Boston Stadium Workers Get Brunt Boot Sponsorship

The 5-year-old Boston-based boot brand Brunt wanted a way in to major professional sports marketing, so the brand stayed true to its blue-collar roots and sponsored the field crew at Gillette Stadium and TD Garden Bullgang.

“Every partnership we do, we need to make sure we are really authentic for actual tradesmen and women, blue collars workers, and not completely out of our lane,” Eric Girouard, Brunt founder, tells me. “How could we do this?”

The answer came when Girouard was meeting with officials from the NFL’s New England Patriots. He looked outside and the field crew was putting the lines down on the Gillette Stadium field, prepping for an upcoming game. “The light bulb went off,” he tells me. “Those are our celebrities, those are our athletes, wearing boots every day. Nobody has asked to sponsor the field crew in history, they don’t get as much attention. So, we thought it was the most authentic way.”

What started with the Patriots in August—in a multi-year deal Brunt is an official partner with the New England Patriots, Gillette Stadium and the Gillette Stadium Field Crew—moved into a one-year deal with the Boston Bruins this October as an official partner of the Boston Bruins, TD Garden and the TD Garden Bullgang. Brunt also launched a sponsorship deal this September with Bruins’ defensemen Charlie McAvoy, whose father runs a plumbing and heating company and used to drive to hockey games in his dad’s plumbing van.

“Growing up around my family’s plumbing business, I’ve always respected the kind of hard work that goes into a job done right, which is why teaming up with Brunt felt like a natural fit,” McAvoy says. “Brunt is about supporting people who show up every day and put in the work, just like the Bullgang does at TD Garden. The pride and care they put into their work is something every player notices and respects.”

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As part of the team and venue deals, Brunt supplies the roughly one dozen Gillette Stadium field crew members with boots of their choice, plus branded apparel, including work pants, shirts, hoodies and coats. The same is true for the roughly 90 members of the bull gang at TD Garden, the group responsible for flipping the arena between NBA and NHL surfaces, along with converting the venue to concerts.

“From mowing, sodding, to hauling equipment, our crew works tirelessly to give fans and players a seamless game day experience,” says Ryan Bjorn, Gillette Stadium field superintendent. “Brunt’s gear is built for the job.”

Girouard says each member gets to select the boots they want to work in as each may have a slightly different job, whether working on the ice or fixing glass when it breaks.

“It has been great,” Girouard says, adding that the brand has really embraced the partnership and been able to run a tailgate at Gillette Stadium and interact with customers at both venues. “Our customers appreciate the localness of the sponsorship and the authenticity of it, sponsoring folks who don’t really get it [otherwise].”

Joao Rebelo, director of operations at TD Garden, says it takes plenty of work to keep the arena running. “It’s incredible to have a partner like Brunt that really understands our team and the work we do,” he says, “and has all the gear the team needs to stay comfortable and protected on the job.”

Girouard launched the brand in 2025 with four boots, all named after the last names of childhood friends who currently work in the trades (Marin, Bolduc, Perkins and Ryng). The top-seller, the Marin, is named after Matt Marin, a union drywaller based out of Connecticut, has grown to include more than a dozen variations in heights, heels and materials.

To create the Marin, Girouard worked with his friend to build a mock toe style that solved his pain points with other brands, the short durability, painful break-in period and quick wear of the soles. Girouard says he decided to use premium-level materials and price it in a mid-tier range. He built the boot from the outside in, with a generous last “so the boots ride like a Suburban versus a sports car,” to help with break in since the leather doesn’t need to remold to the foot. He also put a rubber skin on the outsole to help reduce wear through.

Brunt added a patented Brunt Toe, a hard TPU piece stitched to the boot to cover the toe and the kick of the heel, allowing workers on their knees or working in unique spaces and positions not to wear through the toe of their boot, something that can happen within weeks with the leather covering and rubbing against an interior safety toe.

The focus on modern tradespeople—and not streetwear trends—has pushed Brunt to become the fastest-growing workwear brand in the country with 345% wholesale growth in the past year. It’s also propelled Brunt into major sports with a focus on the workers who make stadiums and arenas fit for play.

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