SUCCESS STORY: Ecko

[MJ DeMarco]

Ecko's startup story...
To launch his streetwise fashion line, Ecko burned up his credit cards and learned to dampen checks to slow down the bank's cashing them.


Another story showing the road to success isn't paved with gold.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/31/smbusiness/marc_ecko.fsb/index.htm

 

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[imoutthere]

He is on the cover of the new INC. mag. As soon as they post it on the site, ill try to post it here.

From airbushing graffiti on shirts and sweaters to owning a billion dollar hiphop fashion line. good story.

 

[LaughedAt]

Wow, I'm surprised this one didn't get many replies, this is a truly FastLane story guys, Ecko reported sales north of $1 Billion back in 2004 (no info about now though), I found this story truly unique, you don't see a lot of successes in this industry!
Thank you for posting MJ (too late I know) :smx2:

 

[werbl]

I definitely recommend the INC article as well. Great story!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

The TAPOUT guys have an interesting story as well ... if I was looking at starting a clothing line (there are a few folks here) I'd be dissecting these stories bit by bit.

 

[phade]

as werbl mentioned, the Inc. article is great, better in fact, as it touches on good timing, finding the right partners, and marketing:

"It's Going to Be Big" | Printer-friendly version

 

[michael]

The TAPOUT guys have an interesting story as well ... if I was looking at starting a clothing line (there are a few folks here) I'd be dissecting these stories bit by bit.

Ken Blockof DC shoes would be another one to look at

If you have a highbeam subscription read about it here

Founded the company in 1993 and sold it to Quicksilver INC in 2004 for an undisclosed amount of money, probably in the hundreds of millions

As you can see he has a bit of fun in the fastlane, he is the driver of these Subaru's

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av0VsTxJd78]YouTube - [0-60] Ken Block's snowboard/rally bit from DC's Mtn.Lab 1.5[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs-jAImScms]YouTube - Ken Block Gymkhana Practice[/ame]

 

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[djs13]

The TAPOUT guys have an interesting story as well ... if I was looking at starting a clothing line (there are a few folks here) I'd be dissecting these stories bit by bit.

A clothing line is an awesome fastlane venture, but I think the biggest hurdle is the in-house production. I personally wear clothes from American Apparel (the shirts are very comfortable) but you can purchase the shirts wholesale because they already come unbranded without any print which makes things easy. I think the hassle is getting whatever logo/message onto the clothing. It would probably involve a screen printing machine which would be pretty expensive. It would be interesting if someone could elaborate more on this who knows more than me.

I also think a clothing line could be a candidate to boot-strap because it's something that has culture behind it and can easily be begun solely through the internet. I know a few clothing stores near me that are growing due to a cult following they have developed.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

There are days when I think about getting in the designer purse business .... albeit, I'm not sure I want to move to Italy...

 

[imoutthere]

Or do the next best thing.

www . bagborroworsteal . com/

Imagine how many other in demand luxury items can be rented. They rent handbags, glasses, jewelry, watches etc.

I just realized that this is a blockbuster video type of biz model, just with a higher price tag items that are in demand.

They charge a membership fee, then based on the bag, they charge a weekly premium. So with a brand new $340 coach bag at $27/week. they will break even at the 3-4 month mark. Then everything else is pure profit.

Average bag probably last about 1-2 years. At that time all they would have to do is liquidate it and reap the benefits.

 

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[sapple89]

Great story