Adirondack Oxford

A shirt this creative could only come out of Skidmore College. Juniors Jamie Benjamin and Leif Catania call their Saratoga Shirt the perfect combination of "classic Oxford style with mountain flannel comfort." With their twist on these classics, they're breaking new fashion ground—and having a blast.

Neither had any idea how to design or manufacture a shirt when they charged down this road two years ago. Inspired by Seth Berger '14, a senior who had just won a $5,000 third prize in Skidmore's Freirich business-plan contest for his East Coast Lacrosse brand for athletic wear, they locked themselves in a room in Scribner Library for a day of brainstorming. They itemized all the passions they had in common and came up with a short list of mountains and clothes.

Next they pulled all of their shirts out of their closets, laid them on the bed, and conducted an in-depth inventory of what they liked and didn't like. Expanding their inquiry to the closets of friends, they coded more than 200 shirts the same way Pandora codes songs. "I know for a fact that this is not how professional designers produce a shirt, but it worked for us," says Catania.

Preparing for the final round of competition (Friday, April 8, at 5 p.m. in the upstairs conference rooms in Murray-Aikins Dining Hall), Catania and Benjamin are working with mentor Gregg Smith '92, chief innovation officer with Edison Nation, on polishing their business plan and preparing their pitch for the judges.

"He's helping us create a path of growth for the business and showing us how to create a convincing argument to present to investors," says Benjamin. "We throw out ideas, and he quickly lets us know whether or not he thinks they will work. He's helping us develop a spark that will allow us to really shine in the finals."

Smith says, "We have been working hard in a very short period of time and are still building this airplane midflight." But he adds, "It has been an exciting process working with the Adirondack team to shape and define all of the relevant ingredients that go into building a business, including defining the brand and vision, products, market strategy, and marketing and social media campaigns."