August 26, 2025 • 20 mins
Pull up a beach chair and dive into an inspiring conversation with Ben Duval of Tuna Skin Greetings, a Fort Myers Beach business that embodies the resilience and community spirit of this beloved coastal paradise.
Ben shares the quirky origin story behind the Tuna Skin name, born from a fishing trip in the Florida Keys where the founders noticed tuna's unique skin-like appearance. What started in a garage has blossomed into four retail locations across Florida's most beautiful coastal communities. While many might dismiss them as "just another t-shirt company," Tuna Skin has woven itself into the fabric of Fort Myers Beach through environmental stewardship and community engagement.
When Hurricane Ian brought 14 feet of storm surge crashing through their flagship store, Ben and his team transformed devastation into opportunity by completely redesigning their space. This experience prepared them for future hurricanes, turning what was once a 90-minute hurricane prep meeting into a confident 15-minute checklist. "We've been there, we've done that, we got the t-shirt," Ben reflects with the characteristic resilience of a coastal business owner.
The podcast reveals how Tuna Skin's annual Beach Keepers Club has grown from a modest 80-person cleanup to a community celebration attracting over 400 volunteers, complete with live music, food, and camaraderie that extends long after the official event ends. This initiative now spans all their locations, with Ben emphasizing that these events should inspire year-round environmental consciousness: "The one day should remind you why you should be doing it continually."
As a fourth-generation Floridian who once left paradise only to return with renewed appreciation, Ben brings authentic perspective to his business philosophy. With 80-85% of their merchandise made from recycled plastics and partnerships with organizations like Keep Lee County Beautiful and Mote Marine, Tuna Skin demonstrates how local businesses can align profit with purpose.
Whether you're planning your next beach vacation or simply drawn to stories of community resilience, this episode showcases how one business is preserving paradise while creating products locals wear with pride. Follow Tuna Skin on social media to discover their upcoming events or visit one of their locations in Fort Myers Beach, Siesta Key, Bonita Springs, or Key West to experience this unique blend of fashion and community spirit firsthand.
Tunaskin Aquatic Apparel
Ben Duval
1300 ESTERO BLVD.
FORT MYERS BEACH, FL
(239) 747-2230
tunaskin.co
Ft Myers Beach-Good Neighbor
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor
podcast, where the sun's alwaysshining and the stories are even
brighter.
Each episode we bring youcloser to the neighbors, local
legends and beachside businessesthat make Fort Myers Beach the
slice of paradise we all love.
Pull up a beach chair, grab adrink and let's meet the people
who make this island feel likehome.
We want to send out some islandlove to Eric Tibbs from Edward
(00:21):
Jones State Insurance USA andHome Well Care Services Fort
Myers.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Welcome to Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbors.
Today we have good neighbor BenDuval from Tuna Skin Greetings,
yes, so excited about learningabout businesses on Fort Myers
Beach and what's going on in thecommunity.
You've been there for a longtime, right, yeah?
And just recently rebuilt andreopened.
So let's back for the peoplethat aren't familiar with your
story.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Let's back that up a little bit Tuna Skin.
We are a aquatic apparelcompany brand.
We started here on Fort MyersBeach at our first.
Our flagship store right hereon Fort Myers Beach Started in a
garage actually, All the bestplaces to start in a garage, Of
course.
Of course you know Apple,Microsoft, what is it?
(01:23):
Amazon.
So we're just the same.
Just, we're getting there,right, we're getting there.
But rumor has it, legend has itthat the name came from the
tuna skin name.
The owners were off the coastof the Florida Keys fishing and
they were fishing for tuna andthey looked at the tuna and they
(01:44):
said tuna doesn't really looklike it has any scales, it looks
like it's just skin.
We could name it tuna skin.
We could name the company tunaskin.
So wearing our clothes is kindof like wearing a tuna skin, but
without the smell.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I love it, I love it.
See, that's and you.
You gotta know the historybehind an end sometimes, because
there's always a unique, and Idid say, legend has it, so I
don't know exactly how much ofthat is true, but that is the
story, and the legend sometimesis better than the actual.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
The more you tell it, the bigger it gets exactly.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
It's like a fishtail, that's it see.
So why fort myers beach?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
uh, fort myers beach was, was home to, uh, the
company, okay, and it was.
It was somewhere where we feltlike we were really part of the
community and it's where westarted, it's where we continue
to to thrive, um, whether it'swith all of the fort myers beach
events that are happening allover the area, um, and it's just
especially like with everythingthat's happened with the storms
(02:39):
and everything that's happeningwith the storms and having to
rebuild everything, it just it,it kind of the sense of
community really came back, thatthat we felt and it was.
You know, it's everybody knowsyour name and sometimes that's a
good thing, sometimes that's abad thing, but it's.
(02:59):
It is when, when it reallycomes down to it, everybody is
everybody's friendly.
