by Luke Loranger |
When Michael Williamson first posted the kickstarter for his Sentri Hoodie on Feb. 1, he hoped the campaign would raise $40,000-60,000. His campaign made the rounds on Facebook and Krowdfund, and with over 20 days still remaining until the end of the campaign, the Sentri Hoodie kickstarter has more than tripled the original $10,000 needed to reach its goal.
Williamson drew inspiration from the hoodie from his experiences as a snowboarder in the Pacific Northwest.
“(I grew) up in Tacoma and moved to Portland, two of the rainiest cities in the country,” Williamson said. “I noticed that people would still be wearing cotton hoodies, even though it was raining.”
Williamson envisioned a more streamlined jacket that was not big and bulky, efficient for snowboarding in the winter and spring. He spent all of last spring and summer working alongside pattern makers, starting off with the basic model of a Hanes sweatshirt before adding pockets, a cinch and other features. In total, he went through five samples before he settled on the perfect design.
Many of the small features seen in the final product, like the thumb holes, were included to make the hoodie work well for snowboarding. The Sentri is made from dyntex fabric, a polyurethane membrane that blocks out wind and water but does not make the jacket as voluminous as other techwear. The hoodie is part of a bigger push by Sentri Performance clothing to bring weather protection to functionable everyday clothing. Now that the kickstarter goal has more than tripled, Williamson is looking to use the additional funds for product development.
Williamson says he owes the success of his product to his work with the Entrepreneurial Scholars Program last year.
“Before I entered E-Scholars, I still had the same (clothing) concept, but in terms of execution I have been learning as I (go),” Williamson said. “E-Scholars taught me how to turn this idea I was working on into an actual business.”
This is a familiar story for seniors Nick Ost and Paul Dilley, the team behind Townie Shades, the sunglass brand. The team was a part of E-Scholars during their junior year, though they launched their brand before at the end of their sophomore year, and their company was the first to come directly from the E-Scholars program.
Ost and Dilley met Williamson during his freshman year, and have kept in touch with those in E-Scholars this year trying to launch products.
“I think because we started our business the end of sophomore year we had more time than kids going into E-Scholars right now,” Ost said. “Most of our conversations (are) us telling him things to avoid, so he doesn't have to make (the same) mistakes we did.”
Ost and Dilley are also excited about what the future holds for small businesses in the UP community.
“In the E-Scholars classes before us, there wasn't really much of a focus (on starting real companies),” Ost said. “There is no reason UP shouldn’t become a hub for entrepreneurship.”
The Kickstarter can be found at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sentri/sentri-the-hoodie-reimagined, and will be released in early June, with kickstarter contributors recieving the product in late May.
Luke Loranger is a reporter for the Beacon and can be reached at loranger18@up.edu or @loranger18.
