Again, from Buffalo Business First...
Eric Hawes and his wife, Jessica Mosey Hawes, met as 19-year-old undergrads at Canisius College, where they had the same majors and minors.
Eleven years later the couple is living the entrepreneur lifestyle together.
The two-person team runs the day-to-day operations at Arctic Cool from their Buffalo home (the company's ownership and investment group is based in New York City). The company already makes "multi-million" dollars in annual revenue and is on pace to grow between 65 and 75 percent this year.
Arctic Cool's patented technology doesn't just wick moisture but also recycles sweat at a cooler temperature and is the basis for its varied apparel line, which includes gear for everything from blue-collar work environments to workout clothing.
"We're trying to build the world's greatest apparel brand," Eric Hawes said. "We want to own the cooling space and be an authentic brand for consumers."
After graduating from Canisius College, the duo took jobs at New Era Cap (humorously keeping their romantic involvement a secret for awhile – when they finally explained it to colleagues "nobody cared," according to Jessica Mosey Hawes). From there, Eric was recruited to Baltimore for a job in product line merchandising at Under Armour and Jessica followed with a job at McCormick & Co.
While living in Baltimore, Eric was approached by the Arctic Cool ownership group, which had been through several false starts while trying to commercializing its technology. The couple moved back to Buffalo last July after the birth of their son. Jessica Mosey Hawes officially joined Arctic Cool a few months later.
The company has made fast headway through its e-commerce channels, including its own website and via Amazon, while starting to build relationships with bricks-and-mortar retailers. For instance, Arctic Cool apparel is now being sold at a small chain in Texas that caters to oil refineries.
It's a heavy load for the couple, who remain Arctic Cool's only employees, and who work all day and well into the evening with a roughly three-hour break after they pick their son up from daycare. But they are also experiencing the exhilarating early days of a startup taking flight.
"We've created a community around the brand on Facebook and on social media," Jessica Hawes said. "People are coming out of the woodwork to say they love Arctic Cool."
Source:
https://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/..._news_headline
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