Even as the pandemic shut down the economy, Trevor Silver, an entrepreneur with a three-year-old clothing business, faced a further catastrophe: a fire tore through the space where he stored his inventory near Spring Garden Road.
Among the lost items were sweatsuits, hoodies, t-shirts and key chains. The early 2020 blaze also destroyed photography equipment, clothing racks, mannequins and a printer – all set aside to support growth in the business. Silver, whose positive attitude is vital for his work mentoring young people in Halifax’s North End, knew he had to press forward.
“I had the idea in my head and my health,” Silver said in an interview with HBB at a Bloor Street café in Toronto’s west end. He drank Earl Grey tea and occasionally consulted his smartphone for answers to a reporter's questions.
Silver’s perseverance appears to be paying off. His business, tREv Clothing, had 2022 sales of about $95,000 (about 70,000 U.S. dollars), according to Silver. He forecasts that figure will rise to $150,000 in 2023, when he expects to break even for the first time. Silver is focused on holding down sales and administrative expenses, which consist mainly of rent paid for a sales display in a Bedford mall, and about $5,000 a year in Facebook advertising. Silver has some debt but finances his expansion mainly by reinvesting all revenues in the business.
“I need to get better at the process,” said Silver, who is 32 years old. “I need to get better at expenses.”
In Store and Online
Silver, who sells about 30 t-shirts a month and five to 10 of his signature black hoodies with red and green drawstrings, gets about 75% of his revenue at the Bedford location, whose owner, John Connors, specializes in limited-edition sneakers. The remaining revenue comes from online transactions. Silver said almost all of his sales come from the Halifax area, although orders have come from as far away as Africa and Australia.
Silver is exploring the idea of opening a sales kiosk at the Halifax airport. His research suggests it’ll cost him $4,500 to $5,000 a month in rent and labour (the labour consisting of a cousin he trusts) to operate the kiosk, and he calculates he’ll need to sell $250 a day to break even. Also in the planning stages is a line of gold and silver jewelry, Silver said. He’s unwilling to discuss details of that foray. The hope, Silver said, is that a steady, measured expansion in Halifax will set him up to open a Toronto store within two years.
Silver studied history and business at Dalhousie University, and started law school after his third year on the assumption that the legal profession would be his ticket to a steady income. While studying law, he doodled the sketches that would become the basis for the black hoodie, whose central design is a scale balancing love and money.
In late 2016, Silver took a leave of absence from law school after the death of his grandfather prompted him to reconsider his priorities. He bootstrapped the business with $5,000 of unused school loans. In 2017, the company’s first full year, tREv Clothing did $5,000 in sales.
“I can always go back to school,” Silver said.
The Beginnings
He searched online for suppliers and tried his luck with a batch of 25 t-shirts produced by a Dartmouth supplier that he still uses. The order sold out, mainly to family and friends. The positive response made him realize he was onto something, and he ordered 100 of the hoodies. Those sold out too, albeit at a loss.
Silver tries to limit his inventory to $30,000 at any one time and said it usually takes him three to four months to sell an order. Silver’s clothes aren't cheap. T-shirts start at $35, and the signature hoodie costs $150. There’s also a plush, hoodied Teddy Bear for $60. Silver said his customers “know the quality.”
A Halifax-area native, Silver lives in Dartmouth. To make ends meet while building tREv Clothing, he works part-time jobs mentoring and managing social media for a local business. He also makes a bit of money from the occasional speaking engagement and creates short video pep talks called ‘Life’s Lessons’ – which he often records behind the wheel of his Chevy Malibu. In one, he exhorts young people to stay away from abusing alcohol.
Silver, once named Halifax’s best clothing designer by the online publication the Coast, said he needs a break but isn’t willing to compromise his integrity to make things happen. The Toronto rapper Pressa and the American hip hop singer Coi Leray have worn Silver’s clothing in public, but he said he won’t pay for celebrity endorsements. For one thing, it’s an expensive form of marketing. Equally important, he said, the only people he wants in his clothes are “people who wear the stuff because they want to wear the stuff.”
Having mentors has been critical to success, Silver said. Among the people he bounces ideas off are Christie and Peter, who sell high-end designer clothing at Rchmnd boutique on Granville Street in Halifax.
Silver’s worst business move? Selling the car he drove for his limo business when he was a university student.
“I should have kept the car and hired drivers,” he said.
-HBB
Comments