Building a brand is messy. Most people think you just get a great idea, file some paperwork, and suddenly you're a "founder" sipping lattes while the money rolls in. Real life in the 804 doesn't work like that. If you've spent any time in the Scott’s Addition or Church Hill neighborhoods, you’ve probably heard the name Jordan Childs Richmond VA floating around, usually attached to a success story that sounds a lot smoother than it actually was.
Childs is the guy who basically turned a stainless steel beer growler into a Richmond fashion statement. Honestly, it's kind of wild when you think about it. He moved here after a stint at the Lego Group—yeah, the toy company—and decided that what the world really needed was a better way to carry craft beer. He wasn't wrong.
But there’s a lot more to the story than just "guy sells growlers." From the VCU Brandcenter to selling his company, Shine Craft Vessel Co., to a California couple a few years back, his trajectory says a lot about how Richmond became such a hub for the "creative class." It wasn’t just luck.
The VCU Connection and the "Church Hill" Era
You can't talk about Jordan Childs Richmond VA without talking about the VCU Brandcenter. That place is a pressure cooker for entrepreneurs. Childs graduated in 2009, headed off to New York and San Francisco to work with big agencies, and then did what a lot of us do: he realized Richmond is just a better place to actually live.
He moved back in 2014. At the time, he and his wife Kim were living in Church Hill. If you remember Richmond back then, the craft beer scene was exploding, but everyone was still carrying those clunky, brown glass jugs. They broke. They let in light. They made your beer taste like a wet basement if you left them in the car too long.
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Childs took $6,000 of his own savings and ordered 100 stainless steel growlers. People thought he was crazy to charge $50 for a bottle. They sold out in weeks.
Why the Design Actually Mattered
Most business owners focus on the "what." Childs focused on the "how it feels." He didn't want something that looked like camping gear. He wanted a "conversation piece" that could sit on a dinner table without looking like you just hiked the Appalachian Trail.
- Customization: Every order was treated like an art project.
- The "Small Batch" Struggle: He actually tried to get these made in the U.S. first. He pitched 30 different American manufacturers. Not a single one could do metal-spun steel in small batches for a 64oz bottle.
- The Finish: Even though the raw steel came from overseas, the powder coating and printing happened right here in Richmond and Virginia Beach.
It’s that "Richmond way" of doing things—global reach, but local soul.
Beyond the Growler: The Eastern Land Collective
While Shine was the "it" brand, Childs was also running the Eastern Land Collective. This was sort of the umbrella for his design thinking. He wasn't just selling products; he was hosting dinners at the University of Richmond to talk to MBA students about "design thinking."
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I’ve seen a lot of people try to bridge the gap between "artist" and "businessman," and usually, they fail at one. Childs managed to stay in that middle ground. He used his background in graphic design to make a utility object feel like a luxury. It’s a trick he likely picked up at Lego, where "play" is a serious business metric.
The 2020 Exit and the Banjo
By 2020, Shine Craft Vessel Co. was doing $300,000 to $400,000 in annual revenue. To a lot of people, that’s the dream. But for Childs, it was becoming a grind. He was spending more time managing logistics and less time actually designing.
So, he sold it.
He handed the keys to Timothy and Julie Worthington, a couple from California. The rebrand to Shine Outdoor Co. was the next logical step for the brand, but for Jordan Childs Richmond VA, it was a chance to "detach."
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You know what he did right after the sale? He told Richmond BizSense he was going to spend the first quarter of 2021 learning to play the banjo. Seriously. That’s the most Richmond exit story I’ve ever heard.
What This Means for RVA Entrepreneurs Today
There is a huge misconception that to "make it" in Richmond, you have to stay small and "local" forever. Childs proved you can run a global e-commerce brand from a 1,500-square-foot office on Old Osborne Turnpike.
He also showed that you don't have to be the "owner" of a thing forever for it to be a success. Sometimes the best thing you can do for a brand you built is to let it go so it can grow bigger than you. He moved on to running his design firm, Major Easy, and teaching at the VCU Brandcenter, passing that knowledge down to the next batch of kids who think they can change the world with a better-designed coffee mug or a new type of sneaker.
Takeaway Lessons for the Rest of Us
- Stop overthinking the "perfect" product. Childs saw a problem (shitty glass growlers) and fixed it with a $6,000 bet.
- Design isn't just "pretty colors." It's how the thing functions on a dinner table or in a brewery line.
- Know when to walk away. If the "business" part of your business is killing the "creative" part, it might be time to sell.
If you're looking to follow in those footsteps, your best bet is to spend some time in the Scott’s Addition area and just look at how brands there talk to people. It's not corporate. It's conversational. It's a bit rough around the edges.
Next Steps for You: Check out the current work coming out of the VCU Brandcenter or look into "Design Thinking" workshops in Richmond. If you're a founder feeling burnt out, take a page out of the Jordan Childs Richmond VA playbook: find your "banjo moment" and remember why you started creating in the first place.