Cary Hinze wears two hats while running his family-owned business, What The Fin Apparel: dad and boss.
After more than 15 years operating his own business in Greenville, Hinze has learned that balance and boundaries are important when switching between these roles.
“I always wanted to work for myself and have a family business and leave a legacy behind for my kids,” Hinze said. “It has not always been easy, and you have to be willing to accept great risks versus great rewards.”
He opened his first business, Purple Tuna Tees Inc., in 2006. After spending years growing the screen-printing company with his family in Greenville, Hinze and his son, Keaton, decided to start their own brand, What The Fin Apparel, in December 2014.
“It’s been great to build a brand together and a lot of fun throughout the creative process, but there are always challenges when working with family,” Hinze said. “It is important to not let the family business overwhelm your personal relationships, which is very easy to do when you work together.”
Across a range of products, the brand offers over 200 colorful designs focused on coastal and freshwater themes such as fishing, boating and surfing.
“You can see that through the kind of the vein of the designs, there’s always a little tagline, always something a little fun, a little parody on something,” Hinze said. “I feel like our brand has like a heart and a soul to it.”
Customers are able to buy the apparel online and in select stores across the Southeast and Caribbean Islands. The company has two facilities located in Greenville that house its screen printing, dye sublimation and fulfillment operations.
“We want to get a good customer base across the (country),” Hinze said. “So wherever the waters reach, we’re there for you.”
Operating as a family business, Hinze’s wife, daughter, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, father and stepmother have all offered their time and services to the growing apparel business. He said the company has a total of 20 employees.
“It’s great to be able to work with family and then share family values and have that as your environment for your employees,” Hinze said. “I consider them all family and we try to treat it like that.”
