Tracey St. John and Kim Jacobs love to ride quads at the desert and wanted a product they could ride in and still feel and look like women. Research was gathered, products designed, and Huchi Gear emerged. Read Tracey exclusive words about their desert riding story!
A desert riding story
A few girls at the desert at a campfire talked about starting a business—of course, a few cocktails were involved. That is where we started! At this point, there were very few clothing companies with riding gear that catered to quad riding, desert-loving women. The name was picked that evening by one of our friends who wanted the name ‘dirty!’ We had our first meeting and everyone declined business involvement except Kim and me (Tracey). We cleaned up the name and changed it to Huchi. I did research on the name and found out that in Japanese it means ‘Goddess of Fire.’ Let me tell you our road was rocky. Many fights! Honestly, we could write a thousand page book on that! We went to Los Angeles with our spouses to find material to make our pants. We spent a lot of money to come up with the product we have now, which is pretty darn good.
At first, we had our friends sell our clothing at their shop and during desert season at their booth. He got us in Dirt Wheels magazine for our first article. After a while we had so much inventory that it was too hard for our friends to carry everything and the few stores we distributed to only carried a small amount of our inventory.
So by the third year in business, we decided to try it on our own. We had so much fun—sold at the desert (won a toy hauler), Thunderboats, Oktoberfest, Off-road shows, and so much more! We met an heiress, boat racers, rode in the fastest cars in the desert while we threw out clothes for promotion, sold to bigwigs in the police force, military, you name it! We were profiled in several videos and pictures. We signed autographs, and even posed in pictures with some of our best customers. We met so many people and that was the best part. Even men loved buying our clothes for their girlfriends/wives. We learned to size a woman up by the spouse or significant others body description. We do not know how it happened, but our product has been sold online all over the United States.
There are lots of people who have asked us how to start a business! In fact, right before writing this article, I had a friend’s son ask how to legitimately to sell online. One reason that most people do not become rich selling clothing is because there are just so many clothing companies in operation, causing difficult competition.
Here is our best piece of advice—networking and customer service are critical for a successful business. A word of caution, think twice before starting a business with family or friends. It is tough!
Primal Wear is a cycling apparel company out of Denver, Colorado and has been in business for over 16 years. They have the most technical fabrics with original jersey designs. Besides being in over 1500 Independent bike shops across the United States, they are in some of the bigger retailers such as REI and Performance. I’ve been in contact with Jessica Edwards that sent me one of their Star Wars jerseys.
Star Wars loves Cycling
The Star Wars jerseys are made of 100% ProSenor, a technical fabric which wicks moisture from the body so you remain comfortable on your ride. This is a popular design that they picked up in order to connect with the large Star Wars following. They currently do not attend Star Wars events in relation to this jersey, although it is something they have considered.
Being a mountain bike enthusiast, I decided to take my lightweight aluminium beauty and go for a ride. Nothing really serious, just 5 miles, to feel this new jersey and test the fabric. This has been my worst performance and probably one of my most valuable experiences. The weather was cooperative, with a sunny and clear sky. I cruised at a comfortable speed. The roads were in fair condition, no hills, scenic routes and not much traffic. A great course! The only problem was the temperature, really hot.
The jersey worked very well! The fabric is as they said, breathes with you and controls moisture and temperature to keep you performing at your best. Probably I would have had many more problems with the temperature, with another fabric. So I’m very satisfied and happy of this product.
I understood the importance of using the right wear. You can’t just have a tshirt and common shorts. A helmet is essential, as gloves, and elbow guards. A good pair of shoes is also recommended. And of course technical fabric clothing.
The reward of this experience has been a great spaghetti plate with pomodoro and parmigiano. A very simple plate, but I consider it the best of the Italian cuisine. Maybe it is the best food also for sports?
Few tips for cycling beginners: eat healthy food (mediterranean food) or you’ll never cover long distances; find the perfect bike for you, you don’t need to spend 20,000 dollars but you need a bike with three chain rings, which gives you the most range of gears; wear a bike jersey, typically made of synthetic materials that help wick away moisture from your body, and including a rear pocket to carry extra supplies while you ride; buy yourself some proper cycling shorts; set realistic goals and start slow; relax and enjoy the scenic routes.
Today we interview Justin Hoehn. Justin manages LEADapparel.com, providing a broad range of apparel brands at the lowest prices possible. With 27 warehouses covering all regions of the U.S. LEADapparel.com has the ability to ship customer orders quickly to anywhere in the country and worldwide.
Fashion, internet and our society
Manuel Marino: The styles you present are sporty but also with an elegance touch, we can say unique looks, right?
