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Member Spotlight: Fivelo Arm Sox

March 30, 2015 | Written by Matt Beuschlein

March Madness is a time when fans and nonfans alike emerge to root on the teams that will lead their brackets to victory.

For Joe and Leesa Albert, March Madness 2011 would change their lives forever. While the two watched an Ohio State game, they noticed a group of fans wearing striped sleeves in the team’s colors and were intrigued by the sea of crimson and gray waving around.

So, the couple did some research and ordered a couple pairs of these sleeves for themselves. To their disappointment, Joe and Leesa felt the size and materials of the sleeves were lacking. However, they saw a market potential for an improved version of the product, so the two got to work designing their own product that would be better suited for the Pacific Northwest climate. What they ended up with was a longer, thicker sleeve with a thumbhole – and FiveLo Arm Sox was born.

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As a stay at home dad, Joe started working on FiveLo Arm Sox in his spare time as a way to save for his children’s upcoming college tuition. He began reaching out to some U.S. mills to talk about coming up with a prototype.

“Some things may seem daunting or beyond your capabilities, but once you start down that path, you figure it out along the way.  Don't be afraid to ask questions.  You can learn to do many things you may think you have to pay others to do.” – Joe Albert

Joe then reached out to companies overseas on Alibaba.com for samples and finally had three different mills produce prototypes that were much closer to what he wanted. After a couple months of back and forth on research and design, he placed his first order of 2,000 sleeves from a mill in China. 

After a chance meeting of his wife and another BizX member, Joe reached out to BizX and started selling his Arm Sox on the BizX Marketplace.

“We started a BizX store right away and as soon as the holiday season/football playoffs hit, things really started to take off. We were even featured on the landing page of the Marketplace and we got a ton of orders.”

Now two years later, Joe has sold more than 20,000 in BizX dollars.

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Joe even gets to leverage his BizX dollars every once in a while for a night out at his favorite restaurant! With its BizX dollars, FiveLo Arm Sox was able to purchase services from a graphic designer who put together the company’s business cards. The company was also able to use its BizX dollars to purchase everything needed for a trade show. Most recently, the company is working with another graphic designer/photographer for marketing materials.

“BizX has worked out very, very well for Fivelo Sports. I can imagine it works out really well for someone offering a service, as they get to leverage their time against full retail value. BizX is great because it gives small businesses a way to keep their costs down while getting started, with opportunities to purchase services like web design, graphic designers, etc. I think it’s a great concept.”

After three successful years, the company is now expanding outside of its Seattle Seahawks colored items, with plans to produce licensed collegiate products and is offering custom items as well for little leagues or bands, etc. And the FiveLo arm warmers are now even sold at Nordstrom.

They are also fortunate enough and successful enough to start giving back. At the 2014 Accelerate the Pace race put on by the Ben Towne Foundation, FiveLo was able to create and donate custom Arm Sox to use and giveaway the day of the race. Not long after that race Joe and his family were also able to hand out Arm Sox to the homeless in Pioneer Square before the Seahawks game against the 49ers back in November.

We love to hear from our customers about their success stories and can’t wait to hear what FiveLo Arm Sox has in store for the BizX Marketplace next!FiveLoFeaturedImage

CHECK THEM OUT!

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