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Sofia Overton: The Power of Pockets

Posted by hasseea20

· Friday, September 25th, 2020

· 2 Comments

Sofia Overton has wanted to be on Shark Tank since she was six. With a mind primed for innovation, it did not take her long to find her niche. An observer by nature, in 2017 Sofia noticed her older cousin struggling to store her phone in her pocket-less leggings. Sofia watched her cousin put the phone in her boot, so she tried it but found it too uncomfortable.

That is what started her entrepreneurial career. She designed a prototype sock with a pocket to hold her phone. It worked great and Wise Pockets was born. Through crowdfunding, Sofia was able to raise enough money for manufacturing. Crowdfunding can be a hit or miss risk, but for her it was a resounding success.

It worked so well that she expanded to leggings with pockets designed for carrying phones. It worked so well in fact, she earned spotlight attention and made it to Shark Tank in summer of 2020, scoring two investors.

Her self-confidence has set Sofia up for success and she is not afraid to look for new angles; she inspires with her ability to find problems with daily life and come up with a way to solve them.

Another important aspect of entrepreneurship, Sofia has a kind philanthropic heart. Impacted by the rate of homelessness at her school, she determined for every pair of socks sold one would be given to a child in need.

She said, “We are Generation Z kids who want their purchases to make a difference.” Sofia Overton is heading the wave of teenagers striving to make the world a better place. Both with purchasing, and with the opportunities they can offer the world by opening up their mind and not being afraid to use their gifts. Sofia shows us the mindset of the Gen Z.

2 Comments

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Charity, Clothing, Convenience, Fashion

GymShark

Posted by flennikenjj18

· Monday, September 14th, 2020

· 3 Comments

What do Apple, Amazon, Google and Hewlett-Packard all have in common? Other than being highly successful technology companies they also share the trait of being started in a garage. So when now 27 year-old Ben Francis decided to start his own fitness brand he figure that if their parents garage was good enough for the likes of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates it would work for him.

At the age of 19 years old Francis dropped out of college, returned to his parents home in the United Kingdom. He bought a sewing machine, stitching machine, and screen printer then converted then converted his parents garage into his workspace. From that garage Francis built a brand that has now reached a valuation of over 1.3 billion dollars.

Ben Francis, founder of Gymshark

Francis decided to start Gymshark because of a small problem he experienced when he lifted weights. He could never find comfortable lifting clothes so he stopped wasting his money and began sewing his own. Through conversations with friends and other weightlifters Francis knew this was a common problem and he sought to solve it himself. Francis displayed a trait that is common among many entrepreneurs. Instead of letting the problems he faced discourage him he decided to tackle the problem firsthand.

Ben Francis went from college dropout to the face of the fastest growing workout apparel brand in a matter of years. Through reading about his success story I learned a lot about the types of traits that set them apart from ordinary people. The first trait that Francis clearly exemplified was a lack of fear. Dropping out of school is a big decision that Francis appeared tackled with a quiet confidence. Very few people create ideas that they believe in enough to drop out of school and pursue full time. The second trait that I noticed in my research of Francis was his ability to see the problem. He knew exactly how he wanted to solve the problems with bad workout clothing. Clearly the problems he saw with workout apparel were felt among his peers because Gymshark has become a household name in the gym apparel business.

3 Comments

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Athletics, Clothing, Uncategorized

Moziah Bridges: Bowties for the Boys

Posted by hasseea20

· Monday, September 14th, 2020

· 1 Comment

Moziah Bridges is a fifteen-year-old CEO of his own fashion line. At such a young age he has embraced his colorful style and his driven personality has taken him far. The fashion industry fell in love with his designs and Mo featured on shark tank in 2014 when he was ten.

His main focus started with bowties; Moziah had always had an acute sense of style but the fashion market was too boring for his taste. So, he took matters into his own hands with the help of his granny.