Justin Hoehn: Absolutely. We try to give our customers diversity. We believe that the stylish consumer has different needs for different occasions. You might want to dress in an urban influenced t-shirt when bumming around town but tomorrow, you might have a tee time & need a nike dri-fit polo.
What can you tell me about your latest alternative apparel line?
We recently added alternative apparel to our product line and are extremely excited about the response we’ve had from our customers. Alternative apparel is in the same mold as american apparel. The line is made from high quality fabrics, fitted and fashion driven. They focus on core prodcuts and do a wonderful job at expanding on colors and certain fits. You’ll see awide range of celebrities sporting the line (Pitt, Timberlake, Leonardo, Clooney, Fergie, Walberg, John Mayer, Christina Aguilera, Eva Longoria) this is just to name a few.
What do you think about fashion in 2008?
Fashion is always changing, sometimes for the better / sometimes for the worse but at the end of the day, we like the classic / minimal look to pass the test of time. Although everyone appreciates a saville row tailored suit, the reality is you have more people working from home or in a casual office enviroment. They’re more comfortable in a tee & jeans, tee and designer sweats or some sort of combination. It’s no longer a sloppy look since designers have tightend up the fit & color options and it’s become more acceptable in the office, especially at younger companies.
What about fashion and internet, is it a good alliance?
The web has obviously been a wonderful alliance for all business. The consumer has more choices in a matter of minutes than they would in an entire day of shopping at the malls and you don’t have to pay for gasoline. The knock has always been that you need to try on / see in person what your going to buy. At leadapparel.com, we have made it a priority to make this a seamless process. The addition of images for each color and sizing charts for most products elminates the risk of ordering something that doesn’t fit or not the exact look the customer was expecting.
It’s only going to grow into a more sophisticated shopping experience. We’re looking into video displays for certain products and I’m sure by this time next year there will be a must have for online stores such as ours.
Is it really so important appearance in our society? is it really a good thing?
Appearance and style has always been important and always will. Call it vanity, expression or necessity, we all have style, whether it’s bad or not is up for debate. But there is no doubt in my mind that style is an important aspect in for living a more exciting and interesting life. People with a great personality seem to give off more style even if they are wearing the same get up as the next guy with a bad attitude who thinks style will carry him alone. If you are constantly following the crowd, it can become mondane but if you are diverse and comfortable with your style, it’s a major plus on how it comes off to others.
I think it’s only smart to keep your appearance looking good. Sure, there might be too much focus on “appearance” in some circles but I think there’s no doubt that someone’s overall appearance is a direct reflection of a person’s vibe and personality.
Paul Baines is a T-shirt Designer and Blogger. Read his popular t-shirt reviews blog and read also about his highly original t-shirt designs. You can vote now on his latest Threadless.com submission or purchase pieces from his collection at Retrogod, Redbubble, Zazzle. This is his exclusive article for us, a kind of diary, where he talks about tshirt designing, internet and shopping.
The life of a T-shirt Designer
I’m a t-shirt designer, in fact I’m simply a designer, but I’ve found myself straying from the rather bland world of graphic and web design to the glitzy and glamorous world of fashion without even realising it.
I can’t say I’ve made a fortune from t-shirt design, but I will say it’s one of the most rewarding career shifts I’ve taken in my life so far. My time is split between conceiving and designing unique and original ideas for new t-shirts, and reviewing new and established t-shirt fashion labels on the Net.
My consumer market expands daily, these days savvy fashionistas realise they can make an immediate impact in any wardrobe with a few choice artistic tees, a frugal yet fashionable way to stand out from the crowd.
The beauty is there are so many sources for t-shirt design these days that you are bound to find a design you love, a design that no one you know and perhaps not even friends of your friends have yet discovered. Impact and individuality, artistic style and originality, these are the watchwords of the t-shirt fashion industry and its consumer base.
One explanation for the ‘t-shirt boom’ is a revolution in Internet technologies, with the arrival of Web 2.0, more and more websites, stores, business and consumer networks, search engines and directories realise they have to keep their audience engaged, and consequently interactivity has become the name of the game. It doesn’t really matter what you create or sell, if your potential buyers are bored they will leave.
Unlike the ‘real world’, the online shopping experience cannot rely on the vitality of human senses such as taste, touch, smell to inform their choices. Perhaps we’ll find a way in the future to replicate these essential components of the human and therefore shopping experience. Until then we have one vital advantage on the Net and that is the interactivity of community. Something unheard of in the modern world, a concept one might even describe as old fashioned, has created a revolution on the Web. The explosion in user-rated and user-generated content has changed shopping online forever.
