There’s no shortage of competition in the T-shirt market, but student entrepreneurs and Fresh Prints founders Josh Arbit and Jacob Goodman have carved out a profitable niche by focusing on custom apparel for college students.
Using a business plan fine-tuned in The Hatchery entrepreneurship course at the Olin Business School, seniors Arbit and Goodman, majoring in entrepreneurship and finance respectively, pulled in more than $1 million in sales this year.
Their secret — tapping the creative talents and social connections of other college students to form a loose-knit national network of T-shirt design and sales people.
“We have a team of 50 right now,” Goodman said, “most of whom are artists and campus managers at other schools around the country.”
“The face-to-face interactions they have with student groups,” added Arbit, “differentiates us from other companies and makes it very easy to order apparel from Fresh Prints.”
Following graduation, Arbit and Goodman plan to continue their business from a new base in New York City.
“We have benefited in so many ways from being at Wash U,” Goodman said. “The most notable, however, is the relationships we’ve made here. We’ve been surrounded by some of the brightest minds in the country and that’s raised the level of our game.”
Related Stories
2014 Class Acts: Achieving Excellence
2014 Class Acts: Making Memories
2014 Class Acts: Serving the Community
2014 Class Acts: Shaping the Future
2014 Class Acts: Sparking Innovation