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Silly Bandz – Years in the Making to Finally Hit it Big

Posted by Hannah Sedam

· Friday, November 8th, 2019

· 8 Comments

Image result for Robert Croak

Robert Croak founded Brainchild Products, which was the company who in 2006 released a bunch of colorful, shaped rubber-bands called Silly Bandz. Anyone who was born from 1997 to 2007 probably remembers the Silly Bandz craze in elementary school and middle school. Silly Bandz success was no accident but a lot of hard work by the hand of the inventor.

When Robert was 23, he took over his grandparents’ restaurant and got into the business ownership world. He opened two more restaurants during the 1990’s as well as started a concert promotion company and a custom apparel company where he first experimented with selling custom rubber band bracelets. Robert thought that this idea of custom silicone bracelets would be a big hit, but he didn’t get as much traction as he had hoped.

Image result for silly bandz" Silly Bandz finally took off at a trade show in China in 2006, where Robert saw similar shaped rubber bands created by a Japanese designer. This trip gave Robert the three changes he needed for Silly Bandz to be what they are today; bigger, thicker, and more detailed. During the peak of the craze, in 2008, more than a million packs of Silly Bandz a week were sold. Phones were ringing off the hook and supply was flying off of the shelf.

Silly Bandz was so successful, they ran a Facebook ad offering work on the spot. A line down the sidewalk was the response, and the warehouse was so full of work that tables outside the building were being used to pack orders. The frenzy started to slow during the summer of 2010, at which point the craze in the Unites States was thought to be over. Robert Croak was content and was happy to have hit it big with his idea, but that is not the end.

Walking around campus, I have noticed a very interesting article on primarily sophomores and freshman’s arms. Its Silly Bandz, making a potential comeback. I asked my friends why, and the reasoning that I have gotten is that they remind them of an earlier time in their life, and they are simple and classic. Who knows how this new emergence will affect the company; maybe there will be another $200 million craze, or just another blip on the map. Either way, Silly Bandz has affected millions of people through its fun, crazy colored and shaped silicone bracelets.

8 Comments

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Fashion, Vintage

Vincent Charles Salon – run by an 11 year old

Posted by Hannah Sedam

· Friday, November 8th, 2019

· 4 Comments

Image result for vince weishaus"

Vince Weishaus is a 11-year-old hair stylist in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Vince has his own salon in his parent’s basement. He started doing hair when he was 2 years old with braiding his mother’s hair and playing with his sister’s dolls. His favorite hairstyle to do was braiding. He gave his first haircut to his grandmother at the age of 5 under the careful supervision and assistance of his Aunt.

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From there, Vince’s love for hair grew, so much so that his parents gave him his own salon for his 9^th birthday. The supplies were donated from his old neighbor who moved to a different house. Vincent Charles Salon was open for appointments, all free of charge.

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His Instagram has only around 2500 follower, but highlights a smiley, happy young boy living out his dream. Vince Weishaus enjoys being a stylist because he enjoys making people feel happy. While Vince is still young, he wants to become a celebrity hair colorist. The sky is the limit when you work hard and do what you love and continue to work hard. Vince figured out that is you love your work, you won’t “work” a day in your life.

4 Comments

Categories : Beauty, Celebrities, Charity, Detroit, Fashion, Makeup, News, Youngest Entrepreneurs

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

Pura Vida

Posted by Olivia Whiteman

· Monday, November 4th, 2019

· 6 Comments

Griffin Thall and Paul Goodman are the founders of the bracelet and jewelry company, Pura Vida. Pura Vida was started when Thall and Goodman visited Costa Rica in 2010 while they were both still college students. While there, they fell in love with the place, the colors, and the easy going lifestyle that was common in Costa Rica. They met two people who were making bracelets on the streets. Thall and Goodman were distraught when they found out that these two people, while making and selling beautiful bracelets, were struggling to survive and support their families. Wanting to find a way to help, they ordered 400 bracelets and brought them back to San Diego, where they proceeded to sell them all in one small shop within a few days.

