Episode 269: The Obsession with Original Favorites, a chat with Pete Drago and Evan Toporek
We all love to wear brands from companies that mean a lot to us. And we each have our own obsessions.
For me, I love media companies, the New Yorker, The New York Times. It’s cause I’m a word nerd and I’m a merch nerd, like you. I was recently on the New Yorker merch shop. I fell in love with this soft and simple sweatshirt, ordered it, and didn’t think a thing about it until it arrived. Opened it, and had that experience we all love to create in this business when you receive great merch. The quality was incredible, and I immediately –like many of you do– looked at the tag, trying to find who made it.
It was made by a company called Original Favorites. In 2016 Original Favorites was created by Peter Drago and Dave Boger out of the need for a true luxury garment in the wholesale blanks space. They created a transparent approach to premium raw material sourcing and classic manufacturing and immediately attracted a roster of clients, including some of the most recognizable names in the fashion, tech, and lifestyle industries.
I knew mutual connections to Original Favorites: The folks at the admirable distributor company Canary and equally admirable my friend Toby Zacks with Zagwear, and I eventually connected with Peter Drago, President at Original Favorites, and Evan Toperek, investor at Original Favorites. Peter started Original Favorites with his business partner David Boger. Evan has a ton of street cred in this business he was previously the Co-owner and CEO of Alternative Apparel which was acquired by Hanes in 2017.
Why this episode is important:
Clients are seeking higher quality merchandise experiences as evidenced by some of the most notable distributors seeking this brand.
Original Favorites has created a scalable and completely different selling model which is worth talking about and, finally and perhaps mainly …
This apparel category is over 30% of this multi-billion dollar industry, and there is a ton of confusion about organics, recycled, authentication, verification.
Join us as we talk about all of this, it’s a 401 conversation in sustainable apparel education and a fascinating brand to watch!