How Bear Handlon Built a Successful Clothing Brand While Serving as a Navy SEAL

Becoming a Navy SEAL is considered one of the most challenging military programs in the world. High fitness standards paired with grueling training and conditioning mean that the vast majority of applicants drop out.

For many, completing rigorous military training is demanding enough on its own — but Bear Handlon, founder and CEO of Born Primitive, took things a step further. While serving as an active-duty Navy SEAL, he built his own athletic apparel company out of his garage, eventually turning it into a successful clothing brand. Handlon also gives much of the credit to his co-founder, Mallory Riley, who quit her job to go full-time with the business.

Here’s what his journey has to teach other entrepreneurs.

An entrepreneurial streak

Born Primitive wasn’t Handlon’s first business venture. Far from it.

“I’ve always had that entrepreneurial itch, and I love to compete,” he says. “I was the kid waking up early to mow lawns to earn extra money, and before I started Born Primitive, I had launched another business that didn’t succeed. Some of the most important lessons are learned through failure, and I’m glad I was delusional enough to start up another venture that on paper had very little chance of success. As an entrepreneur, I think you have to be a little bit crazy because the odds are usually stacked against you.”

The birth of the business and Handlon’s entrance into military service actually began around the same time. Born Primitive had its origin when Handlon made a prototype of compression shorts for weight lifters, a product he wanted for himself. Seeing the positive response to that product from others was enough to convince him that it was a business endeavor worth pursuing. Even so, he joined the Navy shortly after starting the business.

Sacrifice makes the difference

For Handlon, finding success as both a Navy SEAL and a founder/CEO was largely dependent on sacrifice. As one of only a small number to graduate from a Navy SEAL class that began with a couple hundred men, he continued in both roles until he was honorably discharged from the Navy in 2021.

The challenges and sacrifices associated with military service had a profound influence on his approach to business. “For the first five years of Born Primitive, we reinvested everything into the business. We bootstrapped everything and never raised any capital,” he recalls. “We had to be really scrappy, and we always had that underdog mentality as a brand.

“Even as the company began to see significant growth, we knew we had to continue to reinvest in the business to fuel our growth and establish a firm foundation,” he adds. “Mallory Riley (our co-founder) and I didn’t start taking salaries until year five, and even then, those salaries were very modest. Since we hadn’t raised any institutional capital, we had to make a pretty big sacrifice financially and rely on my Navy salary to keep the lights on.”

Finding parallels between military teams and entrepreneurship

While balancing active-duty military service and entrepreneurship was far from easy, Handlon is grateful for that period, in part because of the parallels he was able to find between Navy SEAL teams and successful businesses.

“In the SEAL teams, you really learn how important it is for everyone to do their job. Everyone has a different role to play in a platoon, and everyone works together to achieve the desired end state. The same is true with running a business. Marketing, customer service, product — all these areas of the business need to work together to fill their specific role to give people a positive experience that keeps them coming back,” he explains.

“Everyone needs to be clear on the overall strategy. They need to know the why behind their actions, and how their actions are going to affect everyone else on the team. That level of coordination is what fuels a successful business.”

Building a mission-focused business

Another influence of Handlon’s military service finds itself in the charitable focus that has been a part of Born Primitive since its founding. To date, Born Primitive has donated significant amounts of money to charities. Most recently, they earned national press by paying off more than $30 million in medical bills for Veterans in the past two years. This year, Handlon has set a lofty goal of trying to pay off $250 million in medical bills for veterans and first responders to honor the 250^th anniversary of the United States.

“From day one, Mallory and I have been adamant that we leverage the brand to give back. Born Primitive has to be more than just apparel.” Handlon says, “As a former service member, I know firsthand the challenges that some of our veterans face, and we just wanted to do our part to help those who raised their right hand and took an oath to defend our country. It has also become a powerful way for building a community around our brand. People are excited to support the cause, especially when it means that buying our apparel will have a direct impact on Americans from all walks of life.”

The brand’s commitment to those who serve isn’t just a slogan for Born Primitive. It runs in their DNA. According to Handlon, more than half of the company’s employees are veterans, former first responders, and military/first responder spouses. A unified mission has helped strengthen the company internally while also building a loyal following.

Building the brand

Much like becoming a Navy SEAL, Handlon’s entrepreneurial journey wasn’t easy. It required hard work, sacrifice, and constant investment of his resources and abilities.

But by using lessons learned from military service to guide his own approach to entrepreneurship (and giving his company a deeper mission), Handlon has turned these challenges into a thriving business model.

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