Luke Burrett and wife Charis haven’t spent a day or night apart in seven years.
What could drive other husband-wife teams batty appears to work for the former auto detailer and Playboy’s Ms. February 2003, who run Irvine-based clothing maker Silver Star Casting Co.
“It’s been wonderful,” said Luke Burrett, Silver Star’s chief executive. “You get to work with your best friend every single day while we live and breathe this business.”
The company is expected to do about $20 million in sales this year.
Silver Star has grown an average of 150% a year for the past four years, due mainly to the booming popularity of Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Mixed martial arts, a sport that combines various fighting techniques, “tends to be one of our key aspects of our line as the industry has been dominating recently,” said Vince Petronzio, Silver Star’s chief financial officer.
Silver Star was honored with the up-and-coming award at the annual Family Owned Business Award lunch hosted by the Business Journal and California State University, Fullerton’s Family Business Council on Nov. 19 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine.
Luke, who grew up in Laguna Beach, started the company to sell his jewelry designs.
“We made an alien ring—when alien rings were really cool in the 1990s,” he said. “I sold 8,000 to Gadzooks for a ton of money to me at the time. I thought this was cool so I started a jewelry company with cool designs.”
The business took off when Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe became a customer.
“After that, I started getting a lot of phone calls to do custom wedding rings and pendants,” Luke said. “The business just spiraled out from there.”
Charis joined the company in 2002 after she met with Luke about modeling.
“I was living on the East Coast and talked to Luke about a job for about two months before we met,” said Charis, now vice president. “We met for the first time at his store in Melrose and fell madly in love.”
The two were wed soon after.
Charis still does modeling for the company and helps out with every aspect of the business.
Growth largely has come from the athletes Silver Star endorses, according to Luke.
“We sat down and came up with a game plan that included going after world champion athletes and the best fighters in the world,” he said.
The company’s Web site got more hits than it could handle after ultimate fighter Georges St.-Pierre won a key fight and the world title.
“We were always a lifestyle brand, but we’ve become a strong force in the (mixed martial arts) world thanks to our endorsements,” Luke said.
Silver Star sells T-shirts, hats, hoodies, jeans, jewelry and accessories at Macy’s, Champs Sports, Dillard’s, Foot Locker, Pacific Sunwear, Ross and Buckle.
The company competes with Seal Beach-based Affliction Inc., Grand Terrace-based TapOut LLC and Ontario-based Famous Stars & Straps Inc.
Silver Star moved from 12,000 square feet of space in San Clemente in April into a 97,000-square-foot Irvine building that used to house clothing maker nZania LLC, which shut down in the spring.
The new space is “a little more professional and accessible than our old offices,” Luke said.
The company has about 85 workers in Irvine, which includes a screen printing facility.
For Luke and Charis, business and family are one in the same, according to Petronzio.
“I’m going to use the term yin and yang to describe Luke and Charis when they come together and make a decision,” he said.
Luke’s sons also work for the company.
Burrett’s 10-year-old son, Jake, is set to be the spokesman for the brand’s line of kids clothing in January.
Charis’ sister and her sister’s husband also work for the company.
