Freshman golfers Josh Krutchik (left) and Michael Wittenberg (right) came up with the idea of t-shirt company while golfing together at Windy Hills Country Club outside of Greencastle. SAM CARAVANA / THE DEPAUW
For first-years Josh Krutchik and Michael Wittenberg, last August was full of beginnings. While starting college, the pair also co-founded their own clothing company.
They saw people wearing expensive, ill-fitting and poorly-made clothes, and were inspired by a desire for quality apparel.
“One day we were at golf practice, Mike and I, and we were hitting on the range in the stalls next to each other, and I turned around and was like, ‘Mike, we need to start a company,’ and he was like, ‘Yes, we do’,” Krutchik said.
Eight months later, Laguna Shores now sells shirts for both men and women.
“All of our products are really, really high quality because we care about the comfort of the clothing and the confidence it’s gonna give you,” Krutchik said.
First-year Brooks Hepp is one of Laguna Shores’ customers.
“They feel exactly like a Vineyard Vines shirt, which are like 60 dollars, they feel like it, they look just as nice, and they’re 25 dollars, so it’s 35 dollars less for just as nice of a t-shirt,” Hepp said.
At first, Krutchik and Wittenberg kept their idea to themselves. “We just kind of locked ourselves in a room at night and hammered it out and after about a month or so we came up with Laguna Shores, which kind of blended the California lifestyle, where I’m from, and Mike kind of adapted it to show what the people of the Midwest would like. It kind of merged those two markets,” Krutchik said.
In October, after they had decided on the name and logos, the two took their company to the Hubbard Center to lay out a plan for their business.
“From there, we probably spent about two months figuring out exactly what clothing we wanted, finalizing the designs, and early February we actually sent in our order and then we got our first order in mid-February,” Wittenberg said. Laguna Shores is looking for further support from the Hubbard Center’s entrepreneurship program; they have a meeting with the program soon that will assist Laguna Shores with networking and funding.
Now, however, one way that Laguna Shores networks is through the assistance of brand ambassadors.
First-year Francesca Moya is one ambassador for the company.
“Brand ambassadors, our goal is kind of to market toward the DePauw community, using traditional marketing or digital marketing, whether it be like word of mouth, or representing Laguna Shores, like wearing their clothing, or social media,” Moya said.
Krutchik stressed student involvement as a way to further brand the newfound company.
“The biggest thing is that people can be involved, people can be a part of this,” he said.
Laguna Shores also received assistance from Indiana alumni entrepreneurs. Wittenberg said that they met with different alumni at least once a week throughout the process, and continue to do so now. These professionals have helped them with their long-term planning strategies.
“At first, we were getting ready for the spring but we weren’t doing it until December or January, where you really should be doing it probably three or four months ahead,” Wittenberg said. “Right now we’re already trying to figure out what exactly we want to do for the fall and the winter.”
Along with the support from the Hubbard Center and alumni, Krutchik said that something else has helped Laguna Shores succeed: determination.
“There hasn’t been a day where we’ve skipped something for Laguna Shores or put it off,” Krutchik said. “When we have the opportunity to meet with someone or we have to get something done or want to get something done, we make the time for it.”
“It’s awesome, for especially freshmen,” Hepp said, “since they’ve only been on this campus for like six, seven months, and they’ve already put the time and effort in to make their own company. It’s incredible.”