A dog barks, piercing the air. It's 9 a.m., and things are quiet at 6205 S.W. Admiral Way. Elaborately spray-painted BMW car hoods are displayed in the yard. A two-dimensional bear stands by the walkway, holding a "will maul for Casual" sign.

Thirty minutes later, a battered VW Beetle screeches to a halt outside the house and Dan Reid jumps out, coffee in hand. He pounds on the bedroom door of his brother, Brendan Reid. "Wake up!" he yells. A UPS truck pulls into the driveway with a delivery of large cardboard boxes. Dan grins and says, "Just a typical morning at Casual."

After years of hard work - and even harder financial struggles - the brothers are finally seeing the fruits of their labor; Casual Industrees, their "ad hoc clothing experiment," has begun to take off.

The Reid brothers grew up in north Seattle. They attended Seattle Prep High School, but according to Dan, they just didn't fit in. "No one else really skated or snowboarded - we were like the redheads; we stuck out," he says.

During the winters, the Reids had a lot of time to think.

"We spent a lot of time in the car," says Dan, driving to and from the mountains to snowboard. On these long drives, they talked, and they dreamed.

It occurred to the brothers that they both wore hooded sweatshirts - "hoodies" - constantly, but didn't actually like any of them. So in the winter of '98, they decided to make their own.

The Reids named their company Casual Industrees, and started making hooded sweatshirts in their basement; T-shirts followed a short time later.

Brendan remembers their first T-shirt design: "It had the Casual Industrees logo (a segmented Washington state) in an orange-red fade," he says. "We were really lucky; it looked good printed on any color."

Still, Casual Industrees was more of an idea than a reality. The shirts they made were mostly for friends, and they were not making a profit. Since both brothers had "day jobs," the company never fully took off.

That is, until two years ago.

"People were always telling me I should quit my job and just work on the company," says Dan. "But it was scary."

Luckily for Dan - and the future of Casual Industrees - his boss supported his dream. Realizing Dan would never quit on his own, he fired him.

With the extra time Dan now had and a $1,200 damage deposit refund from a Mount Baker house rental, the brothers were able to really start their company. They enlisted the help of their friend, a graphic designer and "bachelor at large" Matt Bain, and "just went for it," says Dan. "We just put it all out there."

Although the company was founded on the two brothers' desire for cooler-looking hoodies, it has evolved into something deeper: state pride. The most recognized Casual Industrees logo is the green Washington state, the "WA Brah." Stickers bearing this image and representing the company can be found everywhere in Washington, as well as in other states and at Whistler, B.C.

"The WA Brah is like a banner, something that people can get behind," says Brendan.

Dan agrees; he likens Seattle to a sleeping giant: there's a lot of pride in Seattle, people just need a rallying device. Casual Industrees, in the brothers' opinion, provides that inspiration.

"In Seattle, you see people representing New York, or San Francisco," says Dan. "Why is there no Washington representation?"

His philosophy is that if you live here, you should like it.

"Some of the best companies come from Seattle," he says. "Starbucks and Microsoft came from Seattle, they didn't come from California."

The Reids started selling their shirts through the Mount Baker Snowboard Shop, and then a few "core" retail vendors followed, including Coastal Surf Boutique on Alki, Extremely Board, Evo, Snowboard Connection and Checka Looka. They also make shirts for local band The Mob Law, as well as The Bamboo Bar and Grill on Alki.

Just recently, the shirts were picked up by Nordstrom and Urban Outfitters; the Casual Industrees shirts have been seen on television's "Deadliest Catch," "The Soup," and were worn by Blake Lewis on "American Idol."

Due to increasing popularity and the growing presence of their brand in corporate chain stores, some people have begun to label Casual Industrees as a "sellout." Although both brothers acknowledge these accusations, they disagree.

"You haven't lived like us," says Dan. "Take a ride in my '74 Beetle that smells like gas and is full of T-shirts." Their business is still run out of their basement, and he describes their life as "full time Casual; like living worse than any college kid." Since they want to keep most of their money in the company, "You feel guilty for every penny you spend," he says.

Brendan feels the same, saying "You gotta do what you feel is right for your business." He adds that they devote so much time and energy to their company that his 5-year-old daughter thinks "Casual Industrees" is "where daddy and uncle Dan live."

The company's target customer is "ambiguous," the brothers say. They don't have a person in mind. In their opinion, they have something for everyone. "(Our shirts) have universal appeal," says Brendan. "It's art. We just use graphics that we like."

How do they find artists? "Artists find us," says Dan. "Brendan and I are creative directors. We make artists realize our vision." He describes it as a collaboration process. "Anyone can work for us," he adds. "We are not exclusive."

The brothers' dream is to keep growing. Brendan describes success as "When we're fully able to support ourselves and have money to do product development, continue to create and have brand extensions."

Dan wants to be a household name: "When you hear Casual, you think of the clothing, like Xerox," he says. He wants Casual to be synonymous with a lifestyle, "the good life."

More than anything, the brothers want to raise local awareness. "Lots of good stuff is going on in Seattle," says Dan. "It's just not organized."

Brendan agrees, adding that nothing is really "shining a flashlight" on Washington.

"We're not just known for our coffee," says Dan. A throwback to the 1980's animated series about a shape-changing mecha robot, he presents this analogy: "When the West Coast forms like Voltron, Washington's the head."

Mia LaCourse is a Seattle area freelance writer who can be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com