Four simple words kickstarted the beginning of HAGS Clothing and a brand centered around summer, friends, travel, weekends and creating moments while we can.
Each year at the end of the school term, it is there always one phrase that appears in just about every yearbook.
Have A Great Summer.
Or, more commonly:
HAGS.
On occasion it was penned by a friend. Other times it was by someone you hardly conversed with. Regardless of the situation almost everyone knew precisely what those four letters signified.
Most of us probably haven’t given a second thought to HAGS since we closed our yearbook.
It actually ended up becoming the concept behind a clothing company for me.
My name is Tyler Batliner and I’m the owner of HAGS Clothing. I founded the company at the University of Missouri, although the business idea goes back to that one phrase and the emotions that went with it.
Table of Contents
“Have A Great Summer” In My Mind, Why Soosucka?
I have always felt as if summer doesn’t ever feel quite the same as the rest of the year.
You anticipate it for months when you’re younger.
You survived the school year, knowing that eventually the last bell was going to ring and you would have a whole summer ahead of you.
Maybe you’re going on vacation.
Maybe you’re spending weekends at the lake.
Perhaps you’re exercising, attending concerts, embarking on road trips, or simply hanging with friends.
It’s not really about the plans.
A proven motivator.
That’s what I enjoyed about Have A Great Summer.
It wasn’t a complex message. You didn’t require someone to decipher what it was.
It was familiar, down to earth and linked to a nice part of life.
It got me thinking, what if those four letters were actually hinting at something more?
Turning HAGS Into a Clothing Brand
Starting my own label HAGS Clothing was in no way a haphazard process, I didn’t want to just start a label, launch it on a T-shirt and make up some meaning after.
HAGS already meant something.
That gave the brand a starting point.
The difficulty was in inventing a merchandise that folks would truly need to put on.
I’ve learned that those are 2 completely different things.
A good story may get someone interested in a brand, but the product still has to stand alone.
And that’s why HAGS has evolved as I’ve grown it.
We’ve played with T-shirts, hats, graphics and styles as we have tried to retain the essence of the original.
The products may alter, but not what HAGS represents.
Summer Is About More Than a Season
. As HAGS continued to expand, I also learned that what I enjoyed about summer was not actually the climate itself.
It was everything that happened around it.
Friends getting together.
Going somewhere.
Being outside.
Taking a trip.
Having something planned for the weekend.
Memory built up that get recalled each time you’re with the same group of people.
Those experiences don’t stop when August ends.
That realization began to grow HAGS further than being just a summer idea.
College and gameday influence grew during my time at Mizzou.
Football Saturdays once again can be summed up with a few words I use to describe summertime.
People all week long had been waiting for them. Groups of friends had been planning where to meet. Everybody had a destination. It was a day unlike any other.
Honestly, “Have A Great Saturday” came to be another meaning behind HAGS.
But it never replaced the original.
Have A Great Summer is where HAGS began. Have A Great Saturday is where we took it to the next level.
Building Products Around Memories
That idea has shaped HAGS Clothing.
We’ve gotten into more casual wear, hats, gameday items, and college town themes.
I find college towns to be of particular interest because people become very attached to them.
You may only live somewhere for four years, but four years can make some of the best memories of your entire life.
That is why something as simple as a town’s name or nickname can carry so much.
Columbia, Missouri is a good example.
Around Mizzou, Columbia is commonly called COMO.
To those unaffiliated with Columbia, COMO could be whatever those four letters are on this hat.
For a former student who attended that school, those letters can stand for football Saturdays, friends, apartments, restaurants, late nights and years of memories.
That is the feeling I want us to evoke with our HAGS products.
I don’t want to have to say the words, “Well, basically what I meant…” every time we make something.
Sometimes the connection is already there.
What social media taught me about HAGS building
Ever since HAGS, I’ve been using The Real Tbat to grow my social.
That following expanded to well over 200,000 followers and my posts have accumulated over 75 million views.
Audience was an advantage for HAGS because I knew people that I could start the business with.
But it did also teach me that Attention and Customers aren’t the same thing.
You might be able to watch a video, like it, and just keep scrolling.
Buying something requires more.
They have to like your product. They have to trust your company. They need to be convinced to buy.
And that’s why long-term I’d like HAGS to be independent.
I want people to find us because they like what HAGS stands for and what we produce even if they’ve never viewed one of my videos.
What I Don’t Want HAGS to Lose
The future direction of HAGS could take many different turns.
We’ll make new products. We’ll go into new college towns. Styles will evolve. Social media will evolve.
However, I don’t want the meaning behind the original to be lost as the business expands.
Fundamentally, HAGS remains the four words:
Have A Great Summer.
Go somewhere.
Spend time with your friends.
Take the trip.
Go to the game.
Stay at the lake a little longer.
Make some memories.
It just feels like summer is going to last forever once it begins, and then it ends before we know it.
Perhaps that’s why it became such a crowd favorite.
HAGS began as an idea I wanted to branded that emotion.
Now I am trying to see what I can do with four letters. Back of a year book.