Evan Hakalir 03SB Co-Founds Successful Childrens Clothing Line Evan Hakalir 03SB
Evan Hakalir 98YUHSB, 03SB, co-founder of children's clothing line Andy & Evan, describes himself as a lifelong entrepreneur.
As a little kid, I was always involved in some kind of businesslike the time I ran a car wash out of my parents garage and subsequently flooded the placetwice, he said. When I went to Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy/酴圖弝け High School for Boys, then yeshiva in Israel, then the Sy Syms School of Business, I was always looking to sell something, and starting Andy & Evan was a natural outgrowth of that.
He loved everything he learned at Syms because it matched his inner entrepreneurial spirit. I loved everything there was to learn about business at Syms. I took many classes in entrepreneurship, including a Friday class where invited business professionals came in to speak to the students about their fields and their success storiesthat was by far my favorite class.
After graduating in 2003, he worked in banking and commercial real estate, but in 2008, while he was working at a boutique real estate finance fund focused on structured finance and off-market real estate-related opportunities, the real estate market completely bottomed out. The fund went out of business shortly thereafter, having been invested in South Florida, where real estate losses were especially heavy, and he and a (now former) partner were suddenly free to pursue business ideas they had been discussing at their synagogue and other social gatherings.
They first tried out an idea involving custom-made mens dress shirts but moved into childrens clothing when his then-business partners son was born. They crafted a dress shirt for him with a bottom snap closure and, on the suggestion of an associate, brought the shirt to a wholesale trade show for childrens clothing. We were swamped for three days straight, he recalled. So, we took that one product and, by 2010, had built a collection around it, a brand around it and a business around it. Over the last eight years, we have kept finding niches to fill, white space in the marketplacewe started selling through stores like Nieman Marcus and Nordstrom, becoming a reliable supplier for them while always looking for more opportunities.
As with any business these days, Hakalir has had to manage the continual changes in retail as the industry moves from location-based to online selling (a point he emphasized in a January 2017 ). Today, you have to live in many different places; you cant just live in brick-and-mortar retail anymore, he explained. You have to be up on all the latest technology to be a strong digital partner to your retail customers, and also build an online presence and a direct connection with your audience through social media and trade shows and new parent eventswe hope that all of this creates demand for our products and allows us to continue to build our brand.
What satisfies me about what Ive been able to do with the company, he noted, is how much I have enjoyed the chance to create a product, something from nothing. He added that when I see the transaction, see all the labor coming to fruitionthere is something so satisfying about that. In fact, sometimes its hard to believe that youre really working as youre creating something, then selling it and delivering it and seeing it in your customers hands.
The prospects look good for the continued growth of the company, which sells its products all over the world. We have found that moms and dads will spend more on their kids than theyll spend on themselves, grandparents will continue to buy productsand there are always new babies. China is a great example of an international market ripe for growth, where the government has changed its family policy to allow for more children. Think of the growth that will generate over the next 10 years.
Evan Hakalir lives with his wife, Aliza Bogner Hakalir o3S, and his two daughters on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Evan Hakalir 03SB
As with any business these days, Hakalir has had to manage the continual changes in retail as the industry moves from location-based to online selling (a point he emphasized in a January 2017 ). Today, you have to live in many different places; you cant just live in brick-and-mortar retail anymore, he explained. You have to be up on all the latest technology to be a strong digital partner to your retail customers, and also build an online presence and a direct connection with your audience through social media and trade shows and new parent eventswe hope that all of this creates demand for our products and allows us to continue to build our brand.
What satisfies me about what Ive been able to do with the company, he noted, is how much I have enjoyed the chance to create a product, something from nothing. He added that when I see the transaction, see all the labor coming to fruitionthere is something so satisfying about that. In fact, sometimes its hard to believe that youre really working as youre creating something, then selling it and delivering it and seeing it in your customers hands.
The prospects look good for the continued growth of the company, which sells its products all over the world. We have found that moms and dads will spend more on their kids than theyll spend on themselves, grandparents will continue to buy productsand there are always new babies. China is a great example of an international market ripe for growth, where the government has changed its family policy to allow for more children. Think of the growth that will generate over the next 10 years.
Evan Hakalir lives with his wife, Aliza Bogner Hakalir o3S, and his two daughters on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