Determined to continue to make a difference, Thall and Goodman started the Pura Vida company, which means “pure life”. The brand is meant to represent the little things in life and slowing down to live life to the fullest. Pura Vida is now working with numerous artisans in Costa Rica, selling the handmade bracelets in hundreds of color combinations, all around the world. They are currently working with over 800 artisans in Costa Rica, as well as in El Salvador, and India, giving the artisans an opportunity to generate a steady and stable income to support themselves and their families.

The simple action of seeing the struggle of bracelet makers in Costa Rica gave Thall and Goodman the idea to create a company and a movement to help not only the people they met on their trip, but others with similar stories, by giving them an outlet to reach a greater market with their bracelets. This simple idea of wax coated string bracelets has now turned into a company that sells millions of bracelets world wide every year, while supporting artisans who would not otherwise be able to have that type of reach.

6 Comments

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Beauty, Fashion, Jewelry, Redemptive Entrepreneurship, Social Impact

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

Kylie Cosmetics- The Making of a Billionaire

Posted by Ashley Ostrowski

· Monday, October 14th, 2019

· 4 Comments

A billion. It’s a number that seems impossible to picture in our minds. It’s one that counts our population, our galaxy, and it could make up seemingly infinite lifetimes. For most people, this idea of the billion exists only in the hypothetical or in the things beyond this world. So, when someone achieves it, it leaves the world wondering how.
In March of 2019, Kylie Jenner was listed by Forbes Magazine as the world’s youngest self-made billionaire at twenty-one-years old. TV jumpstarted her fame Kylie’s name when she appeared on the reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians when she was just ten years old. Since then, she’s used her name to create her brand. She started with endorsements for beauty companies. In 2013, Kylie had 2 nail polishes named after her as a part of a Kardashian Colors nail polish kit from Nicole by API. In the same year, she and her sister Kendall started a clothing line with Pac Sun and a jewelry line with Pascal Mouawad’s Glamhouse.
In 2015, Kylie decided to create a lipstick line pf her own, which she called the “Kylie Jenner Lip Kit.” Jenner said she took inspiration from her love of make-up tutorials and using makeup to make her lips look fuller. She started selling the lip kits for $29 online and they sold out right away. She created an app for the company and then changed the name to “Kylie Cosmetics” in 2016. Since, she’s started selling at Ulta Beauty, a decision that led her to make $54.5 million in six months. Being one of the most-followed people on social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat, social media has been a major medium for promoting her products. It’s the power of social media,” Kylie said on the topic, “I had such a strong reach before I was able to start anything.” In fact, Ulta itself hasn’t done any marketing for the brand, which, the company has said just doesn’t happen. Kylie’s management of her social media pages has really made Kylie Cosmetics.
Part of the success of Kylie’s sales relies on scarcity. The company launches a set amount of products at a time, and each time, they sell out. The company continues to grow as it includes more makeup products, and Forbes magazine estimates that the company is currently worth 900 million dollars. Kylie Jenner is a successful entrepreneur by using her social media to market her brand to makeup users. In conclusion, Kylie truly captures the image of a millennial entrepreneur, using current media to create a brand for herself.

4 Comments

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Celebrities, Fashion, Female Empowerment, Makeup, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Social Media, Television, Women Entrepreneurs

