Don’t call them another Orange County surf clothing
company ““ but they’ll ride that wave until it breaks.
The owners of Seven clothing company are proving entreprenuership
can exist while being full-time college students. They have formed
an underground following in Westwood, and they are using their surf
roots to springboard their company into the fashion world. Chris
Leveque, a fourth-year political science student at UCLA and
co-owner of Seven, said they walk a fine line of being innovative
in design, while still satisfying their core market ““ kids of
the surf culture. Shortly after its creation, Seven clothes
appeared in Orange County surf shops, including Killer Dana in Dana
Hills and Becker Surf & Sport, the quintessence of commercially
cool. “When it’s kids starting a clothing line, it will
do good,” said Brian Lane, Killer Dana manager. “But it
is so hard for them to compete with Quicksilver, O’Neill and
Billabong.” Six months after Seven entered Killer Dana, it
was off the racks. Shortly thereafter, Seven pulled its clothes
from Becker. “We don’t want to be pigeonholed in the
surf industry,” said Cheyne Tilly, Seven clothing designer
and co-owner. Since then, Seven has revamped its designs, which no
longer mimic the iron cross and nautica stars that seem to appear
on half the shirts in surf shops nowadays. Leveque describes
Seven’s clothing style as “where fashion meets
art,” which may be just what it takes for Seven to become one
of the bigwigs, competing for the same customers as fashion moguls
like Gucci, Gap and Georgio Armani. “Art is an applicable
concept, especially with all the individuality themes we have in
the market,” said Tom Julian, a fashion analyst for Fallon in
New York. The one key to Seven being successful is that they
“have a position that is unique,” Julian said. It also
doesn’t hurt to be located in Southern California. Casual
clothing megacompanies like Quiksilver, Hurley and Paul Frank all
began in Orange County. According to the California Fashion
Association, fashion in California revenues $22.5 billion annually.
Eighty percent of that income is in sportswear, which includes
Seven’s surf roots and casual clothing. And last year, Los
Angeles and Orange Counties provided 59,000 more fashion jobs than
the fashion capital of the United States”“ New York City. And
despite Leveque’s feeling that the “surf industry is
like a little fraternity,” the market remains open to any
newcomer with something innovative to offer, said Ilse Metchek,
executive director of the California Fashion Association.
A little history Seven was spawned at Dana Hills High School in
1999, when Leveque, Tilly and Matt Morgan were all seniors. It
began as a novelty for friends, being sold out of the trunk of
Leveque’s car. “Give us 10 bucks, and we’ll give
you a shirt,” Seven’s creators told their friends, who
contributed every dollar of the company’s start-up costs.
“That’s how you start a clothing company without
money.” Seven came to life with computer print-outs screened
onto colored Hanes T-shirts. Since their five start-up designs,
Seven has gone on to create more than 100 original designs, and has
sold more than 5,000 T-shirts, sweatshirts and hats. With the kick
start of a few high school investors, Seven has become a
self-sustaining entity, pumping every dollar of profit back into
the company. To date, the toughest time for Seven was when its
founders set off for college. Tilly was at the University of
Colorado at Boulder, more than 1,000 miles away from Leveque at
UCLA and Morgan at Pepperdine University in Malibu. Instead of the
regular face-to-face communication, joint trips to the screen
printer and visual presentation of clothing designs, Leveque, Tilly
and Morgan relied on e-mail and irregular phone calls. “You
get better results when you are in person,” Tilly said. But
since then, Seven has emerged. The company’s owners
rededicated themselves and treat Seven as though it were a
successful enterprise. And they might just be right. Seven has no
marketing budget. Their sales are based on a reputation that
precedes them. “I’m Chris’ roommate, and I
don’t get half the shirts I want,” said Patrick
Hodgins, a fourth-year sociology student and Seven team rider. A
natural economist, Leveque sees creating demand as a by-product of
supply, which is why they only print two dozen of each design
before discontinuing it. “It’s got to be cool enough
that everyone will want it, but not everyone can get it,” he
said.
What’s special about Seven? There is an air of mystery
that surrounds the origin of Seven’s name. Lane,
Seven’s first commercial retailer said the name came from a
near fatal car accident endured by Leveque, Tilly and Morgan while
they were snowboarding in Mammoth. The accident was said to have
occurred on the seventh. But according to Tilly, the symbolic
meaning of the number is as relative as the success of a fashion
company is random. “People assume a number has to represent
something,” Tilly said. “It represents a lot of things
for a lot of different people.” For Tilly, it’s just a
lucky number. He grew up in a Roman Catholic household, and in the
Christian faith, seven is a number associated with God. And Seven
will need the grace of God once its clothes start hitting the
fashion trade shows. Seven was never trademarked by anyone from
Orange County; it was trademarked by the Los Angeles-based clothing
company El Corral “If they go beyond the gates of the
university, they will be hit with a cease and desist order,”
Metchek said. “Try Eight,” she joked. Leveque said he
and his co-owners are aware of the legal problems that plague
Seven’s namesake, but said, “We’ll either get
big, or get sued.” Fortunately, Leveque plans to attend law
school when he graduates next year. He may end up representing
himself.