By Ikeoluwa Adedokun and Christy Han, Staff Writers
As winter approaches, hoodie season is in session. Right on time, senior Ivan Chan pre-released his clothing brand ICEDOUT two weeks ago. The brand showcases an array of hoodies with colors ranging from black to peach and more to come.
ICEDOUT is a business endeavor that strives to promote inclusivity to all who buy the brand. “I want ICEDOUT to be a lifestyle and streetwear brand,” Ivan said.
With sold-out pre-orders in 24 hours, Ivan hopes to keep his clients in mind when the brand officially launches its winter line. Ivan explained, “I want to provide affordable prices to my consumers while maintaining the quality of my brand.” He expects “to release crewnecks, beanies, hoodies, [and] shirts,” for the upcoming season. The brand is set for “limited releases” in order to create demand for the various products.
The idea for this brand spurred from Ivan’s growing interest in entrepreneurship due to “all the excitement and enjoyment that it brings.” He added that “entrepreneurship gives [him] the freedom to pursue [his] own vision, transforming it from an idea into reality.” His inspiration came from the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, as it opened Ivan’s eyes “to the vast opportunities that are out there to become successful.”
While the clothing items were already predesigned, Ivan did have a say in choosing the type of garment for the hoodies. “There were more than 50 different types of hoodies I had to choose from and I decided to go with the garment that best met the criteria of being light, comfortable, and soft,” Ivan explained.
Ivan described some difficulties that arose while creating clothes for his brand. Two main issues were finding a way to pay for the upfront costs and selecting colors for the clothes themselves. He stated that “pre-orders were a great solution to cover for some of the upfront costs, and [he] was fortunate enough to have [his] parents to lend [him] money to cover the rest of the costs.” Additionally, since his customers had various shade requests for the hoodies, Ivan “decided to make an Instagram poll and chose the three most demanded colors for [his] first drop of hoodies.”
Figuring out the name of this brand was no easy feat. The words “iced out” refer to jewelry and the abundance of it. Ivan explained, “I came up with other names for my brand with my friends, but ICEDOUT stuck out to me the most and really ‘popped’ from the rest of the other names we came up with.”
So far, all of the hoodies being sold have an embroidered ICEDOUT logo in the centers. The inspiration for this logo came from “many other brands, while keeping [ICEDOUT’s] logo minimalistic.” Ivan used “the website dafont.com, where [he] selected the design that [he] wanted to use for ICEDOUT.”
Senior Afrida Khalid, who recently purchased a black hoodie from the store, believes that it is “really cool that someone from [Townsend Harris] created a brand on their own.” She also complimented the new brand, stating that “the quality is very nice and up to standard of some of [her] favorite hoodies. The price and quality is really similar to professional brands.”
Ivan feels that ICEDOUT represents his “willingness to venture into something out of [his] comfort zone.” With the creation of ICEDOUT, “[there] is no end goal” in sight as he displays his creativity through this venture. Regarding future plans, as the young entrepreneur heads to college, there is uncertainty as to whether or not the brand itself will continue. “I’m just excited to see where this takes me,” Ivan said.
To those who wish to start their own businesses, he advises to “have the confidence to pursue your own passion and [to not] let anything hold you back from achieving your vision.”
ICEDOUT is set to make its official debut in late November to early December. Though the current featured hoodies are out of stock, orders will soon be available to be made on icedoutnewyork.com, and Ivan can be reached at @icedoutnewyork on Instagram.
Photo courtesy of Ivan Chan.
