Ethika
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|
| Limited Liability Company | |
| Industry | Clothing |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | San Clemente, California |
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Key people
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Matt Cook (Chairman & CEO) Malcolm McCassy (Founder) |
| Products | Underwear |
| Website | Official Website |
Ethika is an American men's and women's underwear company founded in 2001 by Malcolm McCassy, Travis Pastrana, Ryan Sheckler. The company is based in San Clemente, CA and has produced a longer fitting boxer brief, which they refer to as "The Staple." In 2015, the company expanded its product offering, launching multiple new products for men, women and children.
Ethika was founded in 2001 by Malcolm McCassy when he noticed a void in the Mens Underwear category. There wasn’t an underwear brand that offered a multi-purpose product for the active lifestyle that also had the ‘cool factor’. From 2001 to 2009, Ethika was more just a brand name and a group of friends than it was an underwear company. During this time, many different fits and fabrics were sampled in hopes of creating something new and different in the category.
In order to gain exposure for the brand, stickers were placed on some of the top skateboarders and motocross riders. Skateboarder Ryan Sheckler was seen at the X-Games when he was just 13 years old with an Ethika sticker on his helmet. After much testing, there was an overwhelming response from the athletes to produce a longer fitting pair of briefs in cotton fabric. At this time, there were no lifestyle underwear brands offering fits of this length in the market. In 2005 The Staple Fit was developed and the brand finally had its marquee product.
At the end of 2009, Ethika launched an official website and the brand began shipping limited product out of Malcolm’s garage. Over the next few years, brand popularity began to grow among key athletes and influencers because of comfort and all around usage. Product started to be seen on the not only top athletes, but celebrities and musicians. Justin Bieber, Lil Jon, Brody Jenner and numerous others were seen wearing the brand.
In late 2012, the current CEO, Matt Cook joined the company to provide capital and infrastructure in the hopes to expand the brand into retail channels and build out a sophisticated digital platform. That year, Ethika moved into Matt's existing offices, hired several employees, and began selling product to select retail accounts. Ethika started to expand its brand ambassadors in the Music and Lifestyle Categories.
Ethika got its first break, almost simultaneously, with Zumiez and Tillys. Both are national action sport retail chains that had faith in the brand and product and worked with Ethika to build the underwear category. At this time, Ethika was also working on its own digital platform, which was a priority for CEO Matt Cook who’s background was in technology and internet marketing. With the combination of some moderate retail and online success, the company started to see some growth. During this time, the brand developed its product strategy into three categories – Lifestyle, Performance and Premium. Slowly, new styles were developed and tested online to determine marketability and acceptance, which is a strategy that is still practiced today.
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