Four former Stanford classmates are revolutionizing the shorts industry. Rainer Castillo, Kyle Hency, Tom Montgomery and Preston Rutherford are these classmates who are in charge of running the company Chubbies Shorts.
The four had a tradition of dressing up in wild wear for parties over the July 4th holiday at Lake Tahoe. In 2011, Castillo decided to put together a pair of shorter shorts with American flag inspirations. He made a few for his friends and brought 20 with him looking to sell them to party goers that weekend. He quickly sold all 20 for $5o each and from this birthed his idea for the company. The four put their skill sets together to come up with an online retailer in 2011.
They faced challenges along the way, one of which is one more people probably wished they had. They could never keep the shorts in stock consistently selling out of the shorts. Until 2013, they were unable to meet the demand, however, now they are able to meet the demand due to their superior supply chain process. In one day in March 2013 they sold 10,000 of their popular ‘Mericas for $60 each.
The company started its marketing campaigns with a very heavy “fratboy” focus. The content they produced attracted a massive audience before they started releasing massive amounts of shorts. The content was at first just intended to make their friends laugh and get a quick joke. It has now turned into a marketing phenomenon as people hang on every word that is released in their weekly “WEEKENDER” email that is sent out every Friday.
The shorts are 5.5″ inseams are considered “thigh-liberators,” the “quadfecta” of founders have hit a market they created. They use 125 college ambassadors at larger universities to spread the word of this company, and its mission statement to “end cargo shorts,” and to relieve your legs from the “necessary evil of pants for the work week.” The company looks to continue to grow as it tripled sales between 2012 and 2013. They are revolutionizing the shorts industry and chances are they will continue to do so.
They found an untapped market and became leaders of it very quickly. Not many companies target the “fratboy” type, but their marketing strategy is obviously very successful.
I’ve heard of these shorts before, and they seem to be very popular on college campuses. I never knew that they started out by a guy making them for his friends at a 4th of July Party. These guys are super creative and I will probably invest in a pair of these.