And now, we bring you another story from the “hopes of selling my designs” file.
To bring you up to speed, I’ve been designing Ohio State apparel during the slow hours at work and, after talking with some friends and network contacts, am trying to sell them to clothing manufacturers for retail. I’ve been in contact with two, OSU-licensed clothing businesses and have scheduled a meeting with both.
This afternoon, I had my meeting with the first company. The owner is a mid-to-late 20s, self-motivated visionary with a knack for authentic vintage clothing. I’ll call him “Bruce”. He graciously agreed to meet with me and go over my artwork at his shop in Columbus. For the most part Bruce liked what he saw and even remarked that a few of my designs looked almost exactly like ones he had simultaneously been working on and was looking to get approved by Ohio State University. He recognized that we both have an identical passion for bringing classic OSU apparel into the 21st century.
While most of what I had to offer he called a “Fashion Forward” style (which didn’t quite mesh with his “authentic vintage” vibe) Bruce did like one of my concepts which was, indeed, authentic 1970s Ohio State material. He said he would take all of my work on that concept, develop and play with it, and if it gets approved he’ll produce it and I’ll get royalties.
He was more than hospitable in looking at the workings of a former professional broadcaster turned amateur graphic artist. Bruce went over the top in kindness when he offered to call the owner of the second company I have a meeting with in order to speed up the process. Bruce sees my “fashion forward” style fitting in perfectly with the second company so he’d like to get my stuff in front of the powers that be over there so we can get some shirts rolling in time for the spring game later this month!
Talk about a quick reaction!
I can’t express how excited I am at the prospect of seeing my graphics on the retail rack…not to mention a regular check for the residuals. I never imagined that doodling in boredom could translate into money in the bank!
Nothing is final, of course, because so much has yet to be done. Bruce must work with my concept, make a few designs from that, pick a few he likes, and get them approved for production by Ohio State but if all of that pans out then anyone in the state of Ohio should be able to see my work on the rack and folks anywhere in the world would have the capability to order them from online!
So, one of my concepts has been choosen for development and the owner of that shop thinks the rest of my concepts would be perfect for another shop. I’d have to say, all things considered, I’ve made a pretty good deal already!
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