Man Launches Two Consecutive Apparel Brands Against All Hurdles
Starting out hand painting tee shirts in their early twenties, Steve Hechtman and his wife Cheril began their business in Cheril’s parents’ basement with just under a hundred bucks. With Cheril’s art degree and Steve’s “school of hard knocks degree” growing up in a rough New York neighborhood and working in New York’s garment district, they persevered and created the world famous apparel brand “Spoiled Brat®.” The brand sold 5 million dollars worth of apparel to retailers including J. C. Penney and Macy’s.
When larger, more established firms got wind of their success, an unrelenting onslaught of infringement and legal battles ensued. Amalgamated with their son’s traumatic diagnosis of autism, these events created the perfect storm and the business came to a grinding halt.
After 10 years of working various jobs, Steve listened to the cries of some of his favorite restaurant owners: “I can’t find a reliable printer to do my shirts,” “I don’t have the time to go to a screen print shop or try to design a shirt myself,” and “Who can trust a stranger with my money online to do shirts?” 5 Dollar Teez, LLC was born.
Steve and Cheril fill that huge demand for fast, low-cost custom apparel for local businesses. When Steve read an article in a famous business magazine saying that startup costs for an at-home tee-shirt business run between 2,000-10,000 dollars, Steve felt compelled to show how this could be done for under 500 bucks.
Many friends and relatives asked the same question when Steve and Cheril built another successful venture with 5 Dollar Teez, after the Spoiled Brat® sensation in the tee-shirt business: “How did they do that?”
Their newest venture is to share their experience and knowledge in The ‘American Tee Shirt Sniper” course, which is a step by step how-to guide for aspiring entrepreneurs in the custom tee-shirt business who want to get it done “like a sniper,” be their own boss and fill that niche in their own city. One of Steve’s students went on to sell over 50 million dollars worth of apparel to a major mall-based retail chain. Steve says, “Give me someone with heart and desire and I will happily arm them with experience and knowledge.” Visit 5dollarteez.com and http://americanteeshirtsniper.com/. HBM
