In a country where school spirit is taken very seriously, t-shirt company The Perfect White Shirt has carved out a nice niche selling products that cater to students and their school pride. Founded by Ryan Chester David and Philippe Arenillo, both 24, in early 2007, their unique brand of statement shirts has been steadily gaining customers.

AN UNEXPECTED START

But despite its image as a top notch shirt initially built for students, the company's origins were actually borne out of a romantic gift. Indeed, it took a concerned boyfriend’s gift to his girlfriend that made the elusive white tee available to women at a pocket-friendly price.

“My girlfriend had been looking for ‘the perfect white shirt’ for the longest time, but she couldn’t find one, so I had one made for her as a gift. Me and Philippe were both unemployed at the time, and we came up with the idea of selling plain shirts then eventually ventured into graphic shirts,” David said.

With this idea in mind, the two put together P40,000 to start The Perfect White Shirt in February 2007.

“We both raised our share of the capital through our first venture and jobs. When we were still in college, we sold tinapang bangus in both our neighborhoods. This venture gave us awareness of what business is all about and also gave us extra income to start The Perfect White Shirt,” says the two.

It was no surprise that the tees were immediately scooped up by women; not only were the designs a fashion statement, white tees are also a fashion staple among women, the duo said.

AN EVOLVING COMPANY

From simple white tees, the two slowly shifted to graphic designed shirts with themes designed by their graphic artist friends.

“We have three main themes for our products: CHANGE, PRESERVE and PRIDE. Our CHANGE shirts promote good will and positive change. Meanwhile, the PRESERVE line is our take on helping the environment. And lastly, there’s PRIDE, which promotes both national and school pride,” the duo explained.

Sales proved brisk enough that it took only five months for them to recoup their initial investment.

“Since we started with a very limited capital, we’d say that the business has grown to more than ten folds,” they explain.

Now two years in the business, with only word of mouth to go on, The Perfect White Shirt has branches in Greenhills, Trinoma, and Glorietta. Their product line-up have also expanded along with their company, and the now carry jackets and ecobags as well.

From its humble beginnings, The Perfect White Shirt now has an office in Pasig with nine people on the payroll handling accounting, sales, and marketing.

To discourage copycats, the bane of t-shirt makers, the two made the wise decision to have their designs copyrighted.

“About dealing with copycats, we always maintain high quality products to set us apart from the competition. Moreover, we copyrighted our designs and registered them with the IPO to deal with legal matters,” they explain.

Ryan and Philippe are currently brainstorming for new products to launch, as well as aiming to open more branches soon. The two have the following words of advice for people who are thinking of delving into any type of business,

“From our experience, its very important to believe in your product. Enjoy your business, don’t look at it as if it’s work, have fun doing it.”

Contact details:
Tel: 7389443 (9am-6pm daily)
Email: theperfectwhiteshirt@yahoo.com
Website: reasonpassionfashion.multiply.com