A couple years ago, who knew selling Hip-Hop clothing Street wear on-line could be a million dollar venture?
You can ask Greg Selkoe, founder of Karmaloop Boston, Karmaloop.com, and Karmaloop TV, that exact question and he
would probably answer the same as you; nobody. Today however, he would answer that different. The 33-year old fashion
pioneer can tell you multiple millions in one year is possible. Virally spreading across the Urban street wear market,
Karmaloop
street wear enterprises are expected to rake in $40 million USD by the end of 2008.
Starting Karmaloop.com in 1999, Selkoe was originally running his project from a run-down piano factory where he
stored goods and had a group of approximately 20 people working with him. The real push for the street wear project did not
come until Selkoe connected with real estate broker and business partner, Frank Celeste.
"I overheard Frank telling another about his oil and gas investments. I asked him if he would consider other types of
investments. Frank gave me his cell phone number," says Selkoe of their first meet.
Selkoe took him to the Karmaloop clothing shop′s warehouse where wires were hanging from the ceiling, clothing samples
were in the bathroom, and people were on the building ledge on their laptop. As low-budget as things looked, Celeste
was still impressed enough to invest.
Sticking togethor for the long haul of 5 years, it was not until 2006 that Karmaloop.com returned a profit. Those who
believed in the project from family and friends to Selkoe had all borrowed money to him at that point, putting faith in
his vision. That good faith saw an amazing "karma" return financially, recieving up to 15 times their investment
returned by Selkoe.
Childhood friend Marc Daniels, who launched a snow board fashion line recently, credits the Karmaloop success to
Selkoe's determination and never accepting no for an answer. "He'd be like, 'Can I borrow $30,000 or $50,000?' " says
Daniels. "The second time, OK, but by the third time, I'm like, 'Again?' "
Selkoe didn't take a salary until early 2006, after he and his wife, Dina, each paid off about $80,000 in credit card
debt. Before that, almost everything from Dina's salary as a lawyer at a Boston firm went into Karmaloop.
Their recent success has meant the Selkoes' standard of living is improving. Next year, they'll move into a
three-bedroom apartment in a new luxury condominium building downtown where the 1,600-square-foot balcony is bigger
than their current apartment.
Visited by over 2 million unique computers per month, Karmaloop is expected to rake in $40 million in 2008. Karmaloop's
on-line sales grew 143% from 2006 to 2007, which is said to be more than six times the growth of average online retail
businesses.
Karmaloop specializes in limited edition street wear and exclusive urban clothing. The Karmaloop.com site is fueled by
over 30,000 independent Internet sales reps that generate an estimated 15% of Karmaloop's tracked sales. The street wear
boutique has a great reputation with clients due to consistent karmaloop
discount coupons and codes, as well as fashion giveaways.
Karmaloop is also the #1 result for street wear on google search.
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