It is when it really comes downto it, everybody is friendly
Everybody's.
You know they're in it for thesame reasons, to just have a
beautiful area that we call home.
And most of the business owners, you know they know each other
and they work really welltogether.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
It is Like you said.
It's a multifaceted paradisethat we've all been attracted to
and we all help each other out.
So let's talk about that alittle bit.
You know, obviously you know,being by the beach, we have our
storms.
Yes, you know, we've had anumber of big ones lately, but
both personally and maybeprofessionally, what has that
(03:37):
done to you?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Well, the good and the bad of it, and we were just
as a company coming out of as wewere getting ready for this,
coming out of a hurricane prepmeeting with our operations team
going through.
All right, if we need to pullthe trigger on a hurricane, what
do we need to do?
Five years ago, four years ago,this meeting was an hour and a
(04:00):
half.
This meeting that we just hadwas 15 minutes, because we've
been there, we've done that, wegot the t-shirt, we know exactly
how to do it.
We went through it with Ianwhere we had what was it?
14 feet, come in and take careof the entire store and just
kind of cleared everything outfor us.
So we could, I always say theblessing of losing the Fort
(04:24):
Myers Beach store was we finallygot to design it to exactly
where we wanted.
You know, we were no longergoing into a space that was
designed for other businesses.
We were then being able todesign the space that blank
canvas, yeah, exactly.
And so that really helped usout with getting ready for the
hurricanes that we had last yearin 2024.
(04:46):
And when you have a aquaticapparel brand, you are next to
the water and you are located inparadise and you are right in
the middle of hurricanes.
During hurricane season, youknow, we always have with each
of our four retail locations.
We have kind of the steps thatwe go through with each location
(05:07):
of whether we need to movemerchandise upstairs if it has a
second level or if we need togo get a U-Haul and bring all
the merchandise to the warehouseor to another secondary
location to get it out.
And so that was.
(05:28):
That was Ian was really helpfulgetting us ready for Milton and
Helene that hit last year andthey didn't really affect our
Fort Myers Beach store as muchas they affected our Sarasota
store.
At our Sarasota store we endedup getting three and a half feet
of storm water in our SarasotaSt Armand store, so that was
tough.
Wow.
In our sarasota st armin store.
So that was tough, but luckilywe had done um leading into that
(05:49):
.
After ian we had gotten to thepoint where we would say, all
right, move all the merchandiseupstairs, get everything
upstairs.
And you hate doing that overand over again because two days
later they say the hurricaneisn't coming and then you put
everything downstairs like itwas two days before that you go.
That was a waste of time andyou always feel like it's a
waste of time until that onetime.
(06:10):
Yeah, that you go.
Really glad we did that andthat was that.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
And I think you know down here in southwest Florida I
want to say comfortable, but wekind of in a sense did get
comfortable because the lastcouple of storms that came
through we didn't have thatsurge.
Yeah, it actually hit thereverse.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
It pulled the water out.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
So people are like, yeah, it's not going to hit us
and, like you said, the one timethat it does, the one time that
it does and it changes yourmindset from there on out,
because, especially, a lot ofpeople move here.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
They don't know what hurricanes are.
They go through a couple ofhurricanes, they go ah, we got
this.
I understand hurricane partiesand hurricane party prep.
That's all well and good untilyou get hit with an actual
hurricane and then you go wait,this is really tough.
Yeah, that beer is really notgonna help.
Exactly I I had to cook all mymeals on the grill for four days
and and heat up the coffee onthe grill, and no ac, no
(07:04):
electricity for four days, or orhowever long it is.
So it really we learned a lotfrom it.
We're still learning.
Yep, um, you know is the bestway to combat it is to be
prepared for it and make sureyou're doing everything that we
can to avoid the big impact thatwould would really really hurt
(07:25):
a smaller company like us.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah, yeah, and you mentioned it's something you
want to be great at, exactly,exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
But she's still got to prepare.
But when the when the timecomes to pull the trigger and
say, all right, we've got to dothis, the anxiety is less
because you know the story.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yes, exactly.
You're familiar with what couldhappen and how bad it could be,
so you know what to cover.
So let's talk.
You touched on it a little bitbefore about community, and I
know you guys do quite a bit tosupport the community and you
know sponsoring events.
You know the Songwriters Seriesis one of them as well too.
But what other things are youguys doing?
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Specifically for the community.
I mean we partner, like yousaid, we do the songwriters
events.
We have done fishingtournaments, charity fishing
tournaments, both offshore.
We do an inshore fishingtournament tournament, which we
actually kind of took thattemplate and moved it to our new
sarasota location and we didour first uh beach fishing
(08:23):
tournament in sarasota this pastseason, trying to, you know,
establish ourselves in thecommunity there.
We also do I don't know ifyou've been to it, some of of
the followers might have we havea pretty killer beach cleanup
every year.
