Packing your clothes for school is tough - you end up just throwing in all the same clothes you wore last year. You pack it up despite the fact that one of your button downs is stained, your polo has a hole in it, and your hat has some serious sweat marks. We want to make sure you head back to school this fall in style. Enter our back to school giveaway and win some brand new gear.  One winner will get a button down, polo and hat of their choice from The Normal Brand. Back to School Giveaway   Why...

We're giving away 3 short-sleeve plaid button downs this week to help make your summer even more comfortable. The contest ends on July 28th - don't miss out on your chance to win a short sleeve button down for free.  Enter your name and email below (we will contact the winner by email) for your chance to win 1 of the 3 short sleeve plaid button downs. Short Sleeve Plaid Giveaway   Don't want to wait for the contest to end? Grab a short sleeve plaid here.

View this article on the St. Louis Business Journal I am the founder of The Normal Brand, a lifestyle apparel company inspired by life in the Midwest. The company started in my parents’ basement with five hats in March of 2015 and has expanded to 360 products in 12 months. In their first year, we had $500,000 in sales and project a $2 million total in year two. As the oldest of 10 kids, my siblings and I were encouraged by our parents to think outside of the box, work hard and start businesses. Working with my brother, Lan, my...

"Now This Is What I Call USA Jams" coming to a 4th of July party near YOU. Whether you're hosting a 4th of July party this weekend or just want to be the be DJ, we put together this playlist of 200 songs to make your job easy. Put this playlist on shuffle and let the good times roll. View on Spotify You might be wondering why a clothing brand is sending you a 4th of July playlist... and it's because Logan (our Director of Marketing) got bored, basically. This is one of those freebies, so if you don't like the songs - keep it to yourself....

To celebrate 4th of July we are giving away 4 $177.6 The Normal Brand Gift Cards. Also by entering to win, you will receive a 17.76% discount that can be used on any order before July 4th! The giveaway ends on June 24th, 2016.  Enter below with your name and email address (we will reach out to the winners by email) for your chance to win one of the four gift cards:  4th of July Giveaway

Guest Blog from Greg Hatten, Wooden Boat Adventures As an outfitter and fly fishing guide in the state of Oregon, I’ve rowed a lot of “personalities” in my handcrafted wooden drift boat. I’ve hosted experienced anglers, beginners, athletes, celebrities, actors, artists, great casters, bad casters, quiet guests, loud guests, and guests that made me laugh so hard I cried. We fly fish for steelhead and we run some wild rapids in my boat made of wood and I’m pretty sure I’ve had more fun than my guests. Of all the trips I host, I look forward to father-son outings the...

Jimmy gives a behind the scenes story of the idea, the start and the growth of the The Normal Brand. Cady Macon from the Macon Moves podcast sits down with Jimmy and interviewed him about everything The Normal Brand. If you are on the go, you can download and subscribe to the Macon Moves Podcast here.  

Local Brothers Make a Big Splash in Lifestyle Apparel ST. LOUIS (KTVI) - It's called "The Normal Brand", a lifestyle apparel company in St. Louis with national distribution.  However, there success in a short time has been anything but "normal". Local brothers Jimmy and Lan Sansone are responsible for the Normal Brand. A unique clothing line created with our area in mind. Jimmy says, “I don’t like all these ultra preppy regional brands in the Midwest so I said where can I find a Normal shirt?” He adds that Normal has nothing to do with something being mundane or average. He...

The Middle Men Series - Sugarfire Smoke House  For the second episode of The Middle Men Series, we highlighted a guy and a restaurant that is doing what all of us do in our backyard every single summer, but way better. We sat down with Mike Johnson, creator of Sugarfire Smokehouse. Mike has a background in fine dining that has taken him from New Orleans to Chicago to Paris to Colorado to Napa Valley. He worked under the best chefs in the world in restaurants. He took all of that experience, and created what some say (including worldwide competitions) is...

  Mother’s Day is coming up, and it got us thinking about our mom – obviously.But after a little more than a year of working at The Normal Brand, we have a different perspective on her. We see what an incredibly successful leader she is. Starting a business is exciting, but it’s definitely a challenge. We’ve spent plenty of nights thinking about stuff we’d never thought about before, like thread weight and fabric dye. We’re concerned about fit, and packing presentation, and website optimization. We have a goal of making the most comfortable clothes on the market, built to be...

