NYC clothing retailer is truly a family business

NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - A retail brand based in New York City is giving new meaning to "family business." Every member of the Faherty family is involved in Faherty, even 1-and-a-half-year-old Ava who appears in their catalogs.

This clothing company with a beachy vibe is for men and women. It even has a limited kids' line.

Here, sustainability and social responsibility are just as important as design.

Twins Mike and Alex Faherty dreamed of starting their own brand since they were kids.

We met in their Bleecker Street store, where Mike told me they're trying to redefine casual clothing, taking the same aspects of the finest clothing and spinning it into their brand.

Mike was a senior designer at Ralph Lauren for nearly seven years, and now designs from scratch every print, plaid, and fabric that Faherty makes. He takes pride in knowing every Faherty fabric is exclusively theirs.

Alex brings years of experience in private equity to the business.

They both bring a love of the beach. Alex says they grew up at the beach in New Jersey, surfing, and then moved to New York City. They wanted to create a brand that combined both aspects of their lives.

Mike and Alex launched Faherty nearly five years ago, with no venture funding, keeping Faherty in the family. And what a family business it has become.

Mom, Ninie Norris, designs their stores. They now have six: two in New York, one in Boston, one in Nantucket, and two in California.

Ninie says they try to make their stores feel like someone's home, with bookcases and tiered tables.

Their Bleecker street store has beautiful Noguchi lanterns. A local artist hand-dyed and designed their garland. Ninie believes you can go anywhere and buy clothes, by why not come in and see something beautiful as well?

Alex's wife, Kerry Docherty, a former human rights lawyer, heads up relationships and philanthropy. She is a strong believer that people don't become poor or go bankrupt by giving. Giving back is a part of the Faherty ethos. It's who they are as a family and a brand.

They all appear in the brand's catalogs, and old-school marketing method that has paid off big time. Alex says it's a humongous business for them. They sent nearly 2 million catalogs this year.

That catalog has also enabled the Fahertys to give back even more, shooting it in Haiti last spring and donating some of their profits.

Kerry says they were able to raise $54,000, a lot for a small company like theirs, to fund a classroom in Haiti for an entire year. That means 40 high schoolers will get an education. It also covers the teacher's salary and all of the school supplies they need.

2017 has been a big year for the Fahertys. They brought in more than $15 million in revenue, became profitable for the first time, made Oprah's holiday shopping issue of O Magazine, and saw their Black Friday sales jump 500 percent from 2016.

They were all together for Thanksgiving, watching the sales come in on their online sales app. Kerry's dad kept refreshing the app and announcing all their new orders as they hit 200, 300, 400 and beyond.

The Fahertys say this is just the beginning of what they hope will be the business of a lifetime, making clothing for all the great moments of your life, whether it's the weekends, nights out with friends, summers at the beach or winters on the mountains.

They're also concerned about the brand's impact on the environment. They use organic cotton whenever possible.

Their best-selling All Day Short for summer uses fabric made from repurposed plastic bottles.

The Fahertys have two stores in New York—on Bleecker Street and on Thompson Street—and they're planning to open more next year.