TopChedLax was founded by two Grove City College students in 2013, who are members of the Club Lacrosse team at Grove City. Daniel Casselli and Will Stumpf came up with an idea in their dorm rooms for a lacrosse clothing company focused on “shredding high cheese.”
They focused on the community of “lax bros” who do nothing but play lacrosse. It is a content driven company, in so far as, they understand the difficulties that are inherent in the clothing industry. They have differentiated themselves by driving the need for their product by painting a certain picture in the customers mind of who would wear this clothing. The consumer then, presumably, wants to fit this image so they buy their clothing.
In their own words,”Inspired by the sun drenched, salt stained, American born lax lifestyle, Top Ched Lax is the eye-catching clothing that will set you apart in a crowd. Our clothing may be too bold for most to pull off, but that is exactly what makes it so special for those who can. Ask yourself, do you have what it takes to be daringly different?”
So like the guys say “Top Cheddar is always Beddar.” it will be fascinating to see what they do with this brand.
I love how these two students took a spark of an idea, something many of us have had in the silly conversations in our dorm rooms, and made it into something big. Their business has a very specific target market – one of the basic reasons they can set themselves apart.
Creating a community within a product audience is priceless. Dan and Will are able to identify with their market and therefore know how to best sell the product. You can’t say “Throwing on one of these puppies is like having dinner with George Washington, not only do you feel awesome, you basically become one of the most rad people in town. Don’t hesitate, you know you want these” to just anyone. But within their market…it’s perfect!
One of my favorite parts of this company is that anyone on campus can walk up to Will or Dan with some advice or suggestions and see the implementation right before their eyes!