Endure
A big mission, a lot of faith and a little bit of nerve helped land Ferdinand Onandia's tee shirt line on the shelves of the world's largest retailer.
Graphic Designer, Ferdinand Onandia wanted to find a way to use his talents to support fundraising efforts in his native country of the Philippines. In our interview he explained, "I didn't want to just ask people for money. I knew there was something I could offer.
He soon came up with Endure, a concept for a Christian tee shirt line that was not only going to be inspirational but trendy. He spent months researching and designing graphics so he could share his vision with the President of Jerry Leigh, the licensing powerhouse who produces apparel lines for top brands such as Hannah Montana, High School Musical and musician Gwen Stefani. Interestingly enough, Jerry Leigh is also Onandia's Full-time Employer.
So how do you pitch the idea of your new company to your present employer? Since the family-run organization has always been highly supportive of humanitarian efforts Onandia believed it was worth a shot.
However, when Onandia pitched Endure to Jerry Leigh's president he wasn't exactly confident about giving the idea the green light. Although he liked the concept, he questioned its sales potential. He explained further that the company had actually phased out an inspirational line just before Onandia started there 6 years prior.
After Onandia's meeting, the President casually left the presentation on his desk where it caught the eye of one of his visitors, Betsy Morgan, the Executive Vice President, who is also the executive in charge of the company's Wal-Mart account.
Impressed by what she saw, the VP presented Endure to Wal-Mart, who was looking for an inspirational tee shirt line. They fell in love with it and immediately decided to test the line in 50 stores. During the Wal-Mart test phase Endure blew out the doors, achieving an almost 90% sell through. Wal-Mart returned with a six figure re-order that had to be pared down to 36,000 pieces to keep in line with Jerry Leigh's current capacity.
Based on Endure's tremendous success with Wal-Mart, Jerry Leigh essentially turned Onandia, one of their employees into one of their licensors as well. Onandia still works at Jerry Leigh Full-time while donating 1/2 of Endure's royalties directly to missionary efforts in the Phillipines. "My company has been amazingly supportive." Onandia says, "I still can't believe it." Endure hits Wal-Mart stores nationwide this December.
by Ralinda Harvey
ralinda@glossmarketing.com
