“…really to think about your site needs beforehand and wire out what the user experience will look like.”

It’s not very often that you can purchase a t-shirt while doing social good. Sleevecandy.com creates this opportunity. Reed Hushka CEO/CFO and Hanif Perry CMO , along with Kavin Arumugham and Andrew Fazekas created Sleevecandy.com. The site aggregates thousands of pre-owned; one-of-a-kind, vintage, collector, and “Accidently Ironic” t-shirts online and donates 30% of every sale to The Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation Centers.

They are excited to assist the Salvation Army in getting more money for their t-shirts and in connecting with Generation Y. They are planning to expand their already large assortment of t-shirts to over 5 thousand shirts!

MO:
This is an awesome idea for a company. Tell us about the original idea and how you formed the business around it?

Hanif:
Growing up, Reed shared a love for the randomness of t-shirts and how something so simple and unique expressed parts of his personality. He would collect t-shirts from local companies in North Dakota where he grew up. In college, he realized other people also thought these shirts were cool and funny and noticed them being reprinted. As he saw this happening, he began his hunt in thrift stores to find truly original tees that were “accidentally ironic”: shirts that where someone wasn’t trying to design cool and above all trying to find non-mass-produced t-shirts.

Over time as Reed searched for cooler t-shirts, he noticed a challenge. It was difficult to find t-shirts that were cool in the size and color combination he wanted: he’d find a cool shirt but it would be an extra large. It was a bit frustrated. Later on while in graduate school, he found Kavin, Hanif, and Andrew (two roommates and a mutual friend) who shared a similar passion for t-shirts and the ambition to make it easier to find “real” t-shirts. With that they founded Sleevecandy where you can sort by size, color, content etc. so you can easily find sweet shirts without having to drive around town sorting through thrift racks.

MO:
The Salvation Army receives thousands of donated t-shirts, not all of which would be good candidates for Sleevecandy. What is the process of sorting through the shirts to find the ones appropriate for Sleevecandy?
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MO:
The Salvation Army receives thousands of donated t-shirts, not all of which would be good candidates for Sleevecandy. What is the process of sorting through the shirts to find the ones appropriate for Sleevecandy?

Hanif:
Only Sleevecandy employees choose which t-shirts to pick. We use three criteria to determine if a t-shirt is worthy of being on Sleevecandy:

1. Not widely available – basically try our absolute best not to sell anything that someone could easily find new.
2. The t-shirt must be absolutely and completely free of holes, excessive fading, and stains. We’re a bit obsessive about this.
3. Interesting: This one is a bit subjective but the bottom line is that the shirt needs to be interesting to at least some users. Granted, not all shirts will be interesting to everyone (we want to have those intensely personal t-shirts that may only appeal to a small portion of users) but our site is about our products so we want each shirt to be interesting to look at: in a pretty large number of cases, it comes down to the shirt being at least somewhat ironic or vintage.

We’ve developed a set of criteria our pickers use in the field that elaborates on the above in greater depth. The end result is less than 1% of the t-shirts we find are Sleevecandy worthy.

MO:
Did you have experience with e-commerce sites before launching Sleevecandy? What advice could you offer to those just starting out in this industry?

Hanif:
Minimal, all of us had worked in the internet space in some limited capacity. Reed and Andrew were both interns at Amazon but for the most part we learned as we went.

The advice we would offer is really to think about your site needs beforehand and wire out what the user experience will look like. This will make it easier when shopping around for Web site developers and help you to concretely determine the scope of the project and corresponding price estimates. Ask to see a developers previous work to make sure they can execute on the needs of your site from a design and function perspective.

MO:
You are planning to employ some of the Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation program graduates. Can you give our readers a better understanding of this program, and why you think it is important to offer employment opportunities to the program graduates?
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MO:
You are planning to employ some of the Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation program graduates. Can you give our readers a better understanding of this program, and why you think it is important to offer employment opportunities to the program graduates?

Hanif:
This is the program where the 30% the sale price of each shirt is donated. This program is about taking people with underprivileged pasts working to overcome problems like extensive substance abuse that are committed to making a change in their life. The Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation programs provide the necessities, guidance, and work therapy that allows people to turn their lives around and become functioning family members and citizens again. Given high levels of unemployment, we think this is an incredibly important cause right now.

Our long-term plan to employ grads of this program is really about further developing our working with the Salvation Army and setting an example with just how well we can succeed while maintaining our commitment to do good. Our company’s DNA is really about two things: 1) Authenticity & 2) Doing Good. Employing rehabilitation program graduates – and thereby keeping them on the right path towards leading productive lives after their time in the rehab program is over – is a great way for us to keep doing good.

MO:
You are hoping to expand beyond t-shirts in the future. What other items are you looking to expand to?

Hanif:
Right now we see a great opportunity in t-shirts and are committed to growing in that space however long-term, we believe there are opportunities to grow in other categories like women’s clothing & accessories for example or maybe we’ll stay in the area of “accidental irony” and start picking some trucker and farmer hats. We always love old John Deere hats!

MO:
Tell us about your favorite t-shirt you have sold on Sleevecandy.com?
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MO:
Tell us about your favorite t-shirt you have sold on Sleevecandy.com?

Hanif:
Of course we are biased because we’ve picked them so this is a difficult question to answer. We constantly get excitement seeing what our new customers are buying. Just last week for example, a prized “I’m ShipShape” Royal Caribbean gem was bought.