BUSINESS NAME: Dirtbag TM Clothing, Inc.

TYPE OF BUSINESS: Clothing

LOCATION: San Quentin, CA

Most people start a business because they are compelled to earn a profit or to make progress. Doug Canning simply thought that selling T-shirts to surfers and skateboarders would be a cool thing to do. In 1995, Canning saw his brother wearing a shirt with a simple logo containing the word “Dirtbag” on it that a friend had made. He knew it appealed to him and that it had potential beyond the run of fifty shirts the friend had made. But he didn’t know he’d stumbled across a multimillion-dollar idea.

Canning and college friend and partner, John Alves, began DirtbagTM Clothing from a modest apartment in San Francisco. They began production in 1996 with $5,000, a couple of T-shirts, and one simple logo. By selling to society’s outsiders over the web, Canning has taken a clothing brand from the fringes to the forefront.

THE PRODUCT

How did you acquire the Dirtbag logo?

I called my brother’s friend who had designed the shirt. He didn’t have plans to develop it further, so I asked if it was cool with him if I did. Then I bought the rights from him by saying, “If we make money down the road, we’ll give you a check,” but there’s nothing specific or contractual. Then I trademarked the word “Dirtbag.”

Over the years, we’ve had many different logos, and now we’re narrowing it down. As we grew, we added variations of our shirts, but it’s expensive to carry so much inventory. Plus, the bigger brands stick with one logo for brand recognition.

Do you pay the designer on commission?

He gets a percentage of sales. So if a buyer orders ten pieces of a T-shirt he designed, he doesn’t earn much. But if a buyer orders 1,000, he does pretty well. As soon as we get paid for an order, we send him a check.

THE PRODUCTION

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