The business started as a hobby, with a desire to be fashionable and make the world a more colorful place. Mo’s mission has remained constant with his ever-growing fame. A 600,000 dollar business started with just a sewing machine. Mo’s first bowties were made from scraps of his grandmother’s dresses and curtains, first just for himself. As word got around however, he started selling over Facebook and later Etsy.

It did not take long for news networks to take notice of the young entrepreneur with his bright designs and Moziah has made appearances on the Oprah Magazine, the Steve Harvey Show and others. Even the NBA was taken with his style and Mo got a licensing deal to use their logo in his designs.

Ever the model entrepreneur, Mo has not only been an innovator and a risk taker, he has used his success to benefit others. Very tied to his hometown of Memphis, he wanted to give other kids there the ability find their own opportunities. He paid for several children to attend a summer camp. His philanthropic personality and love for color have fueled the basis of his business.

Maybe on of his most amazing traits is his drive. Never letting his age keep him from pursuing his dreams, Moziah Bridges is the perfect example of entrepreneurs coming in every age.

1 Comment

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Business, Clothing, Content Entrepreneurs, Fashion, Uncategorized

Ben Francis: The Mastermind Behind Gymshark

Posted by christieac17

· Saturday, September 12th, 2020

· 1 Comment

If you go to the gym, you’ll see many different clothing brands worn by the people working out. Some of the brands that are always popular and worn by many are Nike, Adidas, and Under Armor. However, a brand that has quickly swam to the top and is becoming more and more popular in the workout community is Gymshark. The brand was started in 2012 by Ben Francis while he attended college at Aston University in England and since then, has been expanding every year since.

How it Started:

At the age of 19, Francis created Gymshark in his dorm room. However, he did not start his brand with selling clothing. The brand started out by selling supplements from other retailers. Nevertheless, Francis saw a need in the fitness industry. He did not like the style of clothing other brands had and thought he could fill that need. As a result, when he had saved enough money, he purchased a screen printer and sewing machine. He did not know how to sew, but quickly learned from his grandmother. Francis began selling his clothing on the Gymshark website and to his friends and family. Although he was not very successful, Francis loved what he was doing and wanted to grow. He started to send his products to YouTube fitness creators with big followings. Lex Griffith was the first sponsored Gymshark athlete and he advertised their gear to his subscribers. This is what started to blow up the brand and by the end of 2012, they were not making enough product to keep up with the demand of their customers.

Where Francis has taken the company:

Since Francis started the company in 2012, Gymshark’s sales has grown every year since. The brand did $500,000 in sales in 2013 and that grew to $52 million by the end of 2017! More recently in August, the company was valued at $1.3 billion in their first investment round. Francis was able to grow the brand so large and so quickly because of a few strategies. First, Gymshark does not over saturate with their clothes. They have limited releases with their clothing and most of their releases sell out very quickly. Besides their core clothing with just simple branding (which is always stocked), Gymshark creates cool designs and graphics for their clothes. Once these items sell out, they do not come back. This exclusivity creates high demand for consumers. Next, Gymshark only sells on their website and not through an intermediary which helps to keep costs down. This direct relationship with the customers makes the buying experience more personal as well. Finally, Francis was able to grow Gymshark because of their massive social media following. Their Instagram account boasts 4.7 million followers currently and showcases their sponsored athletes, customers, and general lifting how to’s. Because of all of this, Gymshark shows no sign of slowing down and growing even larger. All of this due to a college student who started a company at the age of 19 in his dorm room.

1 Comment

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Clothing, Fitness, Sports

Bombas – More Than Just Socks

Posted by Olivia Whiteman

· Sunday, November 17th, 2019

· 3 Comments

A common irritant in one’s daily life is socks. While it might not be your first thought for what irritates you, many people dislike it when their socks fall down, do not provide support, cause blisters, make your feet hot, or maybe worst of all, the irritating seam that goes across the toe of socks that never seems to be in the right place at the right time.

