April 17, 2024
Student businesses have been flourishing out of High Point University. Picnic Club, founded by Jake Lagana, has taken the spotlight on campus. Students may have seen the PC logo floating around showcased on shirts, sweatshirts, and hats. They might have even gotten the chance to attend one of the pop-up shops Lagana was able to organize.
Picnic Club is a clothing brand designed and manufactured by Lagana. Now a senior at HPU, he has been growing his business since sophomore year.
“I started making printed fish shirts the day before I left for sophomore year,” Lagana said.
He started off in his garage making around 50 shirts with his mom. He invested around $5,000 into the fish shirts in hopes to expand his business when he came back from school.
This is where the Picnic Club was born. Without a team, Lagana was able to create the designs and products as well as make them all himself. He has spread word on campus about his business and really attracted the attention of HPU.
Being a computer science major, Lagana didn't bring his entrepreneurship skills into his life at school. However, he has always had a side of him that wanted to do something where he could use those skills for his benefit.
Last May, Lagana entered a business plan competition where he ended up winning a prize of $2,500 to use towards building up his brand. Lagana was able to buy and transform a trailer to house his products and use it to have pop-up shops right on campus.
Lagana has been able to showcase his brand in High Point as well as back home in New York.
“Over the summer I did four or five pop-ups in East Hampton and Montauk, and I am planning on doing one more here at the end of the school year,” said Lagana.
Lagana has been running the company by himself for the past two years and has really seen a boom in his consumer interest. He even has other organizations reaching out to him wondering if he will make merch for their events.
Sigma Nu, a fraternity on HPU’s campus, hosts an annual car show and reached out to Lagana asking if he would make merch for their event.
Even though everything is working in Lagana’s favor, there is a small downside to running a full business by himself.
“Social media has made me sometimes want to walk away from it,” said Lagana.
Having no real team behind him, Lagana manages everything from the production of his products to the Instagram account that showcases his new designs. He even does his own photoshoots right in Cottrell.
He has worked with students to model his clothes and puts pictures on his website and Instagram page to give visuals of his new products and what they look like on someone. Lagana has had help from friends and family, but he is the sole person who is keeping the business alive.
Having to constantly come up with new posts and social media ideas can be a very draining thing to do. Lagana, doing it all by himself as well as managing everything else with the business, shows incredible dedication and drive to give it his all for the brand.
On top of also being a student, he has been working to expand his line into stores and out to manufacturers.
“The shelf space is what you are buying which is hard to convince people to let in a small business,” Lagana said when talking about moving his products into stores. He wants to keep trying and hopes to get some room in a boutique by him in New York.
Lagana is going to be graduating this May and working a full-time job after school. He wants to keep the Picnic Club as a side business for as long as possible and hopes to continue to work and expand on his products.
“I am able to make decisions that might not make logical business sense but do what is best for the brand and I think that's what sets me apart,” Lagana said.
The experience of having a successful small business is something that will be a staple in Lagana’s life and will be a remembrance for his time at HPU. For now, students are still able to enjoy Picnic Club and everything it has to offer.