So we do a what started out asa small we call it our beach
(08:44):
keepers club and small, you know, it's a beach keeping cleanup
every year and it started out wehad about 80 plus people our
first year.
We had some donated food fromlocal restaurants just to kind
of feed people afterwards andclear up.
Clean up the beach.
Um, we're on year.
I don't remember exactly whatyear, but I do know that last
(09:07):
year we had 400 plus people, wow, at our beach cleanup.
Um, and then from there westarted bringing in live bands
that would play.
We have the food, we haveraffle items.
It was bringing the beachcleanup core and then expanding
(09:27):
on that and not making it justan event that you get up early,
you go do the beach cleanup.
You're done by 10.
It's hot.
You go home, you take a shower.
Now it's an event.
You hang out, you have somedrinks.
It's hot, you go home, you takea shower.
Now it's an effect.
You hang out, you have somedrinks, you have some food,
there's live music, we haveraffles at the end.
So that really creates thesense of community where most of
(09:49):
the time when we do theseevents, when they're over with
at 1 o'clock, they're over withat 1, but everybody knows
everyone.
So everyone sits around therest of the day and it just
hangs out.
So the official is over with atone, but the event keeps going
and that's yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
And again, you know that's great with the community
and bringing people together andkeeping the beach clean.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yeah, yeah, I mean you know many people are so
messy out there.
It surprises.
It surprises me.
And we've we've started doing,we've done all of our.
We've expanded our beachkeepers club to all of our four
retail locations.
I love it.
So we've got um sarasota.
We do a beach keepers club.
We've done it in our starmand's location.
We're doing it now with our oursiesta key location.
(10:32):
Okay, key west, we go down thereand we we call it an island
cleanup because there aren't alot of beaches in Key West.
But the surprising thing in KeyWest is everybody goes.
Well, where should we clean up?
There's tons of places thatneed it.
Unfortunately, like you said, alot of the tourists and locals,
even the biggest thing thatthey pick up is cigarette butts.
(10:54):
That's crazy, right, they pickup tons of cigarette butts
because people just flick themand forget about them and it's a
hazard for birds and for people.
And just getting out there andcleaning that stuff up, and one
day a year I always try andemphasize this you shouldn't be
doing this.
One day.
The one day should remind youwhy you should be doing it
(11:17):
continually, exactly.
And so we kind of try and keepthat.
You light the fire, you give ita little bit of gasoline and
you let it, you let it go andand hope that people you know,
every time I go out on the boat,every time I go to the beach,
I've got a small bucket that Icarry with me or an extra bag
that I put stuff in.
Yeah, and that's just throughyears of of of trying to make
(11:41):
sure that you leave it betterthan you found exactly, and
you're not just walking by likesomebody else will pick that up
here.
You actually go and pick it upexactly, but it was supposed to
be and that somebody else mightbe a bird, it might be a turtle,
it might be something thatshouldn't be picking up the
garbage, so just pick it up.
I've seen, unfortunately I'veseen many piles of garbage or
(12:03):
stuff strewn about and not 10yards away from a garbage can.
Right, exactly, it's crazy.
So throw away your stuff, yes,your garbage, throw it in the
garbage can.
So you're from Southwest Floridaoriginally right, well, I was
born in Tallahassee.
I'm actually a fourthgeneration Floridian.
All right, okay, I wear thebadge of Florida Cracker with
(12:24):
pride, nice.
So I was born in Tallahassee,moved to Southwest Florida
really young, when I was four,okay, and my dad was a golf pro,
so that kind of fits inSouthwest Florida, perfect, yep,
yep.
And so I, until 18, you know, Iwas the beach kid out on the
boat, out at the beach, and at18, you know you hate, you just
(12:48):
want to get away from home, andI couldn't wait to get out and I
got out and I lived a bunch ofdifferent places and I think it
was that getting out of Dodge,getting away from it and then
going.
You know, it's not that bad,it's kind of really cool.
Um, and so I spent some time ina bunch of different other
different places and then cameback to Southwest Florida and
(13:12):
this is what I call home now.
And and now it's tough to go upanywhere up North when it's
cool, cause below 60 and I'mlike break out the parkas and
the skull caps and the glovesbecause it's cold.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
You're better than me , because it's below 80 for me.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah, I was born in.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Wisconsin.
The same thing, though.
My daughter was born down here.
She's like most Floridians theyget tired of down here and want
to go somewhere else.
She went back up north, spentone winter up there and she goes
.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
yeah, no, that's not me Not there she goes.
Yeah, no, that's not me, not somuch.
Yeah, the winters, the wintersare beautiful and I get it, and
I saw my first snowfall and Ithought it was the coolest thing
ever.
And how could something be sobeautiful?
And three weeks later I went.
So when do we get to go to thebeach?
Enough of that.
How I get that there's icefishing, but why would you fish
on ice?
