November 5Ć5 Night at Start Garden
Voting Closes:
November 18, 2024 11:59 pm
Impact
Every single year, 4.6 billion dollars worth of licensed collegiate apparel enters the industry. Not only does this reflect the immense demand for fans to represent their schools, but it shows how much inventory is in circulation. Since we sell all secondhand apparel, this is 4,6 billion dollars worth of clothing, per year, that we could end up distributing and saving from landfills. Our products appeal to a very large potential market. Ultimately, any Michigan student, alumni, or fan could find a piece they love. To tackle such a large market, we started by targeting students in fraternities and sororities. Tailgating is a big part of Greek Life, and these students have a higher willingness and ability to pay. At U of M there are 3,906 students in greek life. If each of those students spent only $30 a year on Michigan gear, we'd be looking at an annual market size of $117,180. Now imagine if we expanded to include all students (not just those in greek life), all staff, all alumni, and all fans of U of M. Now imagine if we replicated this at colleges across the country. There truly is a large opportunity within this market. Aside from selling gear to customers, we're offering a way for fans to recoup some of their college gear investment. We surveyed 500 of our current Instagram followers and found that 31% of respondents believe they'll have spent over $500 on Michigan gear by the time they graduate. Many students just donate, pass down, or throw away their gear when they leave campus. UMICH APPAREL offers a way for them to earn some of that money back.
What I'll do with $5,000
We will put the $5,000 towards building a retail location on U of M's Ann Arbor campus. We believe this location is the best for a pilot storefront because we have a strong presence already and high brand awareness. We know students would be very excited to shop at a permanent location, and this can determine if it is a worthy investment to launch on other campuses. Opening up a retail store is very expensive, and every little bit counts.
- $65,884 Annual retail rent (1,267 SF space on S. University Ave.)
- $48,000 buildout materials (average)
- $23,040 Annual Payroll
- $18,400 Annual Property Tax
- $600 Annual Utilities
- $3,300 Annual small business insurance