Almost 5 years ago to the day my partners and I decided to shut down our company, Bubucheek Clothing. For those who followed the brand closely over the 6 years we were in operation thank you! Seriously. Thank YOU! For those who did not, I’m not upset, just disappointed I would like to provide a brief history of how Bubucheek started, the successes, failures, and the lessons I learned from my experience of running a small t-shirt business.
TLDR; If you put in part-time effort, you get part-time results.
Chapter One: It all began…
In 2008, I was working late at my full-time graphic design job in Cambridge, MA and my Blackberry® rang. It was my childhood friend, Austin. He had found my business card, knowing I was an illustrator, and asked me if I ever thought of printing my illustrations on t-shirts. At that point I had a lot on going on. I was working full-time for a culinary marketing firm, I was teaching design at my alma mater, and also freelancing on the side as a web designer. But, the promise of starting something new—something that was my own—especially one where my illustrations would be printed on t-shirts was incredibly appealing to me. When he asked if I’d like to start a company my response was a nonchalant, “…sure.” I didn’t want to sound too eager, but inside I was like, “Hells-to-the-Yeah!”
Chapter Two: Jump right in
A few weeks later we were printing shirts in my attic and I think we both realized we were missing something. The next serious conversation Austin and I had was about bringing on another partner, Austin’s friend Rich. Austin and Rich played baseball together for the Nashua Pride and won an Atlantic League Championship together (all while talking about “fresh kicks” and fashion). Rich was still playing ball for the Maryland Blue Crabs and residing in Florida, while Austin was running a baseball training facility in New Hampshire, but the two kept in touch. Rich was a natural salesman. I liked to say he was “The Mouth from the South” because he lived in Florida and proudly spoke with a bravado akin to his Italian-American roots. Austin and I knew we were admittedly missing that killer-instinct-salesman we needed to be successful. So we invited Rich to join the team.
Austin exuded a laid-back persona with sparks of greatness. He had a knack for operations. I had, with my graphics background, the production design skills and a general aptitude of the printing world that we needed to print shirts. So, with our combined qualities—Rich’s salesmanship, Austin’s managerial mindset, and my technical ability—you had Bubucheek.
Honestly, it felt like the 3 of us completed each others sentences in the early days. A triad destined for success.
From the very beginning, as is always the case, we believed this company would be a huge! We knew we had something special—and we would spend the next 6 years homing in on what our “special sauce” was. Even the naming process, as I recall, was easy. Austin said he thought of the name one day on a park bench. He just said “Bubucheek” and it felt right to us. I even scribbled it on a piece of paper and it looked cool to me.
Graphically speaking, those double E’s ending with a strong K looked great to me. I was down. To be honest, I was still consumed with the thought: “My illustrations will be seen on clothing that everybody is going to wear. How cool is that?!”
Chapter Three: Brainstorm & Create
The 3 of us talked almost daily via Google Hangout and 3-way conference calls. Rich knew how to setup the conference calls on his phone—somehow no one else could figure it out—so he would initiate them. We would spend hours defining the company, talking logistics, design ideas, and of course legal ramifications once we struck it BIG! That was truly the best part: brainstorming and creating new ideas. However, that is always the best part, especially if you’re at a startup working with friends and there are no investors, very little capital required, and not to many eyeballs on it yet. You can call it whatever you want. You can spend as much time defining it as you want. You can go back and forth on the merit of this idea vs. that idea until you’re red in the face. Once you factor in time and money, and more eyeballs, all of that changes.
We defined Bubucheek as 1.) a Northeast slang term for someone who is beautiful. e.g., Damn, that girl is bubu. or He’s a good lookin’ cheek. The definition would evolve over time to stand for self-confidence and positivity.
Before 2008 was over, we had received our first printed t-shirt samples. “Bubucheek 100% Creative Clothing” was emblazoned across the chest on these incredibly soft cotton tees. We had also begun the process of trademarking our logo and registering as an LLC in the state of Florida. Oh, oh! And, we had our domain parked on the world wide web proudly stating, “Coming Soon.”
Chapter Four: It’s alive!
By 2009, we began selling our tees for men and women. We held events (BubuBash I and BubuBash II) to get the word out and officially launched our online shop (bubucheek.com). We started small selling limited runs of t-shirts. We tried following fashion trends early on and even began to understand what it takes to run a company—more specifically, one that sells clothes.
Our first and second run sold out quickly. Quicker than we expected, actually. The success we talked and dreamed about felt like it was happening …albeit on a very, very small scale.
Chapter Five: By the numbers
That first year we were doing 100-piece orders. At $20/shirt that is $2,000. Doing some back-of-the-napkin math: 2 runs/year = $4,000 in gross revenue. You would think that we be enough to turn a profit or at least end up with a few hundred bucks at the end of each run, but I was shocked that wasn’t the case.
Early on the three of us agreed that any profits would be reinvested into the company in order to fund inventory of the next release leading to bigger and bigger orders. Our largest single order was around 350 pieces for the fall/winter run in 2012—this was the height of our popularity.
