MA-based apparel companies infuse fashion with morals

Nowadays, it isn't enough for a clothing company to create an attractive product. In order to succeed in the fashion industry, designers have begun to combine style with an inspirational message. Life is Good, a $13 million enterprise co-founded by brothers John and Bert Jacobs in the early 1990s, is a prime example of this trend.

Life is Good's initial objective, Bert Jacobs explains, was a reaction against "the negative images in the media that inundated our culture." He cites No Fear, a then-popular company, as one example of the way "the market fed into people's insecurities."

As a result, the Jacobs brothers decided to make a product that would inspire people to be happy and enjoy the simple pleasures in life. The Jacobs brothers were well acquainted with optimism, having lived out of a van for five years as they toured East coast colleges attempting to sell their T-shirts without much success.

By 1994, the two were living in a "dive" apartment in Newton, MA with $78 in the bank. It was during the wild parties they attended at this time that a winning idea was born: the brothers had compiled a large book full of slogans and drawings that they'd come up with, and they asked their constant stream of visiting friends to circle their favorites.

John's doodle of a grinning guy wearing a beret, dubbed "Jake," was an instant crowd-pleaser. "People kept circling Jake to the point where he was falling off the page," Bert said.

The brothers then combined Jake's image with their best-liked slogan, "Life is Good" and printed up four-dozen T-shirts to sell at a 1994 street fair in Cambridge. The design sold out within minutes and Bert and John realized that their goofy little cartoon was a recipe for success.

Bert explains that Jake had initially been a symbol for "free thinking," which the brothers were planning to market towards art students, but that he later "became a symbol for anyone with a positive lifestyle."

Bert credits the appeal of the "Life is Good" slogan with its universal simplicity. "When people hear 'life is good'," Jacobs said, "they go, 'oh, my grandfather used to say that,' or 'wow, I've heard my boyfriend say that.' It's so simple."

With virtually no money in their bank accounts, Bert and John found a screen printer to back their project and then went around Boston and Cambridge convincing stores to carry their T-shirts. Their efforts resulted in revenues of $80,000 in the first year, revenue which has continued to double annually.

Bert projects next year's sales at $20 million, while warning that these estimates may be a little off. "Keep in mind, I'm being conservative," he said.

Life is Good has since expanded and now sells sweatshirts, outerwear and accessories for men, women, children and infants. The apparel is available on the Internet, at www.lifeisgood.com, but most of their sales are conducted from outdoor shops and sporting goods retailers.

In the future, the company may move on to a variety of different products. "T-shirts are a vehicle for a message that can be conveyed by anything from ice cream shops to housewares," he said.

Burt admits, however, that he'd rather create a lasting, well-made product than "something that's just hot right now."

Life is Good isn't the only local company selling a message along with its clothing. Original Zipwear, an Internet-based enterprise that was founded only three months ago has a different type of vision. Bill Lyke, owner and founder of Original Zipwear, developed and marketed the idea to sell custom-made baseball caps displaying the buyer's zip code.

Lyke's vision came to him while working as a journalist in the South about fifteen years ago. While developing a group of community newspapers, Lyke decided to name them by their zip code and this, he explains, made him "rethink the process."

He realized that nowhere in the market was there a unique product that displayed what he calls "neighborhood pride," and thus his company was born.

Lyke initially wanted to sell T-shirts emblazoned with the customer's zip code, but subsequently decided that baseball caps would be an easier and more profitable way to begin. The hats are sold mainly from the company's website at www.originalzipwear.com, but are also available at a handful of stores in towns throughout the United States.

These stores, Lyke explains, are located in "areas with cache," such as Wellesley, and sell those hats exclusively displaying the zip code of the immediate area.

In addition to the custom-made caps, Original Zipwear sells two lines of hats displaying the zip codes of famous US landmarks and sports locations. Among these are the White House, Fort Knox, Yankee stadium and the Indianapolis speedway.

Unlike Life is Good, Original Zipwear is marketed to very specific clientele. Lyke works closely with the Good Sam club, an organization of RV owners who help each other while traveling on the road. Lyke explains that the "RV market is a great market" for his hats because the most common question on the RV circuit is, "Where are you from?"

Lyke also targets senior citizens who have relocated away from their original hometown. Many of his elderly, retired customers who live, for example, in Florida, wear the hats in order to "retain their regional identities." Along the same vein, Original Zipwear gets a lot of business from college students who wish to proudly display their hometown's zip code.