Why wouldn't you just go downsouth?
But yeah, it's, it is.
(14:01):
It is definitely a a eye-opener, it is it is.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
It's like owning a boat up there.
You use it what?
Speaker 3 (14:07):
for three months, yeah and I've had neighbors who
said well, are you going towinterize your boat?
I said homeboy, this is, wedon't winterize, you can use it
all year long absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
That's why we're speaking of rich.
You like getting out andboating, but outside of work,
what do you enjoy doing?
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Outside of work.
I love to go fishing when Ihave time.
Okay, it's kind of zen for me.
I do a lot of solo fishing.
When I can, I read a lot ofbooks.
I try to read a lot of books.
I think we always say we havethe ambition of reading a lot of
books and they stack up on thenightstand and then you go, yeah
(14:48):
, but Netflix.
So I try to read a lot of books.
My family is in the Floridaarea so I try and spend a lot of
time with family, that'simportant yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Very good, very good.
So what is one thing you wishour listeners knew about Tuna
Skin that maybe they wouldn't betoo familiar with?
Speaker 3 (15:20):
One thing that I wish that they knew.
You know, we a lot of people.
If they're just coming in andseeing Tuna Skin, they they see
it as just another T-shirtcompany.
And what we strive to be is notjust another t-shirt company.
Anyone can screen print, anyonecan dye, supplement what we do.
We try and A become part of thecommunities.
Wherever we put our brick andmortar stores, we try and engulf
ourselves into the communities,whether it's Chamber of
Commerce, which is an easy one,but also hosting events there,
(15:43):
getting you know, in the offseason, it's the people that
live there that are really goingto come back over and over
again and they're going to bringtheir friends and they're going
to come back if they feel likeit's their brand, if they feel
like it's their company.
We've seen a lot of people thatthey buy tuna skin.
They go up north and when theycome back the next year they
(16:05):
come back in and they buy itbecause, oh, I went up north and
I told all my friends back homewe have tuna skin and so it's a
source of pride.
It is so that's I think that'sone of the big things that I
would emphasize with thelisteners is, you know, we're
not just a t-shirt brand andkind of.
We kind of try and walk thewalk and talk the talk.
And you know, with our ahundred percent recycled
(16:28):
material I'd say 80 to 85% ofthe stuff in our stores is made
out of the a hundred percentrecycled plastics.
So we try and, like I said,anybody can get a bunch of
shirts and screen print them intheir garage.
We try to be a little different.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
You know, give you a little something to go yeah, but
yeah, and you feel like you'regiving back to the community,
exactly, exactly, and you are.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
You are, because it's a lot of what we do.
We partner with Keep Key Westbeautiful, keep Sarasota
beautiful, keep Lee Countybeautiful.
We partner with Plant a MillionCoral down in the Keys Mote
Marine in Sarasota.
So even the people that we'redonating to or partner with,
you're doing some good.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
That's good, that's what it's all about.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
That is what it's all about.
If you can put your head on thepillow and say you know what
I've done good today, thenyou're in a good place my slogan
is no, no shade, just sunshine,right there you go.
What it's all about.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You know it's got to be sunny and bright and fun, so
how would our listeners go aboutcontacting you if they wanted
to learn more?
Speaker 3 (17:36):
get some apparel so you can go if you are in within
vicinity of any of our retaillocations.
We have a brick-and-mortarstore on Siesta Key, in the
village.
We have a brick-and-mortar onFort Myers Beach.
We have a brick-and-mortarright here where we're doing the
interview.
It's also our warehouse inBonita Springs.
We also have a brick-and-mortaron Duval Street in Key West.
(18:00):
If you're not within walking ordriving distance or, depending
on your income, flying orhelicopter distance, you can
check us out online ontunaskinco, and we've got all of
the stuff that you see instores is online.
Some of the stuff you can onlyfind in stores, because it is
very store specific, like thisone with the rooster on it for
(18:23):
Key West I love it.
Well, you can only find thosein the store, and so I encourage
people to follow us on socialmedia.
We're on Instagram, we're onFacebook, follow us on social
media.
We have a lot of events that weare either attending, that we
are hosting or that we arepartnering with, and we will
announce those and say hey,we're in key west this weekend
(18:45):
for the songwriters festival, orwe're doing island hopper
songwriters festival or whateverwe're doing, come out and see
us love it.
And so, even if we're doing thesatellite locations that you go
.
Wait, tuna skin is in clearwater.
They don't have a store.
We're going to clear water in amonth and a half.
There's a beach.
There is a is a beach inClearwater, so we'll be there
for the offshore powerboat racesNice For that.
(19:06):
So keep an eye.
You'll follow us on socialmedia to see what we're up to.
Again, we try, and all of ouremployees try, and walk the walk
and talk the talk.
So if we're doing somethingcool, we take pictures and we
post it and you go.
