Weirdest Inspiration I Ever Had Real life story from a successful entrepreneur
By P. Kelly Smith •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The weirdest inspiration Randy Miller ever had came fromflipping the pages of a magazine. The Houston stockbroker cameacross a Tommy Hilfiger ad featuring men prancing around in tartanskirts. His mission in life suddenly became clear: to start acasual clothing line for "real men."
Cavewear is just that: clothing for the anti-skirt, modern-daycaveman. As president and CEO, Miller (below, c.) brought onbrokerage partners Bob Yrshus (below, l.) and Duncan Wine as vicepresidents and cavemen extraordinaire. Since 1998, they've beenselling T-shirts, boxers and hats to men who aren't afraid towear manly styles and colors like fire red, slate blue and charcoalgray. "To us, the modern-day caveman is a successful,hard-working guy," says Miller. "He's a familyprovider and decision-maker. Basically he gets thingsdone."
In the footsteps of Nike, Cavewear boasts a definitivemotto-"I'll Decide"-that has apparently hit a nerve:Sales from kiosks and local wholesale deals were just under $1million in 1999. But does the market for Cave-wear really wear thepants in the family? According to Miller, 65 percent of theirpatrons are women buying for their guys.
