Upstart firm sees niche when style, sports clash

Company caters to female fashion sense

By: Mike Mathis
   FRANKLIN — Robin McConaughy wears her love for sports on her sleeves, but the clothes don’t always fit or aren’t as stylish as she’d like them to be.
   That’s because most sportswear is manufactured for men, relegating women to wear unfashionable, oversized jerseys and T-shirts, Ms. McConaughy said.
   Ms. McConaughy and her business partner believe they have come up with a better match: sporting apparel designed by women, for women.
   And they’re counting on what they say is an untapped market of 70 million female sports fans to prove their idea will be profitable.
   "The choices for apparel in this market, if you have any sense of fashion, is very limited," said Ms. McConaughy, general manager of Fantoo Inc., an upstart apparel and lifestyle firm based on Route 27 in Franklin Park. "It’s almost nonexistent."
   The Fantoo clothing line, which is now only available on the firm’s Web site but will be offered at boutiques next year, is part of a larger strategy to create a lifestyle brand Ms. McConaughy and her business partner, Carol Doroba, hope will eventually include accessories, education, media and interactive discussion of sports.
   Ms. McConaughy said Fantoo is planning on working with media outlets to provide sports coverage, education and entertainment in an accessible and casual wear that will resonate with women but will be appealing to men, as well. "Our passion is to create a community of women who love sports," said Ms. McConaughy, 36, the married mother of two children who lives in Princeton. "We are a lifestyle brand."
   Ms. McConaughy said she and Ms. Doroba formed Fantoo because they, as sports fans, decided they and other women wanted something to wear — on game day or to the bar or beach — that showed they loved sports, but wasn’t made for men. They also wanted women to have access to an apparel line with unique and subtle, sports-inspired graphics without sacrificing fashion, she said.
   Fantoo’s line of clothing include tank tops and T-shirts with themes such as "Diamond," which includes a graphic of a baseball diamond with every measurement of a professional ball field; "Donuts Are Sweet," which features a race car spinning its rear wheels; and "No Holding," which has several hands printed on the front.
   The colors range from white and cotton candy to glazed orange and olive.
   "It’s stuff you can wear anywhere," Ms. McConaughy said. "Our graphics are meant to start conversations."
   Ms. McConaughy said previous attempts to capture the female sporting apparel market have been tentative and misguided. She said she and Ms. Doroba know the magnitude of their target market, because they understand what types of clothing their fellow female sports fans desire.
   Ms. McConaughy said women who comprise their target market — ages 18 to 50 — are often more loyal to and more knowledgeable about the teams they root for than men, and they are often more willing to spend money on sports apparel than men, according to Ms. McConaughy.
   "The idea has legs," said Ms. McConaughy. "No one is doing what we’re doing. There’s nothing that’s been created to appeal to the tastes and attitudes of women, and that’s amazing to us."