Columbus men hope to fill void in southern menswear after purchasing Southern Point Co.
Brothers Keith and Greg Paul became instant friends with their classmate Scott Danford back in 1984 at Hardaway High School.
The lifelong friends would come together almost 40 years later as business partners to meet a need in men’s clothing in the region and purchase the popular brand Southern Point Co.
Keith and Greg operated a bio-solid waste business that they sold in 2019, while Danford gained experience in business working in various positions at Realtree Outdoors since 2002. A couple of years ago, the friends recognized a demand for a different style of clothing in Columbus.
“For the most part, people don’t wear suits and ties to work anymore,” Keith said. “It’s more of a casual look.”
The three men opened a men’s clothing store named High Pines Outfitters on Airport Thruway last October to fill the void, he said. There aren’t any stores selling casual menswear of similar quality within about a 30 to 45 mile radius of Columbus, Keith said.
High Pines Outfitters hit the ground running after opening just before the holiday season, Danford said, but the slowdown at the start of 2023 made room for another big business decision for the business partners.
“January and February historically are going to be slower months in retail anyway,” Danford said. “And, for whatever reason, I guess we got tired of having caught our breath, so we decided to buy another company to fill that little time of relaxation.”
Danford was already familiar with the Alabama-based Southern Point Co. brand from his time working in the outdoor industry. He’d already met the brand’s founder Brent Howell and was familiar with the manufacturer.
“I just knew there was an opportunity there,” Danford said. “So we kind of started talking about that and ultimately decided that was something we wanted to do.”
More than what one man can handle
Howell started Southern Point Co. in 2009, and since then the brand gained popularity across the Southeast. Products from the brand learn towards clothing for outdoor activities and include shirts, polos, khaki pants and swimwear.
Southern Point became well known for its distinct logo featuring a German Shorthair Pointer. The iconic logo is an image of Howell’s dog named Greyton as shown by its distinctive markings, Danford said.
“Brent is a very creative kind of guy,” he said. “And his ideas are on every brand of clothing that we have. Every piece that we have, he’s designed. But Brent grew this as a one-man show.”
The brand had a small operation under Howell, Keith said, and was sold in about 350 stores in the region. Southern Point grew bigger than what one man could handle, Keith said, and Howell wanted to return to his roots designing clothes.
By acquiring Southern Point under the holding company Midland Apparel, he said, the three partners were able to bring in management and more structure to the sales team. Along with the additional management, the three men see room for the brand to enter more markets across the nation.
They will continue focusing on the Southeast, Danford said, but the company is selling products in Colorado and Michigan as well.
“There’s some people out there that really like the southern lifestyle, even though it’s not the South,” he said. “And so we think there’s an opportunity to really grow and saturate some of the other non-southeastern region states.”
The Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma region also has unlimited growth opportunities, he said, while maintaining their southeastern footprint.
Despite the changes new ownership will bring to Southern Point, Danford said, there are two things that will never change. The first is that the quality of the clothing will continue to stay high, and the second is that they will never mess with the brand’s logo.
“If I were to mess with that logo, I would have a problem at home with my wife and daughter,” he said.