As it turns out, in 2013, David Heath and Randy Goldberg were irritated enough with these problems that they started a company called Bombas. Heath and Goldberg were regular consumers, knowing nothing about the in’s and out’s of the sock industry, but what they did know was their own pain points. They set out to achieve two goals: design the best sock in the history of feet, and give a pair of socks to a homeless shelter with every purchase. By targeting their own pain points, they developed unique socks.

The socks are all contoured to either a left or right foot. The ankle socks have a blister tab, calf-length socks have “stay-up technology” that actually works, and their no-show socks use stay-put heel grips and contour seam construction to stay where they are supposed to. All of the styles incorporate the company’s now signature honeycomb across the mid-foot to provide addition support, a y-stitched heel to cup the heel of your foot, and a reinforced foot-bed to be longer lasting and more supportive. Health and Goldberg now have several different styles and lines of socks including dress socks, compression socks, wool socks, quarter socks, and athletic socks, as well as the standard crew, ankle, and knee high socks.

To Heath and Goldberg’s second goal, they realized that the number one most requested item from homeless shelters was socks, due to the necessity that they be new. They developed a one-for-one business model and now for ever pair of socks you buy, they donate a brand new pair to a homeless shelter in need.

In 2014, Heath and Goldberg took Bombas to Shark Tank. They were successful in getting a deal with Daymon John, and officially launch the company. Heath and Goldberg hoped to give away one million socks by 2025 but in fact, they met that goal in only two and a half years, and a mere six months later, they had given away two million pairs. At the time this post was written, according to the live counter on the Bombas website, they have donated 27,811,296 pairs of socks.

Bombas is an example of two regular guys, seeing a pain in their own lives and finding a way to solve it. Not only have they created what are arguably the best socks in history, but they have also found a way to make a huge impact in the lives of many people who are in need of an item most of us take for granted: socks.

3 Comments

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Clothing, Helping Hands, Redemptive Entrepreneurship, Shark Tank, Social Impact, Socks

Serengetee

Posted by Stu Rozendal

· Tuesday, November 5th, 2019

· 1 Comment

Serengetee is a good example of the way that a company started by young people, especially college students, can grow to be something really cool, big, and impactful.

Serengetee today is a social venture clothing and accessories company that is known mostly for its tee shirts, but also for its hats, scrunchies, and more. Two college guys started it seven years ago when they met traveling abroad for a semester. When exploring local markets in different countries they were intrigued by the different fabrics they saw. They wanted to do something good with these fabrics and wanted to create a clothing company surrounding these fabrics and even though they had no previous experience in fashion they began to experiment with what they could do.

Their mission became this: they would buy fabric from all around the world, supporting local artisans and craftsmen, honoring generations-old traditions, and preserving and sharing these bits of culture and history by attaching the story of each specific fabric to the piece of clothing it became a part of. They then give 10% of their profits to social grassroots ventures across the world.

Serengetee is most known for their “pocket-tees”, which are colorful tee shirts with breast pockets crafted from the fabrics around the world. These tee shirts come with the story of the fabric and craftsmen who made it, raising awareness for that specific area. Sometimes these fabrics were made by people who were at-risk, or who are themselves part of a social venture.

Over the years they have expanded from tee shirts to hats, backpacks, scrunchies, beanies, socks, and even jewelry, but they stay true to their mission in everything they do.

I think that Serengetee is an excellent example of how to do a social venture well. I do not know much about the logistics of their business and how that all works, but from what I can see, they did a good job of starting focused in their mission, their goals, and their methods. In the years of growth since then, they have done what seems to me to be a good act of discernment in expanding certain aspects of their methods and goals by including diverse products, but not diverging too far from their brand, and staying true to their mission. Too many social ventures, especially by young entrepreneurs, are either far too specific or try to diversify themselves much too quickly. But from what I can see, they have avoided this pitfall.

I have followed the growth of Serengetee for the past three years or so and I am interested to see where they go from here, and what we can continue to learn from them.

