out of the line’s $150 men’s “all day” shorts in navy.
And it all started because Mike couldn’t find something he wanted to wear to the beach.
“My best days are living in a board short,” Mike says. “And in all my life I never found the right pair. Ever,” he adds, explaining that the inseam was always too long or too short — or the prints skewed toward headache-
inducing color gradients or a cloyingly sweet penguin pattern.
Since he couldn’t find it, he made it.
Cue Faherty Brand: an eco-friendly lifestyle line for men and women rooted in sun-drenched patterns and an easy-breezy nonchalance designed for nights spent huddling over a bonfire.
Last year, the duo quit their jobs to dedicate themselves full time to their passion project. The result is a line that has the girl-next-door-appeal of Abercrombie & Fitch (though decidedly more upmarket) and the social consciousness of Patagonia (each bikini is made from seven repurposed plastic bottles).
Right now, the brothers’ wares are sold online at fahertybrand.com and shopbazaar.com, and Lower East Side boutique Warm. Mike and Alex plan to open their first brick-and-mortar store in Manhattan next year. And they will launch a full collection of dresses, pants, shirts and jackets for spring 2014.
Luckily, the boys have billionaire designer Tory Burch on speed dial if they need any advice.
Mike and Alex hooked up with the fashion maven through a teacher at their Upper East Side alma mater Allen-Stevenson — the elementary prep school one of Burch’s sons currently attends.
“One of our old teachers sees Tory every morning when she drops the kids off and was like, ‘Tory, you’ve got to meet the twins Mike and Alex,’ ” says Mike.
They went to her office in October. Burch was impressed — and she’s been a source of knowledge and connections ever since.
“She’ll be at a dinner party, and we’ll see an e-mail from Tory being like, ‘Mike and Alex, meet Andrew Rosen [founder and CEO of Theory]. You should get to know each other,’ ” says Alex.
But meetings with industry VIPs will have to wait until July, when Alex and Mike return from a 32-day road trip, during which they’re taking their store-on-wheels (a custom trailer made with reclaimed barn wood and decorated by their mother) on a tour of America to introduce the brand to customers.
The tight quarters won’t be an issue: The brothers work side by side in their incense-burning, Jack Johnson-playing Chelsea office and showroom, dotted with nautical knick knacks and overflowing with bottles of coconut water (the brothers each average three a day).
And, they also live together in Alphabet City — with Alex’s wife, Kerry Docherty, the designated “first lady of the brand” (she even hosts bimonthly meditation sessions for the staff).
“We grew up in a really tight-knit family so if we’re not really close, it’s weird,” says Mike, adding that his mother, sister and older brother all currently work for Faherty Brand.
The twins, the youngest of seven kids, grew up in coastal New Jersey before moving to Manhattan at the age of 12. Mike’s had the fashion itch since he was a young boy: “My mom tells stories about me laying out clothes for Alex and telling my dad to change his tie in the morning at breakfast,” he says with a laugh.
Alex heeded his brother’s fashion advice then, and now.
“There’s never questioning one’s intellect or decision-making skills,” says Alex. “We’re almost the same person.”
“It’s an American dream story,” adds Mike. “Two brothers starting their dream company and doing exactly what they were put on earth to do.”
Even budding fashionisto Kanye West has taken a liking to the line — hailing its “realness.”
Just don’t expect Kanye’s baby mama, Kim Kardashian, to be rocking Faherty Brand just yet.
As Mike points out: “She’s a little big right now.”
dschuster@nypost.com