The Men Behind Pinterest

Posted by Rebecca Cloyd

· Sunday, October 13th, 2019

· 2 Comments

Pinterest is a widely used app and website that allows you to get inspired and find ideas for things to bake, make, wear and use! The idea for Pinterest first came to Ben Silbermann in his years post graduation from Yale. In 2009 the project to build Pinterest officially began, but the app itself never took off running until a year or so late. The phrase “patience is key” comes to mind when thinking about the beginnings of this app, and I think Silbermann would agree. Flash forward to the present, Pinterest is currently worth 1.5 Billion dollars, and is used in several countries all over the world namely the US and Asia. The creators of Pinterest are constantly coming out with new ways to improve the app and cater to the interests and desires of the users. With the most recent update being the ability to purchase things off of their app, Pinterest is now becoming a competitor with online shopping sites. According to an article about the app Pinterest recently passed up Facebook in terms likes gained from adds and promotions. In that same article Silbermann makes a point to recognize the hard work that he and his co-founder Evan Sharp had to put in along with the patience and trust that something would come of it eventually. Along with that he says that it is important to realize there is more to life than the project you are working on and it is good to think about those things in addition to whatever your work might be. It seems as if Silbermann has a good understanding of the necessity of a good work/life balance and how not having too much of one or the other can ruin a person and cause them to burn out. It is unclear what the future holds for Pinterest, but there is hope and motivation to continue impacting the world in a positive way through this app.

2 Comments

Categories : App, Cooking, Creating, Education, Fashion, Fitness, Websites

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

The Brothers behind Vineyard Vines

Posted by Emma O'Toole

· Saturday, October 12th, 2019

· 2 Comments

After a particularly bad day at his job at a marketing and communications company, Shep Murray was told to think more “inside the box”. He did not like hearing this phrase, and decided to quit. Shep then called his younger brother, Ian Murray, and told him that he quit his job and dared Ian to do the same. Shep got a call minutes later saying that his brother Ian followed through and quit his job too.

During a family trip to Aguilla in 1997, Shep and Ian talked about creating a high end neck tie company that represented the finer things in life. Ian and Shep had more time to pursue this business idea since they both quit their jobs.

Before quitting their jobs, they used their last paychecks and applied for as many credit cards as possible while they still had credit. Cash advances from the new credit cards helped Shep and Ian fund Vineyard Vines in the beginning stages. Both brothers used their contacts at their former jobs to make connections in the fashion and design industry.

In 1998, Shep and Ian noticed that no one was wearing ties because they thought they were boring. Men only wore ties to weddings or graduations. They wanted to use this to their advantage, and they did. They wanted to make neckties more appealing to more people, especially preppy New Englanders. Their idea was to make a product line of neck ties that had whimsical and colorful patterns that could spark conversations.

To build their brand, the brothers took a different approach to find customers that would want to purchase their products. During July 1999, they would couch surf up and down the eastern seaboard, carrying bags with merchandise inside. They focused specifically on selling at Martha’s Vineyard, and would bike ride and boat around beaches hoping to find customers interested in purchasing products. They even went to holiday boutiques and church fairs to sell. The summer of 1999 was the time of largest growth that they have every seen. After this growth season, they moved their in home offices into larger office spaces in Connecticut, where the brothers grew up. The brothers spent their summers as kids on Martha’s Vineyard, which inspired the name and concept of their brand. This was another reason why they chose to have their headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.

Shep and Ian were gifted with a incredible opportunity: to create a custom neck tie for Aflac, an insurance company. The design resulted in a $400,000 commitment to purchase 10,000 ties. They bought a boat and then got busy fulfilling the order. in 2005, the brothers opened their first retail store on Martha’s Vineyard. Within 3 years, they surpassed $1 million in sales.

Today, there are 91 Vineyard Vines stores across the United States. They have also expanded the product line to include clothing, swimwear, and bags for men, women, and children. They are still known for their bright and playful prints. The company is still 100% owned by the brothers, and the financial freedom allows them to be flexible, responsive, and fully committed to the brand’s essence — selling the “good life” and “Every day should feel this good!”. Vineyard Vines is very popular among so many people today, and known for their whale icon on t-shirts and other products.

Vineyard Vines sells an experience. It offers something that everyone wants: the ability to convey a nice life. Shep and Ian Murray were able to tap into the New England lifestyle and make it into their company and brand. The story of the Murray brothers shows that sometimes safety in a job/career is not the best thing. Break out of your shell and start something new. Everyday should feel good, like the essence of Vineyard Vine’s brand.

Check out Vineyard Vines products here

2 Comments

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Clothing, Fashion, Travel