Stay You

What Stay You does

Stay You is a privately held, creator-led direct-to-consumer e-commerce brand founded by Joey Kidney in 2014 and operated by a 3-person team. The company sells a limited-drop catalog of mood-embroidered hoodies and crewnecks (the flagship 'Happy Hoodie' and variants such as Sad, Stressed, In My Feelings, Love, Leave Me Alone, Coffee, Missing You, XOXO, and seasonal styles), alongside poetry books authored by the founder, blankets, candles, and digital audiobook downloads. Products are predominantly sold via a Shopify storefront at stayyou.ca, with apparel/blankets/candles fulfilled from Savannah, Georgia and books (including autographed and personalized dedicated copies) shipped from Ottawa, Canada. The company ships worldwide via FedEx Express with duties and taxes included, and operates primarily in the United States and Canada while serving a global customer base.

The business model is a flash-sale, limited-drop DTC commerce model priced at a premium — hoodies range from $39.99 to $80.00 and books from $9.99 to $14.99, with a bundle option of three books for $29.99. The go-to-market motion is essentially community-led: customer acquisition is driven almost entirely by Joey Kidney's personal brand across TikTok (6M+ followers), YouTube (750K+ subscribers), Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest — a combined 7.5M+ social following. The brand holds registered trademarks for Stay You® and Happy Hoodie®, and distributes books via Penguin Books in India. There is no external institutional funding, no wholesale or third-party retail distribution, and no diversification beyond the founder's audience.

The core technology stack is a standard Shopify storefront with integrated shipping fulfillment; there is no proprietary platform, no mobile app, no API, and no AI/ML capabilities disclosed. The company's economic exposure is highly concentrated in a single individual (the founder) and a single customer segment (his fan community), making it a textbook creator-economy microbrand: brand-equity-rich, asset-light, and operationally simple, but with material key-person risk and limited scalability levers absent continued personal-brand growth.

Name

Stay You

Legal name

Stay You Shop

Website

https://stayyou.ca

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Stay You is a creator-led DTC e-commerce brand founded by Joey Kidney in 2014, selling mood-embroidered hoodies, poetry books, blankets, and candles directly to his 7.5M+ social media followers via a Shopify storefront.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Savannah

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Apparel Sales: Direct sales of embroidered hoodies, crewnecks, blankets, and candles. One-time purchase model with premium pricing based on quality and embroidery. Products ship from Savannah, GA or are sourced from Georgia.
2. Book Sales: Direct sales of Joey Kidney's poetry books in multiple formats: paperback, autographed copies, and personalized dedicated versions with handwritten notes. Books ship from Ottawa, Canada or Savannah, GA.
3. Bundle Sales: Pre-packaged bundles offering discounted pricing when purchasing multiple books together (Buy All 3 Books for $29.99).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Stay You is a direct-to-consumer apparel and lifestyle brand founded by creator Joey Kidney that designs and sells mood-expressive embroidered hoodies and crewnecks, along with poetry books, blankets, candles, and audiobooks, through its Shopify online store. The brand translates the founder's social media following into physical merchandise built around emotional self-expression, shipping globally from facilities in Savannah, Georgia and Ottawa, Canada.

Product overview

Stay You is a limited-drop e-commerce brand founded by YouTube/TikTok creator Joey Kidney in 2014, specializing in mood-expressive apparel and personal development content. The core product is the Mood Hoodie collection—a line of embroidered hoodies and crewnecks in various emotional themes (Happy, Sad, Stressed, In My Feelings, Love, Leave Me Alone, etc.) that allow wearers to display their current mood. The product portfolio centers on the flagship Happy Hoodie alongside variations like Coffee Hoodie, Missing You Hoodie, Sad Hoodie, XOXO Hoodie, and seasonal offerings. The company also publishes books by Joey Kidney including What's the Rush?, Dreaming With My Eyes Wide Open, and Just Remember—poetry and memoir titles that extend the brand's mental health and self-expression mission. Additional offerings include blankets, candles, and digital products including audiobooks. The company operates as a boutique flash-sale store with production in Georgia (apparel) and Canada (books), shipping worldwide via FedEx Express.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Happy Hoodie: The marquee product of Stay You - an embroidered hoodie designed as the ultimate mood enhancement. The Happy Hoodie is the original product that started the brand.

Products and services

• Mood Hoodies Collection

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Madhappy: Mental health and mood-focused apparel brand selling premium hoodies, sweatshirts, and lifestyle goods — directly comparable mission, target customer (Gen Z/millennial mental-health-aware consumers), and product mix to Stay You.
• Rowing Blazers: Creator-led premium apparel and lifestyle brand selling embroidered sweatshirts and statement pieces — comparable in product format, premium pricing, and creator-driven marketing approach.
• Odd Future / Golf Wang: Creator-founded apparel brand built off a music/content creator's cult following — directly comparable creator-economy D2C apparel model with hoodies and lifestyle products.
• Represent: Premium embroidered hoodie and streetwear brand targeting Gen Z with similar price points ($40–$80) and statement-driven designs — comparable premium apparel DTC positioning.
• Broken Planet: Statement-hoodie streetwear brand built around limited drops and emotional/streetwear themes — comparable product format and drop-based retail model.

Broad incumbents

• Pangaia: Premium sustainable lifestyle apparel brand with hoodies, blankets, candles, and books at higher price points — broader incumbent with similar lifestyle-product breadth.
• Gymshark: Founder/creator-led DTC apparel brand that scaled a personal brand into a global apparel business — a useful analogue for the creator-led DTC model at scale, though in fitness apparel.

Emerging players

• AYBL: Creator/influencer-led DTC apparel brand with strong social media-driven acquisition — comparable community-led growth model to Stay You.
• LSKD: Community-driven premium activewear brand with strong social media presence and drops model — comparable creator/community-led DTC apparel mechanics.

Others

• Penguin Books: Existing distribution partner for Joey Kidney's books in India — relevant ecosystem participant demonstrating third-party validation of the founder's literary IP.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/joeykidney
• YouTubeyoutube.com/Joeykidney
• Facebookfacebook.com/shopstayyou
• Instagraminstagram.com/shopstayyou
• TikToktiktok.com/@joeykidney?lang=en
• Pinterestpinterest.ca/StayYouShop
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/stay-you

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Stay You