Amazon.com and Ebay.com are the most likely pioneers in this way of selling, consumers turning to the opinions, comments and reviews of past buyers and contributing their own. The difference is that this methodology has moved far beyond seller ratings and book reviews, and I’m proud to say that the t-shirt fashion world is leading the next stage of the Internet’s development as a fully-rounded experiential shopping platform.
Until recently t-shirt designers had two choices, firstly they could set up their own independent store with ecommerce capabilities and secure hosting and hope and pray they can cover their costs. The second choice was Cafepress.com which has been running for over a decade now and provided designers a way to economically begin to sell their unique t-shirt designs to a worldwide audience, whilst keeping costs as low as possible for their consumers. The problem with Cafepress.com and Spreadshirt.com (a later arrival offering higher quality screen printed tees) is that neither offers any real quality control. Yes Cafepress.com still sells a basic white t-shirt with the design of your choice from only $9.99 but they have serious limitations on the size and placement of any contributed image. Essentially you’re talking a 10″ square box in the middle of your t-shirt, no matter what the design may look like.
Some years back a new company, formed originally as a thread on a t-shirt forum burst onto the scene, and it completely revolutionised the way that people buy fashion. Threadless.com introduced the idea of totally empowering the customer, not only enabling them to rate the current collection on sale and communicate personally with each designer, but more so, the customer can decide if a t-shirt is ever even made! Yes, before a new design is printed users of Threadless.com can vote through a 7 day process that defines the fate of every t-shirt they sell.
I can imagine a bright future for the online consumer, more and more choice, variety, control over design and production. The only problem is the rising cost of fuel. The ‘virtual shopping’ experience may always be able to compete with smaller items, but as the world runs dry, shipping expenses will become highly prohibitive. The future may be far less complicated than any of us can imagine.
Al Keser wrote this article for us. He is a New York fashionista, intrigued by the on-goings in the urban fashion scene in the Big Apple. He is writing on behalf of R.A.G., the New York clothing store which specializes in urban wear such as graphic t-shirts, plaid shorts, and baby doll t-shirts. R.A.G. was established in 1959, has 5 locations in Manhattan, including one at Times Square.
Graphic t-shirts enter the world of haute couture
It was only 15 years ago when teenagers were still seen wearing Nirvana band t-shirts showing off their adoration for the grunge band lead by Kurt Cobain. These t-shirts were seen as un-stylish, over-sized, and definitely not acceptable in any New York nightclub (not that these kids were trying to get in). That was back then. Today, brands from Armani to American Eagle carry graphic t-shirts that are both stylish and are completely acceptable elements of fashionable clothing. This has happened for many reasons, mainly due to changes in t-shirt manufacturing, but also in the mindset that it is okay to pay over $10 for a tee.
Graphic t-shirts, in general, were part of the anti-establishment culture that reigned with the grunge movement and previously with 80’s hip-hop (anyone say Run DMC?). Then came West Coast gangster rap and its series of graphic tees that idolized stars such as Tupac. Interestingly enough, we also owe these two groups for the advent of plaid as being cool.
These days, vintage tees from the 80’s – especially Run DMC’s – are sold for astronomical amounts (up to $13 000) and major fashion houses such as Armani and Ralph Lauren have began to produce graphic t-shirts with new techniques that make them fashionable and hip. New weaving techniques have made it possible to make very fine cotton, while distressed finishes allow for vintage looks to be enhanced – as seen in many American Eagle t-shirts.
What has really made graphic tees a hot item are the many 2.0 websites that have popped up – such as Threadless.com – that feature very original designs, which was rare thing back in the day. Now that a t-shirt can be a work of art and not something mass-produced, its value rises and it becomes a cool t-shirt. These new arenas are giving way for more graphic t-shirt designers to show-off their talents. They are relying on the graphic design software that is readily available – also something absent a few years ago.
New York stores now readily carry graphic t-shirts that resemble the usual Gothic style as well as abstract designs. These tees have become part of the mainstream. The market for graphic t-shirts has grown in the meantime. People are not only okay to pay a lot of money for graphic tees, they are also okay with displaying messages besides a name brand or a band name on their clothing. Now every college student wants a t-shirt that sends a message about him or herself in an original way, and be able to go out in clubs without a problem.
In the streets of New York, you will not miss the number of ironic, funny, or offensive messages delivered via graphic tee. In clubs, worn under a dress jacket, graphic t-shirts are becoming a statement. They have become what’s hot. Meantime, those anti-establishment folks have turned elsewhere. The mainstream crowd should not be far behind.
