Young entrepreneurs riding wave of success

Boardwear sales taking off via Internet (April 6)

By: Purvi Desai
   WASHINGTON — Imagine snowboarding, skateboarding and surfing your passions into what could be a major business venture.
   It’s exactly what seven college students and childhood friends, between the ages of 19 and 21, intend to do as they expand their three-month-old online clothing company — Pyknic Boardwear — into surf shops this summer.
   Stephen Thompson, 19, said he and Chris McCans, 21, both from Robbinsville and childhood friends, were in a local surf shop looking at clothes when they decided to try designing and selling their own merchandise.
   "We thought — we could do this ourselves, and we talked it over lunch," Mr. Thompson said. "We talked with some of our friends at some of the colleges in the area and each one promoted (the company) at our respective colleges."
   Mr. Thompson, who attends DeSales University, said within two weeks he and Mr. McCans had sold over 200 T-shirts on their campuses. Mr. McCans, who attends Mercer County Community College, left the company Tuesday in part because of his school workload.
   With matters getting complicated, Mr. Thompson said he decided the company needed help designing, general help with the company, advertising and promotions.
   Five more longtime friends, Andrew Marshall, Dave Cerulo, Garrett Santora, Erin Coffey and Joshua Minner, joined the company.
   "We always joked about it," said Mr. Cerulo, who lives in Millstone and handles advertising and finances. "Our ultimate goal is to become as big as Hurley and Quiksilver."
   Ms. Coffey said the funding for the company has come out of their own pockets.
   "We don’t make anything right now, everything we make goes back to the company," she said.
   With everyone on board, Mr. Thompson said, they decided next to sponsor athletes they admire most — snowboarders, skateboarders and surfers — and then start the online store at www.pyknicwear.com two months ago.
   Although Pyknic means a short, stubby person, Ms. Coffey said Mr. Thompson wanted the company to have a unique name and decided to call it Pyknic Boardwear.
   "He liked the way it spells and sounds," she said. "He just wanted something unique."
   Ms. Coffey, a Millstone resident who designs clothes for Pyknic, said their Web site has had over 4,000 hits to date, and she estimated that between 500 to 1,000 T-shirts have been sold.
   The T-shirts range between $12 to $15, depending on how many graphics and colors people decide to put on them, she said.
   The T-shirts are bought and silkscreened — designed with the logos — by Inside Out Images in Quakertown, Pa., Mr. Thompson said.
   In addition to their company Web site, Ms. Coffey said the online social networking site, MySpace.com, has played a huge role in promoting Pyknic Boardwear.
   "We have 2000 plus people that we can make friends with, and once we’re friends with them, we can tell them about our products," she said. "We’ve got friends from Australia and all over."
   "Right now, this summer we’re going to be in a surf shop, Wave Hog, in Long Beach Island," Mr. Thompson said. "We have two tentative deals with surf shops in North Carolina and Florida."
   Pyknic Boardwear will have a launch party this summer, the location for which is as yet undetermined, Mr. Thompson said. The company will launch swimsuits, trunks and sandals, he said.
   Ms. Coffey said G Rock Radio, which is based in the shore area of New Jersey, has offered to help Pyknic find locations for its launch party.
   "We’re going to have a DJ, people modeling our clothing — it’s going to be the first release of our movie, which is about our company and our athletes doing their sport," he said.
   The movie is called "Us Against The World," which shows what the company and the founders do, said Mr. McCans, adding it is 30 to 45 minutes in length.
   Two alternative rock bands, Clover Hill from Lawrence and The Years Gone By from Howell, will be featured at the launch party, Mr. Thompson said. A third band, Moraine, may also play, depending on availability, he said.
   "We’re hoping to make Pyknic a competitor in the surfwear market," said Mr. Santora, who is in charge of promotions and event planning.