Well, this was my weekend.
What was your weekend?
Check us out on social media.
Come to our stores, talk to ourstaff.
Check us out on the websitetunaskin.
(19:30):
co.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
There you go.
It's been a pleasure getting toknow you you as well.
Thank you for being such a goodneighbor.
I love what you're doing, thankyou.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you, let's play this.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Thanks for tuning in to the fort myers beach good
neighbor podcast, wherecommunity meets paradise.
If you loved what you heard,share it with a friend and keep
the good vibes going until nexttime.
Stay sunny, stay salty and keepbeing a good neighbor.
Also, to nominate your favoriteneighbors, local legends,
heroes or island businesses tobe on the show, go to
CaboWaboJim.
com.
That's CaboWaboJim.
(20:07):
com, or call 239-427-4100.
We want to send out some islandlove to Eric Tibbs from Edward
Jones State Insurance USA andHome Well Care Services Fort
Myers.
They are the businesses thatallow us to share the soul of
our community with everylistener, from local stories to
the positive vibe of island life.
Here's to celebrating all thatmakes Fort Myers Beach the slice
(20:28):
of paradise we all love.
Welcome to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor
podcast, where the sun's alwaysshining and the stories are even
brighter.
Each episode we bring youcloser to the neighbors, local
legends and beachside businessesthat make Fort Myers Beach the
slice of paradise we all love.
Pull up a beach chair, grab adrink and let's meet the people
who make this island feel likehome.
We want to send out some islandlove to Eric Tibbs from Edward
(00:21):
Jones State Insurance USA andHome Well Care Services Fort
Myers.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Welcome to Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbors.
Today we have good neighbor BenDuval from Tuna Skin Greetings,
yes, so excited about learningabout businesses on Fort Myers
Beach and what's going on in thecommunity.
You've been there for a longtime, right, yeah?
And just recently rebuilt andreopened.
So let's back for the peoplethat aren't familiar with your
story.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Let's back that up a little bit Tuna Skin.
We are a aquatic apparelcompany brand.
We started here on Fort MyersBeach at our first.
Our flagship store right hereon Fort Myers Beach Started in a
garage actually, All the bestplaces to start in a garage, Of
course.
Of course you know Apple,Microsoft, what is it?
(01:23):
Amazon.
So we're just the same.
Just, we're getting there,right, we're getting there.
But rumor has it, legend has itthat the name came from the
tuna skin name.
The owners were off the coastof the Florida Keys fishing and
they were fishing for tuna andthey looked at the tuna and they
(01:44):
said tuna doesn't really looklike it has any scales, it looks
like it's just skin.
We could name it tuna skin.
We could name the company tunaskin.
So wearing our clothes is kindof like wearing a tuna skin, but
without the smell.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I love it, I love it.
See, that's and you.
You gotta know the historybehind an end sometimes, because
there's always a unique, and Idid say, legend has it, so I
don't know exactly how much ofthat is true, but that is the
story, and the legend sometimesis better than the actual.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
The more you tell it, the bigger it gets exactly.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
It's like a fishtail, that's it see.
So why fort myers beach?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
uh, fort myers beach was, was home to, uh, the
company, okay, and it was.
It was somewhere where we feltlike we were really part of the
community and it's where westarted, it's where we continue
to to thrive, um, whether it'swith all of the fort myers beach
events that are happening allover the area, um, and it's just
especially like with everythingthat's happened with the storms
(02:39):
and everything that's happeningwith the storms and having to
rebuild everything, it just it,it kind of the sense of
community really came back, thatthat we felt and it was.
You know, it's everybody knowsyour name and sometimes that's a
good thing, sometimes that's abad thing, but it's.
(02:59):
It is when, when it reallycomes down to it, everybody is
everybody's friendly.
It is when it really comes downto it, everybody is friendly
Everybody's.
You know they're in it for thesame reasons, to just have a
beautiful area that we call home.
And most of the business owners, you know they know each other
and they work really welltogether.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
It is Like you said.
It's a multifaceted paradisethat we've all been attracted to
and we all help each other out.
So let's talk about that alittle bit.
You know, obviously you know,being by the beach, we have our
storms.
Yes, you know, we've had anumber of big ones lately, but
both personally and maybeprofessionally, what has that
(03:37):
done to you?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Well, the good and the bad of it, and we were just
as a company coming out of as wewere getting ready for this,
coming out of a hurricane prepmeeting with our operations team
going through.
All right, if we need to pullthe trigger on a hurricane, what
do we need to do?
Five years ago, four years ago,this meeting was an hour and a
(04:00):
half.
This meeting that we just hadwas 15 minutes, because we've
been there, we've done that, wegot the t-shirt, we know exactly
how to do it.
We went through it with Ianwhere we had what was it?
14 feet, come in and take careof the entire store and just
kind of cleared everything outfor us.
