BANGOR, Maine (AP) – The presidential campaigns rev up every four years. So do sales at a small clothing company that seeks to cash in on the hullabaloo of presidential politics.
Electoral College Sportswear and Accessories sells T-shirts, sweat shirts, hats and other items bearing the “Electoral College” name and seal in a style similar to real institutions like Notre Dame, Harvard and others.
With the Democratic National Convention set to start Monday in Boston, the two women who run the company are ready to pitch their products to a city full of Democratic die-hards and political junkies.
On Sunday, they will take a U-Haul loaded with 6,000 items that they’ll sell near the FleetCenter, where the convention is being held. To play up the collegiate theme, they’ll wear cheerleader outfits and hold “pep rallies.”
They’ll also be in New York for the Republican National Convention. And they anticipate strong sales in the countdown to the Nov. 2 election.
But don’t ask entrepreneurs Andrea Duquette and Ashley Perry to tell you who they’re voting for.
“To be honest, we aren’t political people. We’re business people,” Duquette said in their Bangor office, boxes full of clothing stacked high. “We’re more for the process, not for the party.”
Electoral College Sportswear was started 10 years ago by political buffs John and Marcia Diamond. John Diamond is a former state representative who is now executive director of external affairs for the University of Maine System. Marcia Diamond is a former deputy press secretary for former Maine Sen. George Mitchell.
The Diamonds thought there was a market for a line of clothes that reference the Electoral College, the system created by the Founding Fathers in 1787 to formally elect the president.
The Diamonds trademarked the name and began producing casual clothing that at first glance looks like standard collegiate fare.
Except the school name is “Electoral College” and the school seal features the White House. The Latin motto “vis in numeris” means strength in numbers. Promotional materials call Electoral College “America’s original party school” and the nation’s “most selective four-year institution.”
The company enjoyed a modicum of success during the 1996 election between President Bill Clinton and Republican Bob Dole.
But it was during the 2000 election season when sales notably climbed.
With the election between George W. Bush and Al Gore in limbo for weeks, the public became more mindful of the Electoral College system, and Electoral College Sportswear’s sales soared.
The company was featured on C-SPAN and the “Today” show, on National Public Radio and the BBC. It was written up in Forbes and U.S. News & World Report. In a seven-week period after the election, the company sold more than 10,000 pieces of clothing, John Diamond said.
Today, Electoral College is owned by the Diamonds and other investors. Duquette and Perry, who earned graduate degrees from the University of Maine in May, were hired to run the company.
They may be just 24 and 23, but Duquette and Perry are executive vice presidents and have an equity stake in the company.
In Boston, they will have two tents and folding tables to sell their products at a vendor area near the Fleet Center. They’ve hired friends to help and they purchased cheerleader outfits.
“Neither of us were cheerleaders in high school or college, or into that stuff at all,” said Duquette.
But it’s all in the name of boosting business, and they figure a few political cheers from a demonstration stage near the FleetCenter will help them to reach some of the thousands of political zealots.
“The majority of people interested in our products are interested in politics. They’re the type of people that go to the conventions,” said Perry.
Duquette and Perry don’t plan to sit idle once the election season is over. They have another company, called Intellectual Threads, to market niche clothing lines when they aren’t busy with the Electoral College line.
But for now they’re focused on politics and are confident they’ll sell all 6,000 items they brought to Boston. They expect this year’s sales to be double what they were during the 2000 election.
“It’s a lofty goal,” Perry said, “but we’re ambitious.”
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On the Net:
Electoral College Sportswear: www.electoralcollegeusa.com
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