After sitting down with Matt Marr ’13 to talk about the launch of his upcoming clothing line, it became apparent that this project is much more than a random attempt at starting a business. For Matt and his business partner Ian Lee ’13, starting this business is an opportunity to take a risk and learn a lot along the way.
So you’re starting your own clothing company. Can you tell me a little bit about it? How did it get started?
It’s called Marlee and Company. Ian Lee ’13 is my business partner in this. His parents are both in the garment industry, and they own several boutiques in Hong Kong. His parents encouraged him to use their connections and then we saw each other at a bar in NYC this summer and he said he was going to call me the next day with a crazy idea. He called me and explained his idea to me, we went back and forth, and finally I decided this was something I really wanted to do. Ian came up with the name [a combination of their last names], he brought me in and engaged me and got me pumped up, I can’t stress how important this was. You can’t go one foot in and one foot out with these things, and it was Ian that got me pumped to go all in.
Why did you want to do take this risk and start this company?
I’ve always enjoyed clothes. I love finding clothes that I think are unique and have a good feel to them. But there are clothes I wish I saw on the rack that just aren’t there. That was a little bit of my inspiration for jumping at this. I feel like I have ideas to contribute fashion-wise. I want to take what I know about where I come from and the community I’m involved in and use that to figure out what people want to see and want to wear.
What stage in the process of launching the company are you at right now? Do you have a potential launch date?
Ian is actually taking this semester off and is working in Hong Kong to solidify the manufacturing side of things. While he’s over there we’re continuing to bounce ideas back and forth, but I think it’s pretty cool of him to take the semester away from his studies and really pursue this. This is a full time thing for him right now. As for a launch date, we’re shooting for sometime right after the new year, and sooner is always better but we want to make sure all of the necessary arrangements are in place before we put out a product.
Who is the target population for Marlee and Company?
We imagine this company growing with us in the long term, but in the short term it’s targeted at our age group. If we create a product that’s for the younger population, then we’ll also be able to get high school students on board. High school students are pretty impressionable, they want to wear what they see as being cool in the media and on Facebook. Moving forward, we’re hoping to engage the Bowdoin community and, furthermore, the NESCAC community.
The NESCAC provides a great opportunity because there’s a sense of comradery among all the schools. Kids at Amherst and Middlebury and Williams are more or less similar to us. We’ve thought about having representatives at different campuses in the future, much like HerCampus. You find that when people feel like they know you and feel close to you, they want to see you succeed, and I think because all of the NESCAC schools feel connected they’ll be more likely to support us. Like if I saw something like this come out of Middlebury or Hamilton I’d definitely think of supporting them by buying their product. There’s a subtext that you’re supporting one of your peers because they’re in a similar situation to you. Just trying something out, something risky, hoping for success.
Are there any companies that have been influential to this project for you guys?
I really admire companies that work to capture and appeal to the community they target. Chubbies is an example–I love showing off the thighs– I buy into the whole image of what they’re selling. If we can capture a community in the same way that would be great, and that I think it’s definitely doable. College students started companies like Chubbies and Vineyard Vines and they’ve done a great job of staying relevant, which is what we hope for as well.
Have you thought about price range for the clothes you’re going to sell?
We definitely have thought about price range. Our stuff isn’t going to be ridiculously expensive. We haven’t really come up with a price point yet but we know that in the context of a college community that going to Salvation Army and finding something there is often the coolest way to go. We’re definitely keeping that in mind. We plan to limit the amount of products we produce in order to make it manageable and to ensure that we’re producing quality products.
What kind of style are you hoping to embody?
Our hope is simply to make creative and stylish clothes. Making things that are kind of unique that you won’t see anywhere else. It’s really about taking some of the spirit of “I’m not going to see this anywhere else, that’s why I look here for this.”
We’ve played with the idea of floral pattern flannels; I mean they have linen plaid shirts, why not the opposite? Essentially a flannel for summer time. I also love elbow patches. Creating a unique and lasting impression is what we’re going for. Everything is going to be very carefully thought about and planned, I have a keen eye for detail and I want to bring that to this company. Stitching, buttons, how a collar feels and looks on the shirt, these are all things we’re thinking about and that are important to us. Big cable knit sweaters with unique patterns, comfortable button downs just for hanging out, on a beach, at a bar, or where ever you find yourself. Things like floppy collars can turn me off a shirt completely, so we want to create a shirt that people love for all of the qualities.
Do you have any concerns about the risk involved?
We definitely do have a lot at stake but it’s one of those cases where I’m getting to do something that I’ve always thought about. Once Ian broke it down to me, and we talked more and more, it became more feasible and attainable; we just thought what’s the worse that can happen? We end up with a bunch of shirts we can’t sell.
Thoughts about going forward? Senior year? The future of Marlee and Company?
I probably am not as stressed as I should be. I’m very comfortable right now here at Bowdoin and I don’t really want to go through that kind of shock yet. If this does end up being successful, it could definitely become a main gig. I think Marlee and Company could provide a unique opportunity for me to have creative say in how things are done. There’s a lot that goes into making a clothing company successful. Having a good solid brand is the foundation, but having material that people can latch onto and digest is essential. I would derive pleasure from producing online videos, photos, and commercials for our company. I think we have a unique opportunity here. Unique in the sense that it’s not arbitrary. We have to conceptualize what we’re doing. Just being able to have that rush of ‘this could be a huge success or it could not work out so well’ makes it worth it for me.
Moving onward, I’m looking forward to the mistakes just as much as the successes because there’s so much to learn. I’m looking forward to the thrill of making something that’s our own.
Final Words?
We’re in this for the experience. I mean we are results oriented; we want this to succeed because we do have a decent amount at stake but we are in it for the opportunity to do something we’re both interested in and learn a lot. We’re going to savor all that happens. It’s not like this is an internship. The child lock is off. The stakes are a little bit higher, we have to perform, and instead of doing it for our bosses, we’re doing it for the success of it. That’s what’s inspiring for me.