So we could, I always say theblessing of losing the Fort
(04:24):
Myers Beach store was we finallygot to design it to exactly
where we wanted.
You know, we were no longergoing into a space that was
designed for other businesses.
We were then being able todesign the space that blank
canvas, yeah, exactly.
And so that really helped usout with getting ready for the
hurricanes that we had last yearin 2024.
(04:46):
And when you have a aquaticapparel brand, you are next to
the water and you are located inparadise and you are right in
the middle of hurricanes.
During hurricane season, youknow, we always have with each
of our four retail locations.
We have kind of the steps thatwe go through with each location
(05:07):
of whether we need to movemerchandise upstairs if it has a
second level or if we need togo get a U-Haul and bring all
the merchandise to the warehouseor to another secondary
location to get it out.
And so that was.
(05:28):
That was Ian was really helpfulgetting us ready for Milton and
Helene that hit last year andthey didn't really affect our
Fort Myers Beach store as muchas they affected our Sarasota
store.
At our Sarasota store we endedup getting three and a half feet
of storm water in our SarasotaSt Armand store, so that was
tough.
Wow.
In our sarasota st armin store.
So that was tough, but luckilywe had done um leading into that
(05:49):
.
After ian we had gotten to thepoint where we would say, all
right, move all the merchandiseupstairs, get everything
upstairs.
And you hate doing that overand over again because two days
later they say the hurricaneisn't coming and then you put
everything downstairs like itwas two days before that you go.
That was a waste of time andyou always feel like it's a
waste of time until that onetime.
(06:10):
Yeah, that you go.
Really glad we did that andthat was that.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
And I think you know down here in southwest Florida I
want to say comfortable, but wekind of in a sense did get
comfortable because the lastcouple of storms that came
through we didn't have thatsurge.
Yeah, it actually hit thereverse.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
It pulled the water out.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
So people are like, yeah, it's not going to hit us
and, like you said, the one timethat it does, the one time that
it does and it changes yourmindset from there on out,
because, especially, a lot ofpeople move here.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
They don't know what hurricanes are.
They go through a couple ofhurricanes, they go ah, we got
this.
I understand hurricane partiesand hurricane party prep.
That's all well and good untilyou get hit with an actual
hurricane and then you go wait,this is really tough.
Yeah, that beer is really notgonna help.
Exactly I I had to cook all mymeals on the grill for four days
and and heat up the coffee onthe grill, and no ac, no
(07:04):
electricity for four days, or orhowever long it is.
So it really we learned a lotfrom it.
We're still learning.
Yep, um, you know is the bestway to combat it is to be
prepared for it and make sureyou're doing everything that we
can to avoid the big impact thatwould would really really hurt
(07:25):
a smaller company like us.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah, yeah, and you mentioned it's something you
want to be great at, exactly,exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
But she's still got to prepare.
But when the when the timecomes to pull the trigger and
say, all right, we've got to dothis, the anxiety is less
because you know the story.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yes, exactly.
You're familiar with what couldhappen and how bad it could be,
so you know what to cover.
So let's talk.
You touched on it a little bitbefore about community, and I
know you guys do quite a bit tosupport the community and you
know sponsoring events.
You know the Songwriters Seriesis one of them as well too.
But what other things are youguys doing?
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Specifically for the community.
I mean we partner, like yousaid, we do the songwriters
events.
We have done fishingtournaments, charity fishing
tournaments, both offshore.
We do an inshore fishingtournament tournament, which we
actually kind of took thattemplate and moved it to our new
sarasota location and we didour first uh beach fishing
(08:23):
tournament in sarasota this pastseason, trying to, you know,
establish ourselves in thecommunity there.
We also do I don't know ifyou've been to it, some of of
the followers might have we havea pretty killer beach cleanup
every year.
So we do a what started out asa small we call it our beach
(08:44):
keepers club and small, you know, it's a beach keeping cleanup
every year and it started out wehad about 80 plus people our
first year.
We had some donated food fromlocal restaurants just to kind
of feed people afterwards andclear up.
Clean up the beach.
Um, we're on year.
I don't remember exactly whatyear, but I do know that last
(09:07):
year we had 400 plus people, wow, at our beach cleanup.
Um, and then from there westarted bringing in live bands
that would play.
We have the food, we haveraffle items.
It was bringing the beachcleanup core and then expanding
(09:27):
on that and not making it justan event that you get up early,
you go do the beach cleanup.
You're done by 10.
It's hot.
You go home, you take a shower.
Now it's an event.
You hang out, you have somedrinks.
It's hot, you go home, you takea shower.
Now it's an effect.
You hang out, you have somedrinks, you have some food,
there's live music, we haveraffles at the end.
So that really creates thesense of community where most of
(09:49):
the time when we do theseevents, when they're over with
at 1 o'clock, they're over withat 1, but everybody knows
everyone.
So everyone sits around therest of the day and it just
hangs out.
