Entrepreneur Parker Burr, UMass Amherst '15, discusses success of lifestyle brand
BOSTON - Simsbury native Parker Burr is featured in a current University of Massachusetts marketing campaign highlighting the achievements of recent alumni. Burr, a 2015 graduate of UMass Amherst, appears in a video tracing the success of his company FEAT Socks, a lifestyle brand that got its start in a UMass classroom just two years ago.
In the video, Burr and co-founder Taylor Offer '15 recall shaping the idea for FEAT Socks in an entrepreneurship class, building the business during their senior year and signing the paperwork to become an actual company on the final day of class.
"UMass bought into us right away," Burr says in the clip.
The pair looped in Elijah Grundel '14, who was linked with Burr in another company, Promo Lacrosse. Burr and his FEAT Socks co-founders have since partnered with Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman on her own sock line -- #FEATbyALY -- and opened offices in Boston and Los Angeles, where they say they're able to live the kind of life they promote.
"We make socks, we sell socks, but we really sell a lifestyle," Burr says.
So far, the video has been viewed more than 341,000 times on platforms including Facebook, Pandora, YouTube, regional news publications and connected TV.
The UMass President's Office marketing campaign, conducted in collaboration with Boathouse Group, runs through the end of April and includes a total of six videos produced in partnership with Pilgrim Films. Four videos feature inspiring young alumni from across the UMass system, and two feature President Marty Meehan, the first undergraduate alumnus to lead UMass, who discusses the university's impact on students and their communities.