Inspired by 20 years of Family Memories    We are really proud of our Spring/Summer line, the Crystal Lake Collection. Inspired by summers in Northern Michigan, the shirts reflect a level of craftsmanship that goes beyond anything we’ve done yet. We really focused on creating a rugged look with refined details. Comfort was emphasized, and we went to great lengths to pick the best fabrics, trims, ribbings, and buttons.    We crammed my 9 siblings and parents into a lakeside cottage for the last twenty something years. We spent days on the lake and nights on the beach. We packed...

The Middle Men Series - Modern Brewery    Popular opinion is that stuff gets created on the coasts. New exciting things happen on the east and west coasts, and once they spread up and down that line – they trickle to the middle.There is no doubt that that happens to an extent. They have huge markets and a lot of flash.Part of the mission of this company was to change that, even a little bit. We proudly say we are from the middle while making the best clothes on the market. We have put in a ton of work. We...

Our family has had dogs our entire lives. We have or have had Labs, St. Bernards, Bullmastiffs, Great Pyrenees and Pit Bulls. When kids would come to our house growing up, sometimes their parents would get a little worried. These are big, powerful, sometimes scary looking dogs.But if they stayed for 5 minutes, they would see that these were the most loving animals on the planet. Our St. Bernards and Pit Bull basically sunbathe all day and meet us in the driveway every morning and every night for a 10-minute belly rub. What a life.The dogs Stray Rescue of St....

My name is Lan Sansone. I'm 23 years old and the Director of Sales for The Normal Brand. This is me asking Jennifer Lopez out on a date.

Recently there’s been a lot of talk about this billboard that a clothing company in LA put up. It’s obviously a publicity play, and it was a good one. The company got a lot of attention and was the number one trending topic on Facebook. I had a chance to look at the company, and I wish them a lot of success. We were brought up to never root for another's failure. “Someone else’s success does not limit yours” was a principle ingrained in us. This blog is not about one clothing company or another. The point is to respond...

  Help Support The Ollie Hinkle Heart Foundation 10% of all orders made on March 10th, 2016 will be donated to The Ollie Hinkle Heart Foundation It’s our first birthday, and we are taking some time to look back. It’s been a really fun year, the best year of our lives probably. Not everything has gone how we’ve planned, but we have absolutely nothing to complain about. The Normal Brand feels like our baby. We are kept up all night with it and sometimes it’s a challenge, but we have really fun moments and see such great potential in what it...

Print Edition Online edition: How an Unlikely Clothing Brand Is Sewing Up an Untapped Market  View the article on Entrepreneur.com Ask most fashion designers to create a line of clothes for the “Midwest lifestyle,” and it’s likely that they’ll come back with a flannel shirt and a pair of sweatpants with a special pocket for a can of Skoal. But that’s not the image St. Louis native Jimmy Sansone was after when he began conceptualizing a wardrobe that would make sense for the way he lived his life. “The Midwest has a duality,” he explains. “Life happens in the city...

My inspiration for the spring line was a place, Crystal Lake in Northern Michigan, and a feeling I get while I'm there. We've crammed my parents and 9 siblings into a lakeside cottage there every summer for the past 20 years. Some of my absolute best memories took place on and around those freezing cold, crystal clear waters. My brothers, sisters, and closest friends spent the days on the water and nights on the beach. Thinking back brings me feelings of comfort, ease, and pure happiness. We packed light and always wanted to stay longer. Our spring line is dedicated...

  I knew of the Sundance Film Festival. I knew they gave awards to movies, celebrities came and partied, and Robert Redford walked around like the legend he is. But I had never considered going. That all changed last week when we got the call inviting us to the Toyota Mirai Music Lodge right in the heart of Park City. It took about one Google search and two seconds for our team here to say, “yep.” So we borrowed ski gear from friends, packed up our office, told our family to meet us out there, and jumped on a flight...

  For anyone who’s ever been on a hunt or stuck on the couch feeling under the weather, you know how much true companionship can make all the difference. That’s why, this holiday season, we want to do something special for our four-legged friends in need. So, as we celebrate the launch of our new pet line, we’ve committed to donating 20% of the proceeds of all online purchases using the code TNB-DOGS to Stray Rescue of St. Louis, now through December 21st. It’s the least we can do for those who always stand by our side—through good times and...