The Emergence of Ya Joe!
A year later, I decided to retire and soon after began teaching a class on workplace politics through the University of Washington’s Department of Psychology. While teaching, I observed that some of my male students were somewhat fashionable and some absolutely not fashionable at all. Since the UW is a research institution, many students have analytical minds and because fashion is felt, they don’t always “feel their fashion.” I wondered if there was a way to make men’s fashion less about feeling and more analytic. I decided there actually were three things about fashion that were distinctly analytical. Is it comfortable? Is it easy to care for? Is it functional? I wondered if there was a category of men’s wear that could be developed around these three things and decided to make men’s apparel one more time.
Using these core characteristics of comfort, ease of care and functionality, Ya Joe (named for the everyday guy) was formed as an online only company, designing and manufacturing its own men’s clothing. Our original idea was to make clothes for what we thought was an underserved market, analytical tech guys who didn’t necessarily have a “feel” for fashion, but had a sense that in the business world their appearance may be something to consider. During this process we found that younger tech guys, no matter how we presented it to them, just didn’t respond well to fashion. What we did find out was that when slightly older guys wore our clothes, they loved them and came back for more.
Internally, we referred to these guys as the “Forgotten Men of Fashion.” It turned out that Ya Joe’s real customer was a bit older - 35-60, still had a fashion sense, but felt as though they had been forgotten by designers presenting newer, tighter fits that they no longer could or wanted to wear.
Ergo, Ya Joe has made its first major transitional pivot to the Forgotten Men of Fashion.
Besides myself, Ya Joe has a small but talented team of three. Including me, there is Co-founder and Creative Director Aaron Hicks and Content and Graphic Design Manager Eliam Puente. Our tag line is Ya Joe “that’s me!” We want every guy to associate with Ya Joe and to know they aren’t forgotten!
Is Ya Joe finished pivoting? Not even close, I think recognizing when to pivot towards the unmet needs of our customers and when not to, is what creates the challenge and the naïve adventure we go through while finding our true “reason for being!”
Joe Boldan is a seasoned entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in the apparel industry and international business. Most recently, he co-founded Ya Joe International LLC, a direct-to-consumer clothing company for tech guys. Prior to Ya Joe, he co-founded adventure travel apparel company ExOfficio and served as CEO for 16 years. For the past ten years, he has taught in the University of Washington’s Department of Psychology on workplace politics and provided executive coaching.