1 Comment

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Charity, Clothing, Creating, Fashion, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Social Entrepreneur

Brian Keller and Zachary Quinn: Love Your Melon

Posted by Emma Lizewski

· Monday, November 4th, 2019

· 2 Comments

As the weather grows colder, I thought it was fitting to explore the great minds behind the growing brand, Love Your Melon. Zachary Quinn, 26, and Brian Keller, 25, met when they were both attending the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. On the second day of their entrepreneurship class, Brian and Zachary decided to join forces to create a project that would see a profit at the end of the semester. They decided to create a company that would sell beanies, and their reason was that it’s always cold in Minnesota. After raising $3500 in small loans from family and friends, Zachary and Brian sent their beanie design to a knitting mill in Portland, Oregon, and the embroidered logo was designed and created by a local business.

Once Brian and Zachary had their product, they decided to add a nonprofit element because Zachary was influenced by his mom’s contributions to homeless shelters. Brian and Zachary decided to donate one beanie for every beanie purchased to patients suffering from cancer. During their first round of sales, Love Your Melon sold 200 beanies in front of Zachary’s parents’ restaurant, so Brian and Zachary donated 200 beanies to oncology patients at a local children’s hospital.

Zachary was impacted greatly by one patient they donated a beanie to, and that inspired him to take a gap year so he could focus on growing the business. Pretty soon they were traveling and spreading the positive brand on a bus tour. During their adventures in 2014, they decided to create their college ambassador program because a lot of students were interested in delivering the beanies to cancer patients. Today, Love Your Melon has 13,000 students at 850 schools delivering beanies to kids with cancer, and they have expanded their product line to scarfs, blankets, and gloves.

This is an inspiring story and another example of how a great idea has started within a classroom. I think this proves that minds coming together can create a stronger company because Zachary was familiar with nonprofits but needed Brian to help create a product that can serve his mission. What really impressed me about this story was the passion that Zachary and Brian had. They didn’t stop at getting an A in the class, they were impacted by the patients they were serving, and that drove them to continue growing Love Your Melon. Finally, Love Your Melon is a great example of a company that started with a simple product/niche but eventually expanded into a larger market.

2 Comments

Categories : Business, Charity, Clothing

Mo’s Bows

Posted by Emma O'Toole

· Thursday, October 31st, 2019

· 4 Comments

Moziah “Mo” Bridges loved to wear three-piece suits as he loved dressing up, but he hated the bow ties that were sold in stores. None of them were stylish enough for his taste to make him look sharp. At 9 years old, he created Mo’s Bows, to solve that problem.

When Mo came up with the idea for Mo’s Bows, his grandmother, a former seamstress, taught him how to sew. Mo, his mother, and grandmother all helped out sewing the ties in the early days of the company and ran the business from their home. He sold his creations to local stores and got attention of national press outlets like The Steve Harvey Morning Show and Oprah Magazine. This helped him land on an episode of Shark Tank in 2014, and got one of the best deals in the show’s history.

He landed a deal with Daymond John as Daymond offered to mentor Mo for free. Daymond said he identified with the young Mo working with this single mother and grandmother out of their house trying to grow their clothing business.

Since 2011, Mo’s Bows has brought in $600,000 in sales. The company now has seven full time employees, including Mo and his mother. He bow ties are still being made my hand in their hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.

This relationship opened up many doors for Mo, like getting his bow tie business in Neiman Marcus and Cole Haan stores. Recently, he scored a 7 figure licensing deal with the NBA to make bow ties for all 30 NBA teams. Daymond taught Mo about giving back, so Mo incorporated this and now has a redemptive side to his company: each year Mo creates a bow tie where all proceeds go to St. Jude’s Research Hospital.

Now at 17 years old, Mo is planning on having a complete fashion line by the time he is 20 years old. He wants to attend The Parsons School of Design in New York City pursuing a degree in Fashion Design. He added new clothing and apparel to Mo’s Bows including neck ties, pocket squares, t-shirts, and hats.

