How to Build a Male Influencer Brand

Business of Fashion

11 hours ago

When Ethan Glenn sold his first hat in the summer of 2021, he harboured no dreams of being an entrepreneur.
At the time Glenn was a marketing manager at an advertising studio moonlighting as an influencer with his Instagram page Every Other Thursday, where he shared the images that inspired his style, such as old J.Crew and Ralph Lauren ads. Though he had hit 10,000 followers, it was still a passion project above all else. But after posting himself wearing a hat with an 'Every Other Thursday' logo on it on Instagram and TikTok, he got an influx of interest and decided to make a batch of 20 to sell at $44 each. Those sold out, so he made another 80, then an additional 500 — all sold. Before Glenn knew it, he had a real business on his hands.
'At the beginning, it was just merch for the mood board, but when I realised how much was selling and how much product I could actually move, I realised that I could kind of make anything,' Glenn said. 'I took a look around my daily life and I said, 'Okay, what do I use every day that, if I branded it as my own, would be an easy sell.'
By 2022, the company was selling leather cardholders and a hoodie and generating $250,000 in annual sales. Today, its product line includes wool cashmere knits, cotton chore shirts, four-pocket denim and of course, the original $44 hats. Its revenue is slated to reach $3 million this year, Glenn said. Ethan Glenn was a marketing manager at an advertising studio before founding his clothing label Every Other Thursday. (Every Other Thursday)
For years, female fashion influencers have been parlaying their followings into legitimate brands, from Tina Chen Craig's U Beauty to Paige Lorenze's Dairy Boy. But historically, men, who typically have smaller audiences online, didn't want or weren't able to make the same jump — until now. Every Other Thursday is part of a vanguard of fashion labels founded by male influencers, including mega names like Noah Beck, who founded the underwear line Iphis and has nearly 8 million followers on Instagram, and Daniel Simmons, who runs his namesake menswear label and has 1.1 million followers, as well as more micro creators such as Jack Henderson, who co-founded the menswear label About Blank and has 117,000 Instagram followers.
It's an expected progression of the category for its most entrepreneurial-minded men to create brands that sell everything from hoodies and intimates to wide leg trousers and relaxed dress shirts. Since the pandemic, the male influencer sector has exploded as more men look for lifestyle content from attractive, charismatic figures: In 2025, the total number of people who followed male influencers more than doubled to 2.9 billion from 2020, according to data from influencer advertising agency Fohr.
'It's pretty natural that similar things that had happened with female influencers were going to happen with males — that they would build followings, they would want to leverage that into maybe starting a brand and they'd be able to build those brands on the strength of their community,' said James Nord, Fohr's founder.
But as the graveyard of influencer brands has shown, it takes more than a high follower count to build a business that lasts. To move beyond their relatively niche audiences and compete with established and emerging menswear giants like Todd Snyder and Aimé Leon Dore, this cohort of influencer-led menswear brands are expanding their product offerings, collaborating with giants in their categories and opening pop-up shops around the world.
'A lot of these brand owners and creators understand that in order to stand out, they have to do something that actually provides quality,' said Drew Joiner, who publishes video essays about the fashion industry to his 360,000 YouTube subscribers. 'There is an element of going that extra mile to learn how to become, not just an internet brand, but a brand that could be sold on Fifth Avenue.' Dancing Before You DJ
From creators like Ashton Hall going viral last year for his exhaustive 4 am morning routine to 'Menswear Guy' Derek Guy, who breaks down men's tailoring on X, male influencers are seeing a jump in followers as men take greater interest in their appearance and look for guidance.
Male fashion influencers like Glenn and Simmons offer honest reviews of brands from the grungy menswear line Our Legacy to the pattern-heavy luxury label Dries Van Noten, plus shopping tips and outfit inspiration. As they've started their own labels, they're increasingly mixing their own products into their content. It's a common tactic in modern brand building: where consumers organically discover goods through social media influencers they deem authentic — but it's particularly important when talking to men who may need more help in defining their style than their female counterparts.
'The average male video watcher is looking for quick answers … What is the one minute explanation of why this trend is happening,' said Jake Woolf, who posts styling and shopping videos to his 234,000 TikTok followers. 'From there it's a natural parlay into saying 'you trust my expertise and my taste when it comes to curating this lifestyle, now I'm going to parlay that into saying like I'm actually going to be the creator.'
Male influencer founders are also connecting with consumers by documenting what it's like to build their brands from the ground up — many of them have chosen not to raise venture capital to fund inventory and marketing to avoid being forced to grow too quickly. Marcus Milione, who bootstrapped his activewear label Minted, often posts behind-the-scenes content about the brand on his YouTube page, including new product drops, and occasional delays, and the brand's weekly run clubs. Marcus Milione posts behind-the-scenes content content about his activewear label Minted on his YouTube page. (Minted)
'You have to participate in the communities that you are hoping to sell to,' Nord said. 'We call it dancing before you DJ. You've got to participate in these communities before you seek to be a leader in them.' Growing Up
For these influencer-led menswear brands to become lasting names they have to attract consumers beyond their followers.
'Every creator that wants to have a breakout hit brand needs to make that brand bigger than themselves and bigger than their community,' Nord said. 'Even the biggest creator is going to have to figure out how to get people interested in their product agnostic of the person who is making it.'
To do that, these labels are leaning into traditional brand strategies. Every Other Thursday and Minted's ad campaigns, for instance, rarely feature their founders, making the products the focal point. They're also investing in physical retail experiences where customers can discover them without knowing the recognisable face who started it all. In June, Every Other Thursday, for instance, hosted a 30-day pop-up in New York's SoHo next door to rising DTC labels like French womenswear brand Sézane, jewellery maker Gorjana and Americana-inspired basics label Buck Mason. In addition to doubling its overall monthly revenue, 50 percent of the people who purchased at the store were new customers, Glenn said. The brand is planning to open a six-month pop-up in 2026 as it seeks to surpass $5 million in annual sales next year, he added.
Some startups are getting cosigns from established companies through brand collaborations. Last November, Minted teamed up with running brand Saucony on a pair of $180 deep-blue, thick-soled running sneakers that has since sold out on Minted's website.
'For them to give us a platform to collaborate on, not only introduces us to their entire ecosystem, but also cements the fact that we make performance stuff,' said Milione, who noted that the Saucony tie-up not only exposes them to new customers but also 'adds to legitimacy of the [Minted] brand' — crucial in athletic apparel. Minted's sales doubled in 2024, Milione said, aided in part by the collaboration's success.
In a crowded but small menswear market, these influencer-led labels have to make consumers feel like their products are as worthy as any of the household names in the sector, Joiner said.
'In order for an audience who is mostly male-dominated to support someone from a business standpoint, they want to be able to competitively say that the products that they're buying from a Daniel Simmons or from an Ethan Glenn actually compare to what Ralph Lauren or what Todd Snider is making,' he added. 'I chose Daniel Simmons, not only because I like Daniel Simmons' content, but because the clothes are actually good.'