About House of Coq

Our Mission

At House of Coq™, it is our mission to bring awareness to cancers that exclusively impact men by producing smart and original designs on premium apparel that unifies all men. We show commitment to this cause by donating 10% of all sales to front-line organizations in the fight against prostate and testicular cancer. Join us in finding a solution and Get Coqy for men's health™

Our Story

It was a boring drive across northern Illinois between Chicago and the Quad Cities. I knew the route well, as I had driven it hundreds of times over the last decade. We were in route to visit my parents, and after a long week of hard work, my mind started to wander as the pavement and rows of corn zipped by. I have an obsession with t-shirts that have funny pictures or sayings. I constantly have new visions popping into my head, and I proudly tell my wife, Shauna about them…to which she frequently rolls her eyes and shakes her head, as my sense of humor can, for some, be an acquired taste.

This day, however, was different. We had passed the De Kalb (Go Huskies!) toll and were another hour-and-a-half from our final destination in Moline when I began laughing to myself. I turned to Shauna and said, "What about a t-shirt with a chubby rooster wearing a shirt that is a little too snug…he's pulling at it…and the question…Does this shirt make my coq look fat?" "Coq," for those who don't know, is the French word for "rooster." It's pronounced "cock." On this rare occasion, she genuinely laughed. She actually thought it was funny! Well, it was off and running, as we spent the next hour or so thinking up different versions of the "rooster" t-shirt, and in the following weeks, we kept returning to the idea of a t-shirt company that portrayed this character, "Coqy" as we decided to call him, in different scenarios with clever, albeit lewd, sayings on them. Finally, Shauna laid down the challenge and said, "Alright…enough with the clever ideas that we never actually execute! Let's really do this. The first thing we need to do is find a freelance artist to create our designs." With this push, we hopped online and began our search.

Two and a half years later, we have spent countless hours working with a remote artist and thinking up designs with just the right amount of wrong to them. Our goal was to make people raise and eyebrow without being "in your face" about it. We wanted the brand to have a high-end feel to it, both with the design and the quality of the shirt. We have created dozens of designs, including special editions for various holidays and events throughout the year. We have refined the original designs and decided on a format to deliver Coqy to the fabric in a way that mom might not be proud of, but she won't be able to avoid a smirk.

Throughout the process of developing House of Coq, we thought a lot about the purpose behind our new company. It shouldn't just be about t-shirts, and Shauna and I are very cause driven by nature. The more we considered it, the more we felt a natural alignment with men's health. There are so many organizations and events championing the fight against women's health issues, but we weren't hearing nearly as much about the plights of men in our modern public health arena. My father went through a battle with prostate cancer a few years ago, and it permanently changed his life in a very bad way. Although he survived it, his body will never be the same. It is our hope that House of Coq will help more men, and the people who love them, gain insight into the preventative measures for prostate and testicular cancer, as well as the best possible treatment options available.