Woodbury Entrepreneurs' New Business ‘Attitude’

When starting a new business, having the right attitude helps.

Woodbury residents Gregory Rohm, Tim Clark and Jason Ritzer hope with a positive attitude, some entrepreneurial know-how and maybe a little luck, their new business, Atti2ude Custom Spirit Wear will become a success.

Aimed at students, the business specializes in two-color necklaces that allow people to display their school, sport team, or any other colors of their choosing around their necks. 

Clark and Ritzer came up with the idea for the necklaces after watching last year’s World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers.

“A lot of the guys were wearing necklaces (with their team colors),” Rohm said. “Jason and Tim called each other, got to talking about them, and decided they looked pretty cool.”

Ritzer and Clark then talked to Rohm about the necklaces and the three men—all neighbors living within a block of each other—decided doing something similar.

“The necklaces have a similar look to those you've seen pop up all across Major League Baseball in recent years,” Rohm said. “We got inspired to do the same thing for Woodbury athletes and teams while watching the 2010 World Series and seeing so many ballplayers with those types of necklaces. It's been fun to be able to create something visible and tangible that can help parents and athletes here in Woodbury create school spirit for competitions and events.”

They together, brainstormed a bit and started putting together prototypes at their houses for months before the right product and marketing plan was chosen.

Ritzer said the necklaces the pro baseball players wear—called “Phiten necklaces—supposedly have an ionic compound imbedded in them that is meant to lead to a higher level of athletic performance.

He added that the Phiten necklaces retail for about $50 a piece. All three men said the focus of their product is simply to allow customers to show school, team or any other type of spirit at a relatively low cost.

“Due to growing demand we've already produced necklaces for other Twin Cities schools,” Rohm said. “Just last week, students at White Bear Lake ordered 250 necklaces. We have the ability to customize 78 different color combinations and necklaces for any school, and we are excited about the opportunity to do so.

Atti2ude Spirit Wear—the “2” relates to the two colors that comprise the necklaces—doesn’t promise to increase athletic prowess, but Rohm said it’s been popular with the limited market on which they’ve tested the product so far.

“We’ve been out at some athletic tournaments that have been going on in the area, and we’ve had great success in moving these necklaces at those tournaments,” Clark said.

The group has been working with and high schools to drum up exposure for the product, and the schools can use it as a way to fundraise because they sell the necklaces to high school sports booster clubs for a baseline price, and the clubs sell the necklaces for a slightly higher cost.

“You can get a school sweatshirt for $50 or $60, but it’s a lot easier to pony up $15 for a necklace at a football game,” Clark said.

Though the necklaces have been a hit at tournaments, the three entrepreneurs have full-time jobs, and they said the product would really have to take off before they’d consider making a larger business venture with Atti2ude attire.

“In a perfect world we’d like to see this grow to a point where it cold become a full-time consideration for us, but I don’t know if all three of us would be in the position to leave our jobs for it,” Clark said. “Hopefully the big picture will turn out as a success story.”

The three make the necklaces by hand, but plenty of their neighbors have helped out, Rohm said.

“It has really been like a rolling wave that just keeps getting bigger, building more and more momentum,” Rohm said. “The demand just keeps on growing. We definitely feel like we're in the right place at the right time with this business. We'd love to see it grow into a national phenomenon.”