So the official is over with atone, but the event keeps going
and that's yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
And again, you know that's great with the community
and bringing people together andkeeping the beach clean.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yeah, yeah, I mean you know many people are so
messy out there.
It surprises.
It surprises me.
And we've we've started doing,we've done all of our.
We've expanded our beachkeepers club to all of our four
retail locations.
I love it.
So we've got um sarasota.
We do a beach keepers club.
We've done it in our starmand's location.
We're doing it now with our oursiesta key location.
(10:32):
Okay, key west, we go down thereand we we call it an island
cleanup because there aren't alot of beaches in Key West.
But the surprising thing in KeyWest is everybody goes.
Well, where should we clean up?
There's tons of places thatneed it.
Unfortunately, like you said, alot of the tourists and locals,
even the biggest thing thatthey pick up is cigarette butts.
(10:54):
That's crazy, right, they pickup tons of cigarette butts
because people just flick themand forget about them and it's a
hazard for birds and for people.
And just getting out there andcleaning that stuff up, and one
day a year I always try andemphasize this you shouldn't be
doing this.
One day.
The one day should remind youwhy you should be doing it
(11:17):
continually, exactly.
And so we kind of try and keepthat.
You light the fire, you give ita little bit of gasoline and
you let it, you let it go andand hope that people you know,
every time I go out on the boat,every time I go to the beach,
I've got a small bucket that Icarry with me or an extra bag
that I put stuff in.
Yeah, and that's just throughyears of of of trying to make
(11:41):
sure that you leave it betterthan you found exactly, and
you're not just walking by likesomebody else will pick that up
here.
You actually go and pick it upexactly, but it was supposed to
be and that somebody else mightbe a bird, it might be a turtle,
it might be something thatshouldn't be picking up the
garbage, so just pick it up.
I've seen, unfortunately I'veseen many piles of garbage or
(12:03):
stuff strewn about and not 10yards away from a garbage can.
Right, exactly, it's crazy.
So throw away your stuff, yes,your garbage, throw it in the
garbage can.
So you're from Southwest Floridaoriginally right, well, I was
born in Tallahassee.
I'm actually a fourthgeneration Floridian.
All right, okay, I wear thebadge of Florida Cracker with
(12:24):
pride, nice.
So I was born in Tallahassee,moved to Southwest Florida
really young, when I was four,okay, and my dad was a golf pro,
so that kind of fits inSouthwest Florida, perfect, yep,
yep.
And so I, until 18, you know, Iwas the beach kid out on the
boat, out at the beach, and at18, you know you hate, you just
(12:48):
want to get away from home, andI couldn't wait to get out and I
got out and I lived a bunch ofdifferent places and I think it
was that getting out of Dodge,getting away from it and then
going.
You know, it's not that bad,it's kind of really cool.
Um, and so I spent some time ina bunch of different other
different places and then cameback to Southwest Florida and
(13:12):
this is what I call home now.
And and now it's tough to go upanywhere up North when it's
cool, cause below 60 and I'mlike break out the parkas and
the skull caps and the glovesbecause it's cold.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
You're better than me , because it's below 80 for me.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah, I was born in.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Wisconsin.
The same thing, though.
My daughter was born down here.
She's like most Floridians theyget tired of down here and want
to go somewhere else.
She went back up north, spentone winter up there and she goes
.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
yeah, no, that's not me Not there she goes.
Yeah, no, that's not me, not somuch.
Yeah, the winters, the wintersare beautiful and I get it, and
I saw my first snowfall and Ithought it was the coolest thing
ever.
And how could something be sobeautiful?
And three weeks later I went.
So when do we get to go to thebeach?
Enough of that.
How I get that there's icefishing, but why would you fish
on ice?
Why wouldn't you just go downsouth?
But yeah, it's, it is.
(14:01):
It is definitely a a eye-opener, it is it is.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
It's like owning a boat up there.
You use it what?
Speaker 3 (14:07):
for three months, yeah and I've had neighbors who
said well, are you going towinterize your boat?
I said homeboy, this is, wedon't winterize, you can use it
all year long absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
That's why we're speaking of rich.
You like getting out andboating, but outside of work,
what do you enjoy doing?
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Outside of work.
I love to go fishing when Ihave time.
Okay, it's kind of zen for me.
I do a lot of solo fishing.
When I can, I read a lot ofbooks.
I try to read a lot of books.
I think we always say we havethe ambition of reading a lot of
books and they stack up on thenightstand and then you go, yeah
(14:48):
, but Netflix.
So I try to read a lot of books.
My family is in the Floridaarea so I try and spend a lot of
time with family, that'simportant yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Very good, very good.
So what is one thing you wishour listeners knew about Tuna
Skin that maybe they wouldn't betoo familiar with?
Speaker 3 (15:20):
One thing that I wish that they knew.