Even with 350 piece orders, including hats, tees, scarfs, beanies, shirts and hoodies we only turned a profit once. In 6 years of operating the business, we only made money one time. It was in our 5th year. We each claimed $333 per partner. Now, if I were to tell myself in 2009 what I knew in 2014 I might not have invested the same amount of personal time, anguish, energy, sleepless nights, painstaking tweaks to individual vector points in Illustrator for an additional $333 of income.
That said, I’d probably do it again (with a few less painstaking nights) because I learned so many valuable lessons along the way.
Perhaps one important thing that I failed to mention before looking back—and this is very important—I was not, nor ever considered myself to be, in the t-shirt business for the money (See above: I just wanted to see my illustrations on t-shirts). It never seemed realistic to think that we’d sellout to a large department store for millions of dollars. It was a hope, but it wasn’t a goal for me. Critically speaking, we weren’t that well organized, nor did we have the infrastructure in place required for an acquisition like that. In reality, we were just 3 young guys who were dreamers and knew this was a labor of love. We also knew it was a fun way to learn how to run a small business. We focused on the positivity as much as we could and the buzz we generated from run-to-run with our dedicated and loyal fan base. (See “Bubu Celebrities”: Omar Vizquel, Vince Wilfork, Chris Meyers, Gio Gonzalez, Chaise Candie, among others.)
Chapter Six: What it meant to me
To me Bubucheek wasn’t a “hot chick” or “slang term.” It was my favorite shirt. When I see it in my drawer or take it out of the dryer I get excited to wear it because I know if I put it on I’ll have a good day. Alternatively, as a superstitious person, I still wear my Bubucheek tee to ensure I’ll have a good day. It is my sartorial good luck charm.
Seeing it in my drawer is like an epiphany or the sunbeam that serendipitously pokes through the clouds of your mind palace, you know? Too deep? Okay :)
To put it another way, the many learnings over the years and few successes we experienced as small business owners is most acutely apparent in the comfort and goodness of the product, the heartful messaging we put out into the world, and what it meant to our customers. Our graphic tees and hoodies were incredibly soft, printed on quality ringspun cotton, made mostly* in America.
*mostly, refers to the legalese we sifted through on our suppliers website to make sure we weren’t supporting nefarious suppliers.
Chapter Seven: How it worked
One of the most interesting and complex parts of Bubucheek was that we ran it like the band The Postal Service whereby Austin was in NH, Rich was in FL, and I was in MA. So everything from brainstorming ideas, to forecasting runs, to deciding on the designs, and even planning our events, was all done over the phone, via Google hangouts, or by snail mail.
From 2009–2014 we saw our business grow and shrink proportional to our collective level of interest. It was a direct reflection of the amount of time we each invested. As each of us got pulled away to our respective full-time commitments, jobs, etc. Bubucheek would struggle. This observation became painfully obvious toward the end—it became one of the biggest lessons to me.
The writing was on the walls. After 6 years we realized that in order to run a successful business you have to be 100% committed to it. Since Bubucheek shuttered it’s online doors I have started other businesses and the same holds true: If you put in part-time commitment, you get part-time results. There might be minor successes along the way, but those successes evaporate as quickly as they emerges. Perhaps Sir Paul McCartney said it best, when he said:
“The more you give, the more you get.“
Chapter Eight: The End
After Christmas 2014, we decided to shut down the online store. We let the domain name slip away. We divided up the remaining inventory and started paying down our remaining debt from the 6-year venture. At the time, I felt relief. I thought to myself, “Finally, I can do what I want now!” Bubucheek had become a model for how NOT to run a business, and I vowed to do it right the next time.
That “next time” came shortly thereafter in 2015, in the form of a graphic journalism-focused climate change company. This time, similar to the founding story of Bubucheek, the partners and I had deep connections and a voracious enthusiasm for the core idea—the why. However, unlike Bubucheek, everyone knew what it would take to make this specific type of startup work Day 1!
It did not. In fact, it didn’t even last 2 years. Again, the biggest lesson held true, not everyone was able to dedicate their full effort to the project. And it folded.
Chapter Nine: In Closing
There is a silver lining though. It would be silly to think that a lack of dedication is the only reason my two attempts at creating successful co-founded ventures folded. Rather, I view it as a barometer of long term success. If you are honest with yourself and can realize early on what level you are willing to give to this project then the chances you will be rewarded with lasting, lucrative happiness is much higher.
Nowadays I’m content to work a one company, full-time. I have a wife, and a child on the way. I’m not 26 years old. I’m 36. Though I take illustration commissions outside of my full-time job I ask myself before committing to those side jobs if can dedicate my full energy to it? More importantly, will I be able to dedicate the time it requires of me? This simple reframing has allowed greater focus on higher quality work and the ability to deliver a better product to my clients, colleagues, and friends I work with. There is also the added benefit of being able to share these lessons, and others like it, with young designers and other creative professionals.
Epilogue: One last thing
I still get comments about my Bubucheek tees. When I wear them people still say, “Oh, that’s a cool shirt!” and then I think to myself, “…maybe it was all worth $333 …maybe?”
This was a story about my attempts to create successful part-time businesses. Thanks for reading and if you’d like to work together, let’s talk.