Twenty four-year-old entrepreneur Jay Manara is the frontman for a rock group called the
Broken Sons, and is a drummer on the side who has toured opening for KISS. He says that while he was a business student at Ryerson, he was inspired to start his clothing line,
Rock Parlor, by his work as a musician. "I'd been slugging it out playing in a band for six years, playing shows where we were not even earning enough to put gas in the car. So I was looking for simple ways to make an extra buck."
The way he thought of -- a line of t-shirts inspired by tattoo and rock 'n' roll culture -- was promising enough that his business plan won him $25,000 in seed money in a Ryerson competition in 2009. His marketing approach was to have the shirts sold in tattoo shops, where, as a heavily inked man himself, he had connections, and where his target customers would find them. One year later, his shirts are sold at
30 locations across the country, he's earning a living himself, and he's looking to expand.
"I'm currently in the process of hiring a bunch of sales reps to work at pretty much every single university campus across the country," he says. He envisions using a model similar to Avon or Tupperware, where part-time reps who embody the brand's attitude serve to hand-sell the product.
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Jay Manara, founder, Rock Parlor
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