Article in the Miami Herald
FASHION
[T-shirts go interactive with JLo Online T-shirt site Teeology lets its members — and curator Jennifer Lopez — dictate which designs are produced and sold.
By Ina Paiva Cordle
icordle@MiamiHerald.comCall it American Idol for T-shirts.
South Florida native Erica Zohar has teamed with a group of partners, including singer Jennifer Lopez, to launch Teeology, an online T-shirt ecommerce site that allows members to vote on their favorite designs before they are produced and made available for sale.
“I think it’s going to be a game changer in the retail front,” said Zohar, 41, who lives in Los Angeles but grew up in Coral Gables, graduated from the University of Miami and recently joined its alumni board. “Retail has always been a guessing game, hoping people will buy what the buyers have picked. We have low risk because we only produce what the members of our site want.”
Founded in March, teeology.com went live three weeks ago, selling limited-edition T-shirts for men and women, priced from $20 to $45. The site offers a line of 100 percent Pima cotton “Premium Basics,” along with its “Winning Tees,” — the T-shirts that have garnered the most member votes. New designs are also featured for members to vote on.
The T-shirts are designed by graphic artists from all over the world who have responded to open calls for designs. Each winning designer gets his or her name on the label and earns $500, said Zohar, Teeology’s chief creative officer. The T-shirts are manufactured in various countries.
“What sets us apart from other sites is we are offering very fashion-forward body styles and also fashion-forward prints,” she said.
Teeology combines the apparel background of Zohar — whose father is Dr. Herbert Wertheim, a prominent Miami entrepreneur and philanthropist — and the ecommerce expertise of Brian Lee, who founded such sites as LegalZoom.com and ShoeDazzle.com.
Three years ago, Zohar sold her fashion business, American Groove, which developed private label programs for department stores. She then spearheaded the “Bebe for 90210” collection, which allowed viewers of the CW television show to buy clothing worn by the characters on the show in real time.
Now, with Teeology, she is mixing in the celebrity cachet of Jennifer Lopez — who performs with Enrique Iglesias at Miami’s AmericanAirlines Arena on Friday and Saturday. Lopez, who was an American Idol judge and who serves as Teeology’s chief curator, brings charisma to the site, rocking Teeology tees.
Zohar and Lee, who met through the Young Presidents’ Organization in Los Angeles, had put together a wish list of celebrity partners, with Lopez at the top. They were thrilled when she said yes, Zohar said. Other partners in the venture include her husband, Lior Zohar, and Chief Executive M.J. Eng, a ShoeDazzle co-founder.
No doubt, adding a celebrity like Lopez brings instant credibility and recognition to the brand, said Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst at the NPD Group, a consumer and retail market research firm based in Port Washington, N.Y.
“It’s easy to build a site, but how do you get people to go to it and spend money on it?” he said. “If you have credible partnerships, it makes it that much easier.”
At the same time, Teeology is capitalizing on the immense popularity of T-shirts. It’s an industry that generated $22 billion in revenue in the United States — including $16.5 billion for women’s T-shirts, alone — for the year ended in July, according to NPD Group figures.
And while Teeology is not the first company to involve the customer in the creation of a product — Nike, for example, allows consumer to custom-make sneakers — it signals the future, blending retail with entertainment, Cohen said.
“It creates a level of loyalty and involvement and willingness to pay,” he said.
The concept also follows what Cohen says he preaches to his clients: adapting to the consumer.
“It’s no longer about making the product and expecting the consumer to say, ‘Oh, yeah, I want it because you made it,’ ” he said. “The consumer is saying, ‘This is what I want. I am going to look for it and I’m going to buy it.’ ”
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