Message From The Founder, About Chowdaheadz History

I grew up just outside Boston. Like most kids from around here, New England wasn't just where I lived — it was part of who I was. The sports, the seasons, the attitude, the accent you never fully shake no matter where you end up. There's something about this place that gets into your bones and stays there.

After UMass Amherst I did what a lot of New Englanders do — I left. I took an accounting job in New York City, told myself it was an adventure, and tried to make the best of it. And honestly, for a while it was. But the longer I was gone, the more I missed home. Not just the people — though that too — but the whole thing. The culture. The references only locals get. The particular brand of pride that New Englanders carry with them wherever they go.

So I did what any displaced Chowdahead would do. I started a blog. I organized Red Sox watch parties in New York for other transplants who needed a room full of fellow believers to get through a game. And somewhere in there, I started selling small rubber wristbands — the kind everyone was wearing back then — with Boston pride messaging. Nothing fancy. Just a way to keep a piece of home close and maybe make a few other people feel the same way.

That was 2004.

If you know anything about 2004, you know what happened that October. After 86 years, the Red Sox won the World Series. The city lost its mind. And I realized — this is the moment. If there was ever a time to build something around New England pride, it was right now.

I quit my accounting job, moved back to Reading, MA, and set up shop in my parents' basement. Not glamorous, but it was ours. Early on, we made a t-shirt that said "CHOKE — The Official Soft Drink of the Yankees." It sold like crazy. People got it immediately. That was the voice we were after — funny, proud, a little sharp, and unmistakably New England.

We grew from the basement into our own warehouse, from a handful of designs to a catalog of hundreds, from rubber bracelets to t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, candles, and everything in between. We got our gear into Olympia Sports, The Paper Store, and mom and pop souvenir shops up and down the Northeast — the kind of places that know their customers and stock what actually sells. Eventually we grew into bigger retail partnerships too, but those early regional accounts meant everything. We built relationships with thousands of customers who feel the same way about this region that I do.

Twenty years later I still love making new products. I still love hearing from customers — the ones who grew up here, the ones who moved away and found us online, the ones who send their kids to school in Chowdaheadz gear because they want them to know where they're from. That's what this is all about.

If you've ever rooted for a Boston team in a room full of people who weren't rooting with you, you're a Chowdahead. This brand is for you.

Thanks for 20 years of support. We're just getting started.

— Ryan Founder, Chowdaheadz Woburn, MA