Senior business management major starts clothing company

Teribery, a senior business management major at Pitt-Bradford, has taken the seed money from an on-campus business contest and built it into a small clothing business featuring bright T-shirts with clean design.

During the winter semester, Teribery successfully competed to win a $1,320 NEXT Step grant from Pitt-Bradford’s Entrepreneurship program to launch Capitl Clothing Co. That was a mere six months ago, but the T-shirt world is already starting to take notice.

Perhaps you didn’t know there was a T-shirt world, but there is – it coexists with hard core bands and extreme sports, two of Teribery’s loves and the secret to his success.

He started in a band, I of the Sun, that played in Bradford, Olean, N.Y., Buffalo, N.Y., even as far as Ohio and Michigan. He had the idea for a clothing line then.

“You make a lot of friends and they help you out,” he said. He’s been networking since then -- he just needed a product.

It was the NEXT Step competition that finally inspired him to start the company he kept thinking about. Teribery said when he saw the email from his business professor, Laura Megill, he emailed her to ask for more details, and the idea for the company became more fully formed.

First came the name, an homage to Capita snowboards, a favorite, edgy brand of his. Then a few designs for a few tees. The start-up money helped him print his first batch of shirts, but its Teribery’s own knack for marketing that has built the brand from there.

He worked with band members he knew to give them partial or full sponsorships. Those that are partially sponsored get discounts on clothing. Those with full sponsorships get free clothing, wear it in shows and photo shoots, and raise the Capitl profile.

A savvy social networker, Teribery has built the brand’s Facebook page from about 300 fans in March to 2,800 fans in early August. He’s added a Twitter account and a blog, where he shares pictures and short posts from his summer travels to music festivals, where he would set up a Capitl booth.

He’s now working with a few athletes – snowboarders and BMX riders – to expand his base of fans.

He’s built his brand to a point where the breaks are rolling in with shout outs from independent T-shirt websites Tee Gazette and The UTee and an interview on the site Thread Business, where he offers insight for others working on getting a brand started. Those mentions usually double his website’s views per day for a few days, he said.

His latest triumph has been winning a contest sponsored by I am the Trend, a website that calls itself “your guide for all things independent.” The prize was a photo shoot by Josh Guim, a photographer for all things independent.

Not that he didn’t already have some polished photos taken by local photographer Joelle Wolters, who enjoys working with bands and young people for shoots. The models for these shoots have been Teribery and his friends, the locations around Bradford.

Marketing, of course, is no good without a product that people want, which Teribery has also discovered a knack for, choosing designs that are clean but unique and high-quality shirts made in the United States.

He has several new goals and has taken out a loan to expand the brand.

“It would be great if this would take off to where it could be a job when I graduate,” he said. “It’s pretty much all I do, all day every day.”

By next summer, he hopes to be able to sell his tees on the Vans Warped Tour, a two-month tour featuring dozens of bands.

Most parents might cringe at that idea, but Teribery’s, owners of B&T Contractors, have encouraged his entrepreneurial spirit, going as far as to provide him the loan.

“They’re really supportive of it,” he said, adding that his mom had everyone B&T deals with voting for Capitl in its recent bid for the I am the Trend photo shoot.

His mom has also helped him learn Quickbooks to keep track of inventory and billing.

He’s planning on expanding that inventory a little for fall, adding hoodies and knit caps. Locally, Capitl products can be purchased at Suburban Blend’s snowboard shop at the Ellicottville Depot Restaurant. Or find Capitl on Facebook.