The September Style issue of Stuff Boston magazine features several "Stylish Bostonians." Dicks Cottons founder Rich Amundson was lucky enough to be included in the article. Here it is below. As you'll see, dreams do come true!
RICH AMUNDSON
Most of us only fantasize about taking a permanent vacation from the big, bad, corporate world - but two years ago, Rich Amundson actually did it. For years, he split his time between Boston, where he worked 80-hour weeks in finance and real estate, and Cape Cod, where he spent weekends partying on the beach and living it up with friends. "But Sunday night, everyone would be in the pits because you have to go back to work," he says. So in the summer of '09, he escaped the rat race to launch Dicks Cottons, a brand purveying a bright, rainbow assortment of sunglasses under the motto "Be happy. Live comfortably." "They mimic the lifestyle I want: soft and easy," says Amundson, who plans to debut T-shirt and hoodie designs soon. Though he takes business seriously, having studied at NYC's Fashion Institute of Technology, his work-life balance allows for party-hopping in sunny spots like Vegas and Puerto Rico, where he sponsored a celeb-laden W Hotel bash over Labor Day weekend. Yet his biggest celebrity coup came from another beach locale, when a friend in Miami doled out sunglasses to the Jersey Shore cast during a party appearance. Within two weeks, Snooki was flaunting them in tabloids and on the Grammys' red carpet, touting them on Twitter and snatching up pairs for her cast mates. (The result: ka-ching!) Preppy Amundson didn't expect his wares would appeal to the fist-pumping crowd, but his finance-to-fashion journey has been one big, pleasant surprise. "Five years ago, I couldn't imagine this in my wildest dreams," he says. "But my friends have a philosophy to live every day like it's the last and make the most of it. Five years from now, I could be surfing in Australia." At least he'll have the perfect shades.
Full article here:
http://stuffboston.com/stuffboston/archive/2010/09/20/style-stories.aspx
Photo: CHRISTOPHER PADGETT