Creative director of Scout Union Apparel Fredrickus Williford, at the tender age of only 21 along with his two friends founded the company in November 2005.
Less than a year after the Belton-based company launched its first T-shirt line, Scout Union Apparel is being sold in stores in six states.
Scout Union Apparel started while Williford was studying fashion design and marketing at American Intercontinental University in Atlanta.
Although, Williford's first business venture was a hat line, which proved to be too expensive to make the venture profitable hence he turned his attention to T-shirts and Scout Union Apparel was born.
Their idea was to focus on design and expression instead of the logo-driven T-shirts major design houses create.
One of Scout Union's most popular T-shirts incorporates photos of Rodney King, Martin Luther King Jr. and Don King that says, "I'm a King."
Essex 5 in Chicago was the first store to take a chance on the young designer.
Scout Union Apparel's first delivery included about 90 shirts that were delivered to Essex 5, On the Move in Anderson Mall and Phat Gear in Atlanta.
Shoppers were impressed by the shirts' originality and clothing quality.
The company's name was especially important in creating its image. "Scout" stands for Superior Clothing Original Urban Taste.
Williford has created eight different designs in 16 color variations on the shirts using Adobe PhotoShop and
Illustrator.
He constantly looks for new designs and new investors to grow the business and has generated orders from as far away as Germany and France.
marketing@alchempro.com
