Behind the Name: Why We're the Montford Misfits

It started out like any other normal summer night. Four friends hanging out on the patio at Angrys. That’s Angry Ales on Montford Dr. for any of you who may not be from Charlotte. Many nights started and ended on that very patio. But on that particular evening, these four friends started tossing out business name ideas over beers.

ÅJ and Brian had an idea for a business, and they brought their two friends, PJ and Davis, in on it.

The idea: T-shirts sporting goofy, sarcastic comments. Think Life is Good, but less PG.

The foursome were all in one of those instant voice messaging groups together. Does anyone remember HeyTell? Basically, it was an app where you could send instant voice messages to your friends or a select group of friends like a digital walkie talkie.

ÅJ, who started their group, initially named it after their favorite football teams (Bills, Steelers, Patriots, etc) in rotation. But eventually, the names got more creative. PJ would usually pop up in the afternoons asking where are my assholes at? That would prompt the four to start talking shit to one another. ÅJ, in observation, realized: we’re a bunch of angry assholes. So, of course, he had to change the group name!

But ÅJ, Brian, PJ, and Davis usually spent their evenings making their way up and down Montford, hitting their favorite spots. It became their ritual; Montford, their stomping grounds. It wasn’t uncommon for Angry Ales to close down around them, the barkeep locking the door behind the group as they all walked out for the night.

So when they started brainstorming names for the sarcastic t-shirt company, they had some juicy contenders from their various HeyTell group names. But there was one particular name that seemed to fit perfectly.

The Montford Misfits.

Now, Montford Dr. in Charlotte, NC features casual hot spots just outside the South Park neighborhood. Its standard crowd consists of young twenty-somethings boozing it up and stumbling from bar to bar. But these four, in their late twenties (okay, maybe even early thirties) didn’t quite fit in. One evening ÅJ looked around and realized they were by far the oldest ones in the bar. They were definitely the misfits on Montford. The Montford Misfits.

That night, the four friends agreed it was the perfect name, and they were excited to get started!

But as the story goes, the initial excitement fizzled out, the days turned into years, and nothing ever came of the business.

But Brian and ÅJ weren’t quite ready to let the dream die. Still hoping to make something of the Montford Misfits, the pair bought the website domain. That alone made them feel pretty cool!

Their initial intention was still to launch a shop featuring those sarcastic t-shirts. But Brian started to make some waves with his painting skills.

Montford Misfits...for kids?

Unknowingly making a pivotal business move in the right direction, the Montford Misfits website was born featuring kid’s rooms and playrooms. That’s right! You could hire ÅJ and Brian, the masterminds behind the 3D Craft Beer Maps, to customize your kid’s space. They called it, “Custom Kids.”

But it wasn’t long before the business evolved into what it is today. You already know the story of how the 3D Craft Beer Maps came to be. And they’ve still managed to stay true to their t-shirt roots with their beer based state apparel.

Shortly after the business shifted gears, ÅJ and Brian joined forces with their friend Tommy. He came in, helped them establish the LLC, and managed the business end of things as they got started. And the rest, as they say, is history!

So, cheers to summer nights, good friends, and being the misfits!