The development of a clothing line was the easy part as the knowledge and experience was cooked in. We did the homework and knew what our target customer liked and didn’t like. Our kitchen was a daily focus group and test market with non-stop player traffic going to the refrigerator! The development of what the brand stood for was the tricky part. We knew what the message we wanted to send to our consumers but needed to make sure we hit the target.
We decided that three simple words would be the foundation of our brand, and in everything we would do moving forward, would include:
PRIDE | HONOR | RESPECT
We started out as any company would by looking for ways to validate the concept. We launched a simple website showcasing our products and we built a mobile retail unit to introduce the concept and hit the road. First stop was Inside Lacrosse’s High School Invitational Showcase in Baltimore. It was a cold and blustery November weekend. It was now Judgement Day as we would be in front of 200 of the best high school lacrosse players in the country, and equally important their parents who would be footing the tab. Was this a goofy idea or were we on to something. BOOM! We weren’t even open, and we sold out first piece.
That weekend opened our eyes that we had something special and the planning commenced on how to introduce our company to the world.
For the next two years we traveled to many tournaments and other events primarily on the east coast building momentum and our database. We made friends with players, coaches, event organizers, and many parents. Our website was receiving accelerated traffic and the traction for Reverent was accelerating. It was starting to get very fun.
We planned a very robust schedule for 2020. We added a second mobile unit, partnered with a marketing firm, sourced additional capital to grow and things were looking very promising for our young brand. Then all our planning and momentum came to a screaming halt as Covid-19 entered the picture. Our calendar for summer events fell on its ear as everything shutdown, our supply chain went mostly dark and our quest to move to the next step in building our brand crumbled. The strategy was to go dormant as no one knew what would happen to our world. It was an effective approach and had a minimal impact to our company.
Over the last couple of years our humble startup has been quietly awaiting its return to the lacrosse world. The foundation of our brand, PRIDE, HONOR and RESPECT, is in even more in demand than in 2018. It’s time to dust off our label and get back in front of community where we belong. Please look for us online or at upcoming events this summer. We have plenty and interesting things planned in our reboot and thank you for your support.