Blake Smith | Courtesy
Cladwell, an online fashion start-up founded by two Hillsdale alumni, was designed to keep fashion stylish and simple. By asking the customers a series of questions about their lifestyle and fashion preferences online, Cladwell generates a capsule wardrobe for customers, suggesting both the style and number of wardrobe items they should own.
Now successful business partners, Blake Smith ’07, a math major, and Chris Merchich ’07, a psychology major, met at Hillsdale their sophomore year. In addition to co-founding the company together, Merchich now works as Head of Fashion and Customer Success and Smith as the Chief Executive Officer of Cladwell.
“Well, it all began at Simpson my sophomore year. I helped this guy carry his speakers up to his room, and we became friends. That guy was Chris, my current business partner,” Smith said.
“It was a blessing, because my first-year experience was hard,” added Merchich, “and here I was, presented with someone who would become a new best friend on my very first day back.”
The pair went on to form a lasting friendship, finding their flair for business within their social activities.
“We started throwing massive parties at Simpson,” Smith said. “We put on Simpson’s first Halloween party. We brought in our own radio broadcaster to blast Halloween music throughout the entire building. I remember that on the following day the bricks of the building were still warm because of how the people we had packed in there. From that moment, we developed a kind of cool culture around us.”
Both the social community and the governmental structure of Hillsdale shaped them as young men.
“Some of my most valuable lessons came from my experiences outside of the classroom and the relationships I built at college,” Smith said.
During their sophomore year, Smith and Merchich were able to rebuild the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia men’s music honorary after all of its members had graduated. That experience sparked something within them both.
“In that moment, I experienced something that I’d never experienced before,” Smith said. “I was using myself to my fullest capacity as social chair and as head of recruiting. I was in a state of pure invention and creativity.”
“I am thankful that the administration at the school gave me the amount of freedom it did and no more,” added Merchich, “This freedom allowed us to rebuild a fraternity and do some crazy things (more mischievous than dangerous) without too much hassle, but just enough hoops to make it an adventure.”
After graduation, Smith worked for a hedge fund. When his employer purchased an entertainment company in Los Angeles, Smith was thrown into a new environment. Smith reached out to Merchich for some fashion advice and stumbled into his next business venture.
“At 25, I had to run around Hollywood and look like I knew what I was doing,” Smith said, “Chris was working as a brand specialist at Macy’s at the time, so I called him and asked him for style advice. Chris created a capsule wardrobe for me.”
“I had such a positive experience with clothing that I thought the capsule wardrobe could be a profitable the business model,” Smith said. “Plus, I had the desire to get back to what I had felt in college when I had the freedom to be creative.”
Smith reached out to Merchich at a wedding of a mutual friend, and they began Cladwell in 2013. The company’s main objective is to help people live more minimally while still allowing them to fully express their personal style.
“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve paid attention to the clothes that people wear,” Merchich said. “A friend of mine, from Hillsdale actually, said that he appreciates fashion because it’s like art you wear. I’ve spent years developing my understanding of that idea.
“Your clothes silently communicate so much about you that it’s a good idea to be as careful about them as you are with your words. The decision to wear a piece of clothing represents something about the way you see yourself. Once I understand that motivation for a person, I can help him dress better,” Merchich said.
In addition to working with individuals, Cladwell has plans to influence the industry as a whole.
“There is this culture in fashion that has been present for the last 10 years or so which suggests clothes or are consumable goods opposed to reusable,” Smith said. “This is called fast fashion, and Cladwell is at war with fast fashion. This culture of consumerism is horrible for the environment, horrible for our wallets, and it’s horrible for our souls. We want to end the feeling of having too many clothes but nothing to wear.”
Going forward, Cladwell plans to create an app and continue expanding their market.
“One belief that pervades everything we do is that every single person ought to be truly and authentically himself or herself,” Merchich said. “We want you to be the very best version of you — not who anyone else wants you to be. So we want to build something that encourages people to first understand themselves, then represent that to the world in what they wear.”
