Duluth Trading owns twenty registered trademarks. Read the list slowly and something becomes obvious.
Longtail T. Buck Naked. No Yank. Crouch Gusset. Dry on the Fly. Armachillo. Ballroom. Bullpen. Dang Soft. No Polo Shirt.
Almost every one of them names a physical indignity, or the absence of one.
Not a mountain. Not a founder’s surname. Not a Latin word meaning strength. A shirt that rides up. A waistband that yanks. Sweat that will not dry. The company found the specific moment your clothes betray you, gave it a name, and then sold you the fix.
It is one of the best branding systems in American retail.
Last year the company lost $16.2 million.