By: Mikala McBride, staff writer
Richard Harrison ’18, Adrian Thompson ’18 and Andreas Suri ‘18 started Suri Threads wanting to offer inspiration to all of the creators in the world. Combining each of their talents, these entrepreneurs have set out to create high-quality apparel that appeals to the artists and go-getters of future generations. With the launch of their Independent Collection, I got the chance to sit down with Harrison and Thompson to hear their story behind how Suri Threads came to be and what their plans are for the future.
Q: What is Suri Threads and how was the name developed?
Thompson: Suri Threads is a line for the creators. The whole concept behind the line is to create high-quality clothing for people who found success young, whether through modeling, artistic endeavors or going after their entrepreneurial dreams. We essentially made no shortcuts. It is named after Andreas Suri, our roommate and friend. Richard knew how to do all of the finance stuff, I knew how to do all the business stuff and Andreas knew how to do the designing. That’s how Suri Threads started.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for this company?
Harrison: Adrian and I had another company called Plate.O, which was a protective phone accessory. We started that freshman year and when we took it to the Space, they entered us into the Impact and Launch competition. We came in second place and won some money with legal fees taken care of. Through that, we were able to make decent profit but we found that someone was doing it a little bit bigger and a little big better. We liquefied our assets and took that money and reallocated it into a new company called Suri Threads.
Q: Where do you get the experience to launch a business like Suri Threads?
Thompson: Andreas’ dad is the independent sales rep for K-Swiss, who has led the signing of a lot of people. His mom is a high sales rep for Life is Good, so their job is picking designs and products to put into the market. We’ve been guided through them. Our brand stands for the person who decides to wedge his or her way into the world. That’s kind of our story and how we got here, so the product kind of represents that lifestyle.
Q: What makes Suri Threads special?
Thompson: Our clothing brand is made in the same level of factory as Lululemon, K-Swiss and Life is Good. It’s based in Peru and is made of Pima cotton jersey, which is the nicest cotton you can get and the stitching is very good.
Harrison: It’s a unique style of shirt that’s not on the market. It’s a scoop neck with a V-cut in the middle. It’s long sleeve and extremely comfortable.
Q: How do you develop a product like the Independent Line shirts?
Thompson: We developed the shirt from the ground up. We had to gain contact to have our designs translated to a professional level. We’ve been in personal contact with manufacturers and shippers for months at a time. We’ve worked on this hours and hours every day for over a year just to get one shirt, but it’s because we wanted that one shirt to be perfect and to do everything without skipping any corners.
Q: What do you see in the future for Suri Threads?
Thompson: Right now, we’re in the middle of our first launch and it’s called the ‘Independent Line.’ It’s a unisex shirt that comes in vapor blue, charcoal black and victory red. The goal is to take the projected profits from the first launch, and then we can launch a men’s and women’s line separately that will be all athleisure. Once we sell that, it’s going to be both lifestyle and athleisure.
Harrison: It’s expanded. We sell everywhere in the United States. It’s through online sales. We’re trying to go international, but the market’s not there right now and shipping costs are ridiculous.
Wofford students who are interested in the company can check out https://surithreads.com/. Use discount code CAMPUS20 for 20 percent off of your purchase.
