Spring Break
Setting up shop online
Shop Your Colors site offers students new option for EC apparel
Janie Boschma
Issue date: 12/10/07 Section: Campus News
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At least that's how it was for Dan Coleman, owner of Shop Your Colors, one of the newest licensed vendors of Blugold apparel in the area.
Shop Your Colors, more commonly known by its URL, shopblugolds.com, is an independent online college apparel store and has been open since September 2007.
Coleman, a 2000 UW-Eau Claire accounting graduate, has managed and owned several businesses since graduating and said he wanted to open Shop Your Colors because he saw an opening in Eau Claire's college apparel market.
"I remember how limited the product selection marketplace for a student is," he said. "We're just trying to offer a nice item at a low price. That's our philosophy, but nothing more than that."
Senior Tracy Komasa has ordered three sweatshirts through shopblugolds.com and said she enjoys the ability to purchase Blugold clothing from outside of Eau Claire.
"It was so much easier because I was in Milwaukee at the time," she said. "I thought, 'I want a sweatshirt' ... I can do it now."
Komasa was pleased with the quality of the sweatshirts, especially with the "significantly cheaper" prices, she said.
Shop Your Colors will be on campus Wednesday with a sale in the Council Fire Room, Davies Center, this time at the invitation of the Students in Free Enterprise group. Coleman said he will return most of the sale's profits to SIFE and the university, and is looking forward to working with other campus organizations.
As a licensed vendor, Coleman pays seven percent royalties to the university for the use of any university trademarks, such as logos, seals and slogans. So far, the university has approved all of Shop Your Colors' designs and their URL, shopblugolds.com, is also university authorized, said Candice Wilson, assistant director for Business and Administration in Davies Center and licensing manager.
Joe Picconatto, manager of the University Bookstore, said there has been a lot of confusion on campus between Shop Your Colors and the bookstore, especially with students trying to exchange Shop Your Colors merchandise at the bookstore.
Picconatto added that a portion of the bookstore's revenue goes toward administrative costs for Davies Center, keeping student segregated fees down.
"They don't have a track record yet, so I don't know one way or another," Picconatto said of the company's merit. "I think the safest place to buy your textbooks and clothing is here (at the bookstore)."
Though they don't have an actual retail location, Coleman said walk-ins are welcome to try on items or make a free exchange at their store, located near the main entrance of Banbury Place on Galloway Street.
Shop Your Colors also sells licensed clothing from UW-Madison, UW-La Crosse, UW-Stout and UW-Green Bay through shopcampusgear.com. Coleman said he plans to obtain licenses from up to 20 schools in the Midwest by May, but UW-Eau Claire clothing will remain Shop Your Colors' retail focus.
Freshman Sue Bartig has been working for Shop Your Colors since it opened at the beginning of the fall semester. She said she loves her job because of the nice atmosphere and because she believes in the product.
"I know people will love what they get," Bartig said, adding she has bought several sweatshirts, shirts and pairs of pants through the company. "It's cheap, so I can afford it. I think our designs are different. It's a nice change of pace."
The low prices aren't a result of poor quality, Coleman said, but rather in cutting out the middleman and otherwise keeping overhead costs low.
Coleman said he personally selects all of the clothing from small family businesses, rather than ordering from a catalogue. Employees at Chippewa River Industries, a company that provides disabled individuals with employment, hand-tags and packages the items, Coleman said.
Coleman said all of Shop Your Colors' shirts are the heaviest grade available.
"I don't want anyone to say, 'I got a shirt from shopblugolds.com and it wore out.'"
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