UNCL Founder
Former football players launch UNCL apparel brand
You likely won’t ever see a football player on a fashion runway. Or mistake a hoodie for haute couture. That’s fine for Ahmed Mokhtar, who just wants to make comfortable and affordable athletic clothing.
“People don’t really focus on comfort, they focus on design and all that crazy stuff you put on a shirt,” said Mokhtar, 22, who first got the idea for his fledgling sports apparel company, UNCL, while playing football at the University of Southern California. Mohktar was unable to find a decent hoodie on campus and was inspired to design one himself.
“We kind of realized this was a completely untapped market and said, ‘Let’s make a couple hoodies for ourselves and see how that goes,'” recalled Mohktar, who started the Los Angeles-based business last summer with friend and former USC Trojans teammate Drew Ness. “We got a huge reaction out of them.”
The clothes have become so popular among his football peers it has spawned its very own slang term “uncing,” which Mohktar said refers to lounging around in comfortable clothing.
“People say I’m ‘uncing’ now,” said Mokhtar, who grew up in Laguna Beach, California and had his fashion sense influenced by family friend and mentor Mossimo Giannulli, who founded the popular Mossimo apparel brand. “I’ve got my UNCs on and I’m ‘uncing.'”
Mokhtar also got help from relatives in Egypt with connections in the textile industry. He then convinced some USC alumni, playing in the NFL, to publicly wear his sweat shirts.
Mokhtar recently put school on hold to focus full time on UNCL, taking the lead on developing new supplier relationships that will allow the startup to shift manufacturing from Los Angeles to Egypt and lower its cost of sales. Meanwhile, Ness, still a student at USC but no longer with time to play football, handles the day-to-day operations.
The partners invested savings and family loans totaling $25,000 to get UNCL off the ground six months ago, relying on Mokhtar’s mother, who owns a local business that manufactures beach umbrellas, for initial direction on textile sourcing. In September, Giannulli’s son Gianni, invested $50,000.
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They were slightly unprepared for how quickly the hoodies, tees and pants – sporting a simple U logo and priced from $25 to nearly $50 – would catch on. UNCL, whose revenues have been steadily increasing without any paid advertising, was projecting close to $30,000 in December, double the prior month.
Business comes primarily through UNCL’s website with additional direct sales at USC and the University of Arizona, and through placement in select Orange County boutiques such as The Closet.
“It has a great following,” said Gianni Giannulli, who said he plans additional investment in the brand. “It’s comfortable, it’s cheap; everything just kind of lined up.”
While the founders’ laid back attitudes reflect their southern California roots, their approach to brand building is aggressive. They do whatever it takes to get products onto the backs of influential wearers, often sending boxes of free product to well-placed friends on pro football teams and to retailers.
Among NFL players that have been publicly spotted sporting UNCs are Troy Polamalu, strong safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Keith Rivers, linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals.
“They are comfort clothes that keep you warm but aren’t heavy,” said Rivers in an email, adding that his girlfriend also likes the line and has hopes for women’s clothing produced by UNCL. “I spread the word like crazy.”
The result of non-traditional promotions such as this is a cool factor for UNCL, which is developing a reputation as an underground brand available through limited channels.
“I see it as an insider brand that really spreads,” said Jane Hamill, a Chicago-based consultant to start-up retailers. “If you want to be cool, an UNCL shirt is automatically going to make you feel cool.”
She likened UNCL’s appeal to that of other insider brands with select distribution such as the Johnny Cupcakes t-shirt line, and suggested that UNCL might consider boosting its appeal with limited edition offerings. She also cautioned that UNCL might diminish its brand by teaming up with a mainstream retailer.
That is an issue certain to be faced by Mokhtar and Ness, who have hopes to get UNCL into the likes of a national chain such as Footlocker or Dick’s Sporting Goods in the coming year. For now, they’re leveraging the tactics that have already worked.
“It was the guerilla way, the way we came about,” Mokhtar said. “We just really utilized our connections and the people we knew and combined it all.”