Friends. By now many of you will have seen the outcome to our much ballyhooed appearance on Dragon’s Den. I learned that I need to reevaluate my facial expressions. Bryan learned how good he is at public speaking. I learned that it’s okay to be lippy to Kevin O’Leary.
I won’t be too verbose but I thought I should at least acknowledge the outcome of our trip to the Den of Dragon’s, which we can finally share with you. We got two offers, which you’ll see should you wish to watch the roughly 5 minute long clip. We went with Arlene, not because we didn’t love Jim and his incredible offer, but we think we just need some help getting the gospel of the Thuggie, Chuggie, and Thugglet out to the masses. Try as I may, just yelling at people about how awesome we are isn’t working as well as I’d like.
It’s very unusual to get an offer for twice what you are asking, so we’re pretty pleased with ourselves! And should you wish to, you can comment on our pitch on the CBC website, here:
With that, I bid you all adieu. Thanks for being part of the ride so far, and stick with us. We’ll throw the best parties ever if we can get a Thug Mansion!
Thugs&kisses,
Kim
Friends. Meet Jimmy Frandsen, comrade of Why Not Apparel Inc., high school student, wakeboarder and witticist. He came across the great Thuggie hoopla very near to the very beginning of our very long saga. I sat down (to my computer and emailed him) with Jimmy with a few questions to get a better sense of just who Jimmy is. We know he’s an absurdly talented wakeboarder, but who else is he?
1. How long have you been wakeboarding?
Jimmy: I started when I was 7 years old, so about 10 years now.
2. Have you ever been bored, while wakeboarding?
Jimmy: Never, to me wakeboarding doesn’t get old. There are always new challenges, whether it be better and more technical tricks, or that next level of competition.
3. Do you board on other things than wakeboards?
Jimmy: I skateboard and snowboard on the off season to stay as fresh as possible for the next wakeboard season to come. (Ed. note: someone seems a wee bit fixated on wakeboarding. Interesting.)
4. Where is your favourite place to wakeboard?
Jimmy: Winter Haven, Florida, it’s the place to be for wakeboarding all year round.
5. If you had to take one article of clothing with you to protect you from the ravages of nature, what would it be?
Jimmy: Is that even a question?! Obviously my Spider Thug 2.0 Thuggie because it looks hesh and I’d always be warm, cozy and ready for anything that comes my way! (Ed. note: right answer. Bonus points, Jimmy. Bonus points.)
6. What would you say is your best athletic achievement thus far?
Jimmy: I would have to say placing 5th at the Canadian Nationals this past August was pretty dope. (Ed. note: that is indeed, pretty dope.)
7. Do you see yourself doing this professionally? If not, what else do you want to be when you grow up?
Jimmy: I definitely want to hit up some of the pro tours in the next couple of years down in the States and see how I fare against the rest of the world.
8. If you had to be a dolphin or a shark, which would you be and why?
Jimmy: Obviously a Hammerhead cause they’re badass.
9. What is your home lake/ocean?
Jimmy: Allison Lake in the Princeton / Merritt region is where I kick it in the summer time.
10. What is the most challenging move you’ve ever done?
Jimmy: Either a 720 off a kicker or a skeezer (switch stance front roll 360)
11. What is your favourite use of your Thuggie?
Jimmy: As soon as I’m finished riding I throw my Thuggie on to keep warm and stylish before my next ride. (Ed. note, another tick mark for Jimmy.)
12. Who is your wakeboarding idol?
Jimmy: Jeff House, without a doubt. Style is everything. (Ed. note: frantically googling “Jeff House”.)
13. If you could only use one song in your videos for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
Jimmy: Another Body Drops – Cypress Hill
14. Coke or Pepsi?
Jimmy: Coke for sure!
15. How did you find the Thuggie?
Jimmy: I saw Ivan Traas wearing it one day while we were out on the lake, I knew I had to have it.
16. Do you think it’s a coincidence our names rhyme?
Jimmy: um, I guess.
17. Have you seen that Seinfeld where Elaine has that guy Jimmy from the gym that likes her but she thinks that he’s talking about someone else who likes her but he keeps referring to himself in the third person so Elaine thinks that someone else named Jimmy likes her?
Jimmy: yes. I get asked that a lot. So yes. Yes I have.
And that’s a wrap! Thank you Jimmy, for being a prolific wakeboarder. You are a source of great pride to this country and to Why Not Apparel Inc. And thanks for putting up with my questions.
So it’s happened; we’ve gone viral. Not sure what prompted it but nor do we care. Opinions are varied, some are loving, some are loathing. But we embrace all of it. Clearly we anticipated mixed reactions when we set out to revolutionize comfort. Some people get the joke and like it, some people get the joke and hate it, and some people just don’t really care. Except apparently a lot of people do. In the last 36 hours we’ve been featured on (and not limited to):
Kempt (division of UrbanDaddy.com) – The hoodie of madness (filed under “bad ideas”. Jokes on them! Their readers with badly want one!)
Fail Blog – Snug and Thug, poorly dressed people of the world (if you go down into the comments, someone says: “I think that part of the problem is that the people wearing them are models and not actually thug-ish…” we’ll take it! Models? Oh boy!)
Now I know I just put up another post, but that was more or less inventory of what has been happening on the interwebs both for your reference and ours. This one, friends, involves you. We’ve done this one before and it was fun but it seems even more suitable now as much of the hype is happening via Twitter. So. You have 140 characters MAX. Tell us why you should win a Thuggie of your very own. Creativity is welcome, as always.
This contest will run till Friday at noon (PST) and the winning submission will be announced!
If you are fans of ours on the Book of Faces, you know that we’re engaged in a partnership with our pals at brand.LIVE who are putting on Live at Squamish, happening this August 20th and 21st. We. Are. EXCITED. Not only are we pleased as punch that they wanted to work with us, but we’re also starry eyed at the way their LAS2011 Thuggies turned out. The team photo of them and the LAS Bear Head really brought it all home. Anyway, for those of you who can make the concert, do! Incredible lineup featuring Weezer, Metric, the Dudes, Major Lazer feat. Diplo,Girl Talk and more. Tickets are still available, so if you’re wondering what to do with that weekend, well, quit wondering. The Why Not Apparel Inc. team will be there slanging Thuggies and Chuggies, milling about in our leisurely yet focused way. We’ll have a sweet tent with our logos bedazzling it and we might just have some special editions up for grabs.
Those of you that can’t make it: we miss you already. One day we hope to meet all of you and have the pants-off dance-off of the ages.
