Last year Sam Jacques, a second-year marketing and finance student, had the idea to launch an entrepreneurial project. This idea eventually transformed into a full-scale business operation, which resulted in The Pinkish Flamingo, a clothing company that specializes in selling and distributing T-shirts.
Not surprisingly, the idea originated with a plastic pink flamingo. These kitschy lawn ornaments were created in 1957 and gained massive popularity throughout the 1960s and '70s. Jacques mentioned that his grandfather would often “flock” lawns with pink flamingos before a party. Jacques transformed this idea into a startup clothing company.
He spent the summer applying for a South Carolina retail license in order to perform commercial business legally. In August he bought a heat press, started making shirts and began selling them to his friends on campus. It eventually expanded to feature an e-commerce website so orders could be shipped outside of Columbia.
The Daily Gamecock sat down with Jacques to ask him a few questions about starting a small business. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
TDG: Before starting this company, did you have any prior experience working in business or entrepreneurship?
SJ: This is the first trial run. When I was a kid I was always out on the driveway with a lemonade stand. I thought I was an artist for a couple years so I would paint stuff and try to sell it to my neighbors, but you can hardly call that entrepreneurship. I always knew from the beginning, that I wanted to try to run my own show.
TDG: Your Facebook page says that your company is “transforming '50s Americana into a clothing line.” What does '50s Americana mean and how did you incorporate that when you were designing your shirts?
SJ: So the flamingo was created, actually, in the late ‘50s, and then the ‘60s is when it started really becoming a big deal, so that’s where the ‘50s reference comes from. The reason it's ‘50s Americana is I really, I love our country, but the ‘50s has this really classy, real vibrant color to it. If you look back — even the color of their cars, they were fluorescent. When you look at the ‘50s, at least as our generation, the colors and attitude that you see there is what I wanted this brand to embody. So that’s why I pulled that together.
TDG: Is it difficult managing school, a social life, a business and somehow getting enough sleep? How do you manage that successfully?
SJ: The first time that I started printing them myself, I took preorders and I had all these commitments to print shirts for people. I started at about 7 p.m. and I finished at 6 o'clock a.m. That was a good representation of trying to run a company and be in school. The truth is, it was heavy on my relationships with other people. Because I was not the first kid at a party; I wasn’t there at all … It’s not as much about the glory or the money or that kind of thing. It’s just this innate drive of ‘I am going to make this work at all costs.’ Frankly, it did take tolls on other areas of my life. My grades sank a little bit, I didn’t spend as much time having fun, but the truth is I wouldn’t take any of it back … So when you ask that, the answer is sacrifice in other areas, it really is. You can’t just create an extra 10 hours a day, you have to find it somewhere, and a lot of times it took its toll, but it was 100 percent worth it.
TDG: Are your clothes going to be available in storefronts soon?
SJ: One of the goals for business development is to have it in preppy clothing boutiques. We’ve already been in contact with about seven or eight different stores. Great positive feedback from storeowners, the difficulty is we are such a small startup that it’s difficult to gain traction and trust and have enough credibility to work with these people. So, absolutely, the goal — I think it will happen, timeframe-wise I am very unsure. Until then we will continue selling online ... You have to prove yourself, and that takes time. It takes a lot of sweat and time.
TDG: You have the ability to deliver on-campus ... could you tell me why did you decide to include that?
SJ: Business is successful when it’s a win-win for both parties. So delivering shirts on campus cuts out the middleman, and it does make it easier on us and it makes it quicker and more convenient for students on campus. I would go meet students on their time, at their location and deliver an order … Part of that I hope to expand so that eventually there will be reps at Clemson and College of Charleston and UGA, etc. that can also deliver shirts on campus … Our generation really appreciates local products. And so, effectively, if you look at the craft beer industry, people are willing to pay an extra dollar for something that is local and fresh and different and super high quality. I wanted to create the craft beer of clothing and make it so personal that people could go walk down the street and pick it up or have it come straight to their doorstep. That was my vision for it, and it still is.