Monmouth U. students help create "New Army" gear

WEST LONG BRANCH — When Joe Gere wanted to create a business plan for a new clothing line, he didn't hire a bunch of high-powered experts. Instead, the Freehold resident went back to school.

Gere, who owns The Habana Co. — which offers what he described as "dock-to-dine" apparel — reached out to Monmouth University professor John Buzza and the students of his entrepreneurship class in the School of Business Management.

Buzza believes the way to teach entrepreneurship is by getting students involved in real projects. In other semesters, his students have developed their own pasta sauce, marketed gift bags and promoted concerts.

This semester, his students have been advising Gere about a new line of clothing he wants to create, which he has named New Army, which would target post-college-age men.

"Basically, at this point, we're learning the hands-on experience of what it is like to run a business," said Monmouth University senior Tiffany Mull, 33, of Bradley Beach. Among the topics the students have explored are public relations, Web design, sales and research and development, she said.

"We're learning the hands-on, but we're learning what we can use in the future to open our own businesses," she said.

The name New Army came about at the insistence of Gere, after students struggled for weeks to come up with a name for the new line. Gere, 44, said he chose the name — without apology to Old Navy — because when he looked at all the young people helping him launch the line, he realized that soon, they would be on their way to leading the next generation. They would be the "New Army."

While the students struggle with issues such as design and marketing, Gere hopes to attract more investors for his existing line. The Habana Co., which also goes by the name Habana Joe Trading Co., put its first clothing in stores three days before Memorial Day weekend 2005.

"It's not even two years old yet," he said of his company, which offers upscale resort wear for the ages-30-and-up crowd. "It is tastefully done casual wear" with a nautical feel, he said. "Basically, it was born out of a lifestyle. We go fishing, we go cruising, we hop off our boats and we go to the restaurant. It is casual enough to wear on the boat, yet it is fashionable enough (that) you can go into any restaurant and not be embarrassed."

Right now, Habana Co. gear is found in about 100 stores in New Jersey, Florida, Maryland, California, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

The students, who meet with Gere twice a week, learned through their market research that there is a gap in available clothing for men ages 22 to 30.

"We believe the students have . . . better insight (into) what they want to wear, what they are comfortable wearing," Gere said outside the classroom in Bey Hall recently.

When they graduate, "they all don't want to wear a Brooks Brothers suit. They want to have a personality. . . . The kids are really helping to define this company."

Senior Patrick Codd, 21, a business marketing major from Holmdel, echoed the feelings of several students when he talked about the degree of rejection they've experienced in trying to market and sell the line.

"I've learned that it is very hard to get things going, to get your name out there, even though this stuff is very high quality," Codd said. "It is a matter of getting some hype out, some buzz, and I just realize it is a lot harder than it sounds."

Senior Tom Schaut, 23, a business management major from Haddonfield, said the class began with a list bearing 3,000 names of people to whom it could possibly market the product.

"We only got three or four people to listen to what we had to say," he said. "It takes a lot of work and a lot of time to make your business successful. It is not something that is going to happen overnight. You have to pour your heart and soul into it."

Buzza said Gere is benefiting from the "enthusiasm, creativity and ability" of class members "to think outside the box." Each student participates and each learns from the other. "It is really the ultimate learning concept," Buzza said.

As much as Gere is taking from the students, he also hopes he is giving something back.

"The roadblocks they're having with us transcend every single thing in life, from decisions about design, who pays and who doesn't pay and who wants to buy," Gere said. "None of them can go out of here into this world with rose-colored glasses. None of it is easy."

The New Army clothing line will be available next fall. Students are planning a fashion show at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 at Monmouth University's Anacon Hall.

Posted by the Asbury Park Press

BY CAROL GORGA WILLIAMS
STAFF WRITER

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