Business Opportunities Weblog

July 17, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 2 Comments

The Arizona Republic:

Bethany McNelly likes to think outside the box when it comes to her idea of hip fashion.

Frustrated with not enough sassy pink apparel, the 22-year-old launched her own line, called Material Bitch.

Yes. It’s an obnoxious word to sport.

But McNelly’s star-appeal T-shirts is gaining popularity on her online store and on the MySpace.com site. She even offers a chat room and dictionary for the words printed on tops.

“I’ve always been girly,” said the Scottsdale online entrepreneur.

So far, McNelly has sold nearly 600 T-shirts since the January launch of her hot pink online store. Her shirts come in hot pink, baby pink and white with words like (expletive) Fabulous or Gully, which means “keeping it hoody,” she said. The fitted T-shirts sell for $25 a piece.

They are also sold at Underground Clothing in Anthem, and LF in downtown Tempe. Online the hot pink, Gully T-shirt is sold out. Watch out, a MB velour track suit come out this fall, McNelly said.

Though McNelly said she is attracting fans from all over, a majority is from Arizona. She joins other novelty retailers who sell expressive T-shirts such as No Fear, Yellow Rat Bastard, or French Connection UK(normally sported on T-shirts as FCUK) to name a few.

Photo by Suzanne Starr.

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Tags: Niche, Startup, Women