path projects was founded in 2018 by scott bailey, a 30-year veteran of the action sports industry who built and sold brands like split and supra before turning to running. they make shorts, tees, pants, hoodies, and base liners using custom japanese fabrics developed with teijin, the company behind kevlar and carbon fiber. self-funded, four people, profitable. if you've ever cut the liner out of your running shorts, path already solved your problem.
the guy who ordered 20 pairs of shorts and didn't like any of them
scott bailey's resume reads like a crash course in building brands from nothing. he started in aerospace engineering, left to help friends launch a skateboard brand called split out of a garage in southern california, ran it for 13 years, sold it. then he started one distribution, built supra into a global sneaker brand, scaled that past $100 million in revenue, sold it. by the time he was done he was young enough and restless enough to want one more thing.
that thing was running shorts.
scott had gotten into trail running and adventure running. he loved his shoes, loved most of his gear, but hated every pair of running shorts he could find. so he ordered 20 different pairs from every brand on the market. didn't like a single one. the materials were cheap, the pockets were an afterthought (velcro or nothing), and the liners chafed on anything longer than a 10K.
"i could tell that running shorts were mostly made by footwear companies and they were an afterthought."
he saw a gap. a real one. nobody was making a premium running short with the same care that brands put into shoes. so he partnered with eric frey (30 years in technical apparel, formerly at rip curl) and set out to make the best running short in the world.
the accidental innovation
the separated liner happened by accident. scott and eric were testing different liner materials with their factory. some worked better in heat, some worked better in cold. instead of having the factory rebuild the entire short every time they wanted to test a new liner, they asked: can you just build them separately so we can swap them?
the factory did. and then scott and eric realized it worked way better that way.
when the liner is sewn in, every stride moves the liner against your body. that's where the chafing comes from. when it's separate, the liner stays put against your skin and the short moves freely on top. path calls it independent suspension. no chafing, no bounce, no pulling. you can mix and match liners based on the conditions. you can wash the liner without washing the short. you can wear the liners as regular underwear.
scott took the idea to matt hyde, a senior executive at REI and an experienced runner. hyde told him to go all in on it. so they did.
"we found so many runners that were basically cutting the liner out of all their shorts and trying to make it work."
turns out a lot of runners had been solving this problem on their own for years. path just made it official.
the huckberry connection
about 18 months ago, brian joined as co-founder. his background: seven years at huckberry during their most explosive growth period, where he ran flint and tinder and their portfolio of house brands. before that he was manufacturing jeans in san francisco as a one-man operation in his early twenties, selling to small boutiques, with huckberry as his biggest retailer. they eventually hired him.
what brian brought to path was the missing piece: product development at a level that a four-person company shouldn't be able to pull off. he had deep relationships with teijin, the massive japanese materials company whose motto is "innovation through chemistry." they make kevlar, carbon fiber, and some of the most advanced textiles on earth. most big brands can't afford their fabrics. path develops custom ones directly with teijin's mills in japan.
scott says it plainly: "when brian came, the brand restarted. what we had before, this is a new brand."
the product: custom japanese fabrics, timeless colors, zero filler
path's philosophy on product development is simple: don't put something on the market unless you can make it better than what's already out there.
their W collection is a good example. they wanted a lightweight sun hoodie with UPF protection that didn't rely on chemical finishes (which wash out over time, leaving you less protected). so they worked with teijin to develop a multi-layer knit where the UV protection is built into the structure of the fabric itself. no lycra, no spandex (which absorb and hold water). the stretch comes from the weave. welded seams placed strategically on the shoulders to eliminate rubbing. a watch window on the sleeve so you can check your pace without pulling everything back.
the colors are intentionally quiet. earth tones, desaturated, easy to match. brian talks about "the opening the drawer moment." when you do laundry and open your drawer the next morning, path should be the first thing you grab. not because it's the loudest thing in there, but because it goes with everything, it holds up wash after wash, and you don't have to think about it. effortless style that looks the same in 10 years as it does today.
scott's take: "i love mid-century modern. i love quiet style. i love brands that have the right aesthetic. less is more."
self-funded. four people. profitable.
path has never taken outside investment. scott is direct about why. after building supra to $100+ million in revenue, he learned from a private equity partner named jeff dren (forbes midas list) who told him: "run the brand like you're going to own it forever."
that stuck. every decision at path follows from it. no chasing quarterly numbers. no raising money for the ego of saying you raised money. no putting out product just to have more SKUs. four people, all with decades of experience, all remote, all running the brand like they'll be doing it in 20 years. scott still answers customer service emails. he says there's a 30% chance if you reach out, it's him on the other end. that tells you everything
"the overnight brand is usually a 10 year story. there are very few brands that were actually overnight. you didn't see the 10 years of them grinding."
our take
i just ordered the sentinel half tights and a pair of lynx liners for my summer ultra block. between the tights review, the shorts we've already been running in, and what i'm reading about the W collection's fabric work, path is building the kind of product line that makes you wonder why nobody else is doing this.
brian spent seven years at huckberry during their biggest growth years, running their house brands through massive scale. then he chose path as the brand he wanted to build for the rest of his career. when someone with that track record picks a four-person running company in utah over everything else available to him, that says something about where the market is headed
four people, self-funded, profitable, developing custom fabrics with the company that makes kevlar. if you know, you know.
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