A small Denver business that works with veterans to transform military surplus fabric into fashionable bags is gunning for a free commercial during the most-watched television event of the year.
, founded by sisters Emily Núñez Cavness and Betsy Núñez, is one of 10 finalists across the country — and two in Colorado, along with Parker-based EZPZ— competing for a 30-second spot during Super Bowl 50 sponsored by Intuit QuickBooks.
In 2014, the last time QuickBooks ran the contest, the winner, toy startup , according to Nielsen.
“It would be such a game changer for Sword & Plough,” said Núñez Cavness, co-founder and CEO. “How incredible would it be to share our mission with millions of people?”
Sword & Plough has come a long way since one question three years ago turned into a six-hour brainstorming session that kicked everything off.
“(Emily) just looks at me and says, ‘What would you say if I would turn one of my ROTC tents into a tote bag?’ ” said co-founder and chief operating officer Betsy Núñez. “I immediately got excited. What would the bag look like? Would you just make one for yourself? Do I get one? Does Mom?”
For the sisters, the military and its trappings were familiar terrain. Their father served a 30-year career in the Army, retiring in 2007 as a colonel.
Emily, who was born at West Point, followed in the family tradition, joining Army ROTC while a student at Middlebury College in Vermont. At the time, she was the only ROTC cadet on campus, which led to a lot of interesting conversations with her classmates, she said.
After her sophomore year, she attended Army Airborne School at Fort Benning, Ga., during the summer as part of her ROTC training. Her conversations there with active-duty soldiers about veterans’ challenges in gaining civilian employment were hard to forget.
“We had so much to think about,” Núñez Cavness said. “On the one hand, we wanted to create a product that would be desirable on its own without knowing the mission behind it. But we were also dreaming up, how can we have social impact in every part of the business model?”
In 2013, after winning a business plan competition, to get its first line of bags into production.
The goal was to raise $20,000 in 30 days. By the end of the campaign, the sisters had raised $312,000 from more than 1,500 backers.
A month later, Emily deployed to Afghanistan, leaving Betsy to hold down day-to-day operations.
Today, the company is based in Denver. Emily, a first lieutenant with the 10th Special Forces Group, is still active-duty and based at Fort Carson.
Veterans and veteran-owned businesses are employed at every stage of Sword & Plough’s process — product design, sewing, leather cutting, quality assurance, warehouse management, even models.
“It’s really about promoting that veterans are empowering assets to communities,” Núñez Cavness said. “To me, it’s a no-brainer. Veterans, they’ve proven themselves as great leaders and technically competent professionals as well.”
The company name refers to a passage in the Bible about turning “swords into ploughshares,” or taking military technology and applying it to peaceful civilian use.
To date, Sword & Plough has repurposed more than 30,000 pounds of military surplus fabric into smart-looking, durable backpacks, totes, messengers and hand bags.
The company also donates 10 percent of its after-tax profits to veterans organizations, including and Feeding Our Vets.
Its board of advisers includes leaders at Hewlett-Packard, Toms and Trader Joe’s, as well as , former chairman and CEO of Hasbro Toys.
Tom Gart, president of The Gart Companies, has been one of the sisters’ advisers since the early days and said he expects them to “do a ton of business no matter what,” Super Bowl commercial or no. (Emily’s husband, Cully Cavness, went to school with Gart’s son.)
“It’s a great story, and I think they do make a great product at the same time,” Gart said. “I’ve been very, very impressed with them from the beginning.”
Sword & Plough isn’t the only Colorado company competing for the commercial.
, a Parker-based maker of a colorful all-in-one plate and place mat, also made it to the top 10, from more than 15,000 entries nationwide.
A mother of “three messy boys,” founder Lindsey Laurain got the idea last year after another frustrating mealtime where food ended up all over the place.
From that all-too-common parenting experience, the Happy Mat was born. The 100 percent silicone mat with built-in smiley-face plate can’t be tossed or thrown for one simple reason: It suctions to the table.
“Our goal, our long-term goal is to revolutionize the feeding industry and make healthy food fun, have kids sitting at the table with their families, not in a highchair,” Laurain said. “The Super Bowl commercial will allow us to reach our goal a little bit quicker.”
Emilie Rusch: 303-954-2457, erusch@denverpost.com or @emilierusch
Small business, big game
Colorado businesses Sword & Plough and EZPZ are in the running for a free 30-second Super Bowl commercial sponsored by Intuit QuickBooks. . Second- and third-place winners will receive $25,000 and local advertising valued up to $15,000. The grand-prize winner gets an all-expenses-paid commercial during the big game Feb. 7. Vote at .
