We make apparel for fitness junkies and competitive exercisers. Usually, one of the first questions we get is "What is the Hurt Locker?" If you have to ask, you haven't been there. In a competition, event, workout, or race, it is a period of immense, inescapable, and absolute pain. The Hurt Locker is that special place where you make a decision and the only two choices are to keep going or give up. Those that give up go and cry on Facebook. Those that push through stand on the podium.
We were founded by a couple of average guys that love CrossFit. We were not too thrilled with the shirt choices available to us and thought we would put some stuff together for us to wear and maybe sell a few to our friends and fellow box members.
We just kept doing that until we made it to where we are now.
What are the key factors that have helped your store be successful?
We have kept things honest, humble, sarcastic, and geared toward that type A personality that wants to workout even if its 5 degrees below zero on Christmas day.
Putting our product on people has been the best thing for us. We do not advertise in magazines, billboards, or commercials. For us, it has really done well to market our products by people seeing them out and about and in the gym.
We utilize social media to keep things rolling and stay active and involved with what is happening.
What are your top recommendations for new store owners?
Don't suck. Seriously. Be awesome.
Client interaction has been key for us. Whether good or bad, we like to hear from our customers and what we can do to make things better, more comfortable, match, etc. The smallest request has turned into some really big sales for us.
Any Closing Remarks?
You have to be close to your product. If you are trying to create something just to sell it, that will never be as powerful as selling something that you are tied to and believe in.
We love competitive exercising and fitness and just about everything surrounding it. So when we create new products we really try to create things that we love ourselves and it translates over to our customers because in the end, they are just like us.