You know, we a lot of people.
If they're just coming in andseeing Tuna Skin, they they see
it as just another T-shirtcompany.
And what we strive to be is notjust another t-shirt company.
Anyone can screen print, anyonecan dye, supplement what we do.
We try and A become part of thecommunities.
Wherever we put our brick andmortar stores, we try and engulf
ourselves into the communities,whether it's Chamber of
Commerce, which is an easy one,but also hosting events there,
(15:43):
getting you know, in the offseason, it's the people that
live there that are really goingto come back over and over
again and they're going to bringtheir friends and they're going
to come back if they feel likeit's their brand, if they feel
like it's their company.
We've seen a lot of people thatthey buy tuna skin.
They go up north and when theycome back the next year they
(16:05):
come back in and they buy itbecause, oh, I went up north and
I told all my friends back homewe have tuna skin and so it's a
source of pride.
It is so that's I think that'sone of the big things that I
would emphasize with thelisteners is, you know, we're
not just a t-shirt brand andkind of.
We kind of try and walk thewalk and talk the talk.
And you know, with our ahundred percent recycled
(16:28):
material I'd say 80 to 85% ofthe stuff in our stores is made
out of the a hundred percentrecycled plastics.
So we try and, like I said,anybody can get a bunch of
shirts and screen print them intheir garage.
We try to be a little different.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
You know, give you a little something to go yeah, but
yeah, and you feel like you'regiving back to the community,
exactly, exactly, and you are.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
You are, because it's a lot of what we do.
We partner with Keep Key Westbeautiful, keep Sarasota
beautiful, keep Lee Countybeautiful.
We partner with Plant a MillionCoral down in the Keys Mote
Marine in Sarasota.
So even the people that we'redonating to or partner with,
you're doing some good.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
That's good, that's what it's all about.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
That is what it's all about.
If you can put your head on thepillow and say you know what
I've done good today, thenyou're in a good place my slogan
is no, no shade, just sunshine,right there you go.
What it's all about.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You know it's got to be sunny and bright and fun, so
how would our listeners go aboutcontacting you if they wanted
to learn more?
Speaker 3 (17:36):
get some apparel so you can go if you are in within
vicinity of any of our retaillocations.
We have a brick-and-mortarstore on Siesta Key, in the
village.
We have a brick-and-mortar onFort Myers Beach.
We have a brick-and-mortarright here where we're doing the
interview.
It's also our warehouse inBonita Springs.
We also have a brick-and-mortaron Duval Street in Key West.
(18:00):
If you're not within walking ordriving distance or, depending
on your income, flying orhelicopter distance, you can
check us out online ontunaskinco, and we've got all of
the stuff that you see instores is online.
Some of the stuff you can onlyfind in stores, because it is
very store specific, like thisone with the rooster on it for
(18:23):
Key West I love it.
Well, you can only find thosein the store, and so I encourage
people to follow us on socialmedia.
We're on Instagram, we're onFacebook, follow us on social
media.
We have a lot of events that weare either attending, that we
are hosting or that we arepartnering with, and we will
announce those and say hey,we're in key west this weekend
(18:45):
for the songwriters festival, orwe're doing island hopper
songwriters festival or whateverwe're doing, come out and see
us love it.
And so, even if we're doing thesatellite locations that you go
.
Wait, tuna skin is in clearwater.
They don't have a store.
We're going to clear water in amonth and a half.
There's a beach.
There is a is a beach inClearwater, so we'll be there
for the offshore powerboat racesNice For that.
(19:06):
So keep an eye.
You'll follow us on socialmedia to see what we're up to.
Again, we try, and all of ouremployees try, and walk the walk
and talk the talk.
So if we're doing somethingcool, we take pictures and we
post it and you go.
Well, this was my weekend.
What was your weekend?
Check us out on social media.
Come to our stores, talk to ourstaff.
Check us out on the websitetunaskin.
(19:30):
co.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
There you go.
It's been a pleasure getting toknow you you as well.
Thank you for being such a goodneighbor.
I love what you're doing, thankyou.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you, let's play this.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Thanks for tuning in to the fort myers beach good
neighbor podcast, wherecommunity meets paradise.
If you loved what you heard,share it with a friend and keep
the good vibes going until nexttime.
Stay sunny, stay salty and keepbeing a good neighbor.
Also, to nominate your favoriteneighbors, local legends,
heroes or island businesses tobe on the show, go to
CaboWaboJim.
com.
That's CaboWaboJim.
(20:07):
com, or call 239-427-4100.
We want to send out some islandlove to Eric Tibbs from Edward
Jones State Insurance USA andHome Well Care Services Fort
Myers.
They are the businesses thatallow us to share the soul of
our community with everylistener, from local stories to
the positive vibe of island life.
Here's to celebrating all thatmakes Fort Myers Beach the slice
(20:28):
of paradise we all love.
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