From the White House to the North Pole: N.S. entrepreneur reflects on his success

Nine years ago, a marketing student at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., got a small loan from his dad to design and create hoodies for a class project.

Today, that same student has since created a company that carries one of the most recognized brands and businesses in Nova Scotia.

This June, Alex MacLean, founder and CEO of East Coast Lifestyle, says the company will break ground on a new headquarters in Bayers Lake, N.S., which will house offices, a warehouse, a storefront, and a coffee shop.

“We’ve been renting for nine years down at the (Halifax) Sea Port where I am today, and it feels amazing to get to the next step and to be able to build our own building,” said MacLean.

He says most people don’t know his initial goal for the company was to get a good grade in a business class.

“Get 30 hoodies sold,” said MacLean. “It really became my full-time career immediately out of that classroom.”

“That was one of my only A's I ever got in my whole university career.”

After school, MacLean posed a question to his customers: Where do you rep East Coast Lifestyle?

He says it started a movement of people posting pictures of themselves online wearing his clothing around the world.

“The brand has been to almost every country now. It’s been across Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America, even the North Pole and the South Pole.”

Since then, the brand has expanded beyond clothing, with a line of alcoholic drinks, potato chips, and a partnership with hockey equipment brand Bauer.

“But we’re still mainly focused on clothing,” said MacLean. “We have a new summer collection around the corner. We’re working hard to keep people on their toes.”

When he looks back at the better part of a decade, MacLean says meeting President Obama at the White House is what stands out the most.

“I was able to go down there with 30 entrepreneurs, as the only Canadian,” said MacLean. “It was really just a moment that blew me away.”

Maclean says East Coast Lifestyle is also set to open a store in Saint John, N.B., next month.