394
8 min 7 sec

Fashion Buyer Creates Quirky Comfort Craze

Men’s overalls that double as sweatpants: yes, this is a thing—and an experiment to sell them brings in $64,000.
Alibaba FBA Manufacturing Product Retail

Subscribe Now For A Free Five Step Tutorial

What It's About

Buzzfeed inspiration leads to comedic, retail sensation!

Business Model
Manufacturing
Skills Required
Trend Spotting & Resourcefulness
Complexity
Medium
Profit Potential
Medium

Words of Wisdom

While getting an LLC may sound like a tricky process, it’s actually not that difficult of a process! In the US, it can be simple as contacting your state office, requesting a form, giving your name a business, and paying a between $30 and $300 fee depending on your state.

Fun Fact

Kyle attended the Comedy Cellar in New York and took a pair of his Swoveralls with him on the off chance he might bump into a celebrity. As chance would have it, he did and ended up giving a pair to Amy Schumer who then shared them in an Instagram story. Not bad for his first piece of big exposure, right?

Notes from Chris

Episode 394
Kyle Bergman never anticipated that reading Buzzfeed in his downtime would have an impact on his life beyond mere entertainment. But, thanks to the recommendation of a friend, it gave him the idea for today’s side hustle.

Kyle was known around the Bloomingdale’s fashion buying offices as a little bit quirky. He was the guy who would turn up on casual Fridays in a Hawaiian shirt when everyone else wore button-downs and jeans. Because of this quirkiness, one of his colleagues sent him a Buzzfeed article she thought he would love. It was all about a new fashion craze of sweatpants and overalls, and Kyle fell in love as soon as he read it. But Kyle was a bit disappointed; the entire article showed women’s sweatpant overalls, and he really wanted a pair for himself.

When he got home from work, he spent the entire evening scouring the web trying to find a pair of these overalls for men. But, to his utter dismay, there were none.

As a last-ditch effort, he decided to look on Alibaba where he found a factory drawing of male sweatpant overalls. But because this was targeted at retailers, he’d have to order at least 300 units to do so.

Over the next eight months, Kyle kept these overalls at the back of his mind but never did anything about them since there was such a high order requirement. But his curiosity got the best of him. He put in a sample order and a few weeks later, he received a prototype.

He was blown away by.

The quality was good and it looked like a premium product. This gave him the idea, and the resolve, to try and turn this into a proper business. So Kyle founded his business and called it The Great Fantastic Co., after a phrase his mother used. He also created an equally hipster-esque name for his product, calling them Swoveralls.

Kyle has been able to make over $65,000 this year with his product with $24,000 of that being complete profit.

Looking to the future, Kyle wants to make Swoveralls customizable to their buyers, by letting people add their own images or patterns to parts of the fabric. His first choice being the Pizza emoji because they’re perfect pizza-eating clothes.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • The Great Fantastic Co.: Snag a pair of your own Swoveralls, and embrace the funky side of eclectic fashion. Learn more on Kyle's website!

  • Shopify: Kyle used Shopify to set up his store for The Great Fantastic, and they're offering a 21-day trial and exclusive discount for all Side Hustle School listeners!
  • Chubbies: The swimsuit brand whose tongue-in-cheek style branding Kyle tried to imitate when marketing his Swoveralls
  • Thrillist: The media outlet that gave Kyle and his Swoveralls their first big break
SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter
Download Episodes By Months:

Season 6 (2022): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 5 (2021): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 4 (2020): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 3 (2019): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 2 (2018): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Season 1 (2017): JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for many websites. It's cheap, flexible, and offers support 24-7.

Get your own hosting plan for just $2.49 a month!


Learn More

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️


Learn More

Quote of the Day
"Enter a market or industry that allows you to exercise your existing network and skillset. I don't know if you can ever make starting a business stress-free or easy, BUT if you can pair your resources with white space in a market...you're going to hit the ground running."
—Kyle Bergman #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Where Life Meets Legal!

Supporting the sponsors keeps the show free. Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by LegalZoom. ⚖️

Visit LegalZoom.com today to get special savings on services to help you launch your side hustle—add "HUSTLE" in the promo box at checkout.


Get Started Here!

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.




Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!





To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau