Irvine-based Sullen Clothing has etched out a following with its tattoo-inspired clothes.
The company, which started out of a Huntington Beach apartment in 2001, was one of the first Orange County brands to turn tattoos into T-shirts.
Call it good timing, said Gregg Steiner, owner of the Green Room Surf Shop in Newport Beach.
“The tattoo industry has grown up before our eyes over the past five years,” Steiner said. “They’re benefiting from that, no doubt.”
Sullen has built a buzz with its artwork on T-shirts, hats and sweatshirts, many featuring menacing skulls or the brand’s name in graffiti-style letters.
The inspiration comes from cofounder Ryan Smith, who started out as a tattoo artist.
He and buddy Jeremy Hanna decided to start a clothing brand when Smith was in art school and doing tattoos on the side.
“We loathed the idea of wearing a suit,” Smith said. “We wanted to be our own bosses.”
The two went out each night to slap Sullen stickers on street and freeway signs and in bars and restaurants.
They began secretly storing and selling T-shirts in their apartment, until their landlord stopped them. They later took up a small warehouse in Huntington Beach and moved to Irvine in 2006.
“We knew the best way to market was hard work and hitting the streets,” Smith said. “We still use a lot of guerrilla marketing” by hooking up with local skate shops and handing out T-shirts.
Sullen’s garb now is sold in more than 1,000 surf and skate shops, tattoo parlors and boutiques, and in some larger chains, such as Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. and Everett, Wash.-based Zumiez Inc.
In the U.S., Sullen is mainly sold on the West Coast. The company wants to target East Coast shops next.
The clothes also are sold in Europe, Australia and Japan through companies that license the brand.
Sullen’s “bread and butter” is T-shirts with graphics, Smith said. It caters mainly to guys with its sweatshirts, hats and accessories, such as belts and wallets. Sullen also has a line for women that includes tank tops and shirts.
Keeping the designs fresh is key, particularly these days with a tight economy pressuring many retailers.
Some stores are hesitant to pick up smaller brands, such as Sullen. Instead, they’re “more likely to go with brands they’ve had experience with in the past,” Smith said.
“Finding shelf space sometimes is a challenge,” he said. “But once we’re able to get our stuff out there we do pretty well.”
Sullen, which has nine workers, is planning to double its size and is looking for a 6,000-square-foot space in Huntington Beach, Smith said.
Steering the expansion is investor Sean Spearman, who came on two and a half years ago to help the company get through some growing pains.
He gave an undisclosed sum of money and helped Sullen fine-tune operations, including managing inventory and watching costs.
Sullen decided to keep its focus on T-shirts, which are top sellers, instead of going into a lot of different types of clothes.
That has help “create a stable foundation for the company” and allowed it to navigate a tough economy where other clothing companies have faltered, Spearman said.
“We’re bucking the trend right now,” he said.
Smith, the brand’s chief creative designer, is good at creating demand, Steiner of the Green Room said.
But there’s a lot of competition.
Graphics are big these days with a lot of companies, from surfwear makers such as Nike Inc.’s Hurley International LLC, to more edgy street brands, such as Signal Hill’s Affliction LLC, which is moving its headquarters to Seal Beach next month.
Smith said he tries to keep fresh by doing tattoos for people in his home studio twice a week.
As Sullen’s cofounder and art director, “there’s no censorship” with his designs at the company, he said.
“It allows us to put out what we want,” Smith said.
