EnTrends

A graduate of San Francisco State
University, Doug Canning received a
degree in Broadcast
Communications. While in college,
he worked in sales for a mountain
bike manufacturer and learned how
to deal with wholesale accounts,
work trade shows, and picked up
marketing skills. That experience
proved invaluable to him later on.

In 1996, a friend of Canning's brother
designed the original "Dirtbag" logo.
He placed it on a t-shirt and wore it
out to a few bars. Several people
commented on the design and asked
where they could purchase the
clothing. Canning's friend created
several hundred of the shirts and
sold them to students at the
University of California Davis.
However, that's where he stopped.
Canning saw a future in the Dirtbag
name and offered to buy the rights
from his brother's friend. The friend
agreed and the name was handed off.

Canning began to design and sell
more of the t-shirts to his friends and
associates as a side job. Eventually,
he produced embroidered hats,
sweatshirts, and other articles of
clothing with the Dirtbag logo on
them. Canning took on another
business partner, John Alves, who
had studied film and video with him
in college. The two approached
family members for financial
contributions and in January of 2001,
one of those family members
contributed $50,000

to the fledgling company. Canning
and his partner then gave notice at
their jobs and started running
Dirtbag Clothing full-time.

Today, Dirtbag Clothing is a growing
and profitable apparel company that
offers twenty-six products with
thirteen different logos. There are t-

shirts, sweatshirts, hats, beanies, key
chains, patches, and a number of
other items for sale on the Internet at
www.dirtbagclothing.com.

company spokesperson. Canning
jokingly remarked, "She's quite
effective and she costs half as much
as the young beautiful models with
silicone breasts."

Dirtbag Clothing has also received a
great deal of exposure by sponsoring
musical groups. Not too long ago, he
and his partners sponsored the band
Fishbone. Through that relationship,
they were introduced to the group
Incubus. The drummer of Third Eye
Blind and members of The Howard
Stern Show have also been seen
wearing Dirtbag Clothing.

However, Dirtbag's most notable
asset is Nicholas Graham of Joe
Boxer (EnTrends August 2001).
Graham is a member of Dirtbag's
advisory board. Canning e-mailed
Graham last year to compliment the
fashion guru on his products and
marketing style. He requested an
hour of Graham's time to speak about
the retail clothing industry, but did
not expect a response.

Coincidentally, the same night that
Canning sent the e-mail to Graham,
his company put up a large billboard
on the side of their building along
with a 3'x12' "Dirtbag Clothing"
banner. On his way to work the next
day, Nick Graham saw the banner.
When he arrived at his office,
Graham found Canning's e-mail and
replied to it. He later agreed to meet
with the new entrepreneur and his
partners to discuss Dirtbag Clothing.
Soon after, he agreed to join the
company's advisory board.

Canning says that having Graham on
his advisory board has added a lot
of credibility to the product and the
brand. "Nick Graham is a guy who
started with $450 and built a multi-
million dollar company. He spends

Canning and his partners position
Dirtbag Clothing as a hip new
clothing line for teens that wish to
express their individuality. Canning
says, "A t-shirt is a t-shirt, but when
something new comes along that not
every kid is wearing, that is a huge
advantage for us. We get e-mails
from kids all the time telling us how
much they like our products because
no one else at their school is wearing
it yet."

While the basis for Dirtbag
Clothing's success can be attributed
to the fine workmanship and
aesthetic design of the clothing,
Canning and his partners promote
their products in very unique ways.
In a press release this past January,
Dirtbag Clothing announced the use
of Canning's 92 year-old
grandmother, Beatrice Gordon, as the