Mo found a problem in his passion of style and fashion and turned it into a $1 million company.

Check out Mo’s Bows here

4 Comments

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Clothing, eCommerce, Fashion, Millennial Enrepreneuers

Amber Venz Box: Turning “Likes” into Dollars

Posted by Emma Lizewski

· Monday, October 14th, 2019

· 3 Comments

Amber Venz Box has taken the fashion-tech industry by storm while being a mother, wife, and successful business woman all at the age of thirty. The Dallas native has turned photos on social media into a way for style inspirations to make money. Mulling over the idea with her husband, at the time boyfriend, the two created an online website called RewardStyle with an affiliated app called LIKEtoKNOW.it. This company connects retailers with social media users so that people can easily find and purchase an outfit they saw in someone’s post. This new way of selling and shopping has seen one billion dollars worth of success and is growing. Box’s idea began before Instagram dominated social media platforms, which proved to make this company difficult to start.

RewardStyle was born from Amber’s own pain when was struggling for money as a twenty-two year old living in Dallas. Amber had her own consulting business where people would sign up and pay for a fashion consultation. She also ran a personal blog that kept up with her daily attire and style. Amber realized that she was losing money because people were just buying what she was blogging about instead of scheduling a consultation, and at the time money was her focus. It was then when she began crafting her idea to create a platform that would make her money, make retailers money, and make customers’ shopping experience easier.

It wasn’t a simple process, however, because Amber Venz Box ran into trouble trying to get large retailers to notice her and take the time to listen. There were many times when retailers would tell her there is no budget to work with bloggers because they mostly focus on celebrities and magazines. Amber also saw problems arising in her marriage because their opinions about running the business were different. With great persistence and patience, Amber was able to close a deal with a smaller retailer who saw an increase in revenue after working with her company. This brought the couple closer together, and they are now a strong business duo. Today, Amber is working with over 4,500 retailers who pay commission to users promoting their merchandise, which leads to sales for the company right from the picture.

Hearing the persistence Amber required to get her company running echoed what we have been talking about in class and with the quest speakers. Start-up companies can’t be successful unless you want it and adapt your strategy for the market you are trying to pitch to. Sometimes failure is regardless, but we should never give up after a few failed attempts. Amber was able to solve her own pain, but she also solved the pain felt by different markets. In other words, Box took her passion for style to create a new piece of technology that has changed the fashion industry.

3 Comments

Categories : App, Clothing, Fashion, Social Media, Technology

Beaux and Paws – 12 year old makes bow ties for a cause

Posted by Laura Mosley

· Sunday, October 13th, 2019

· 2 Comments

Meet Darius Brown – a 12-year-old entrepreneur with a passion for bow ties and helping animals find their forever homes. It all began back in 2017 when Darius was watching hurricanes Harvey and Irma on TV. As homes were destroyed, so were pets’ lives. Shelters became overcrowded and began to consider euthanasia as an alternative. Darius saw this need and decided to do something. He began sewing bow ties for the shelters to put on their animals in hopes of making them look cuter to prospective adopters. This would help animals find a home and free up the system for new animals who would inevitably come in.

Later in 2017, he created “Beaux and Paws” to reach a larger audience. He began making his custom bow ties for both people and pets and donating a portion of each profit to the ASPCA. His additional GoFundMe has allowed him to visit other cities around the U.S. and volunteer his services as local shelters, helping even more pets to find a loving home.

Darius’ commitment has gained him national attention and he has appeared on NBC, the Rachel Ray Show, and has even received a letter from former President Barack Obama.

His story is particularly amazing because of his own struggles. When Darius was two years old, he was diagnosed with speech delay, comprehension delay, and fine motor skills delay. With the help of his mother and sister, he overcame these challenges by learning to sew, and today he hopes to one day attend Standford and launch his own clothing line.

2 Comments

Categories : App, Charity, Clothing, Dogs, Fashion, Kids, Pets, Youngest Entrepreneurs