Visiting the White House

To suggest to me in May 1995, at the age of 28, that starting and running a small business was difficult, I would have said impossible. At that time, in that month, in that year I had reached a business high that seemed so over the top incomprehensible that my perspective about running a small business was significantly tainted if not warped. The statistics are telling. In the first four years in business Coed Naked sales had increased by 250% per year, selling roughly 150,000 shirts in 1991, 350,000 shirts in 1992, 1,150,000 shirts in 1993 and in 1994 just under 4,000,000 shirts.

But the real highlight in May of 1995 took place in a Rose Garden Ceremony at the White House. In 1994, my partner and I were nominated for Young Entrepreneurs of the Year through the US Small Business Administration. We were thrilled of course to be nominated but really didn’t have any expectation to win. However, those expectations changed quickly after winning both the NH and Regional Awards early in 1995. When the announcement came that we had in fact won the National Award and it would be celebrated in Washington DC at the White House with the award presentation being made by President Clinton, it was official that I had achieved small business nirvana.

The trip to DC was beyond unbelievable because it was not just an opportunity to visit our nation’s capital with family and my business partners; it was an opportunity to visit our nation’s capital to celebrate the success of Coed Sportswear, our small New Hampshire apparel business that became a national story due to the insane success of its Coed Naked brand. Everything about the trip was exceptional from meeting with NH Senator Judd Gregg and Congressmen Bill Zeliff, to our ceremony at the White House with both Vice President Gore and President Clinton. And of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the best meal I have ever had in my entire life was on that trip, my swordfish shoulder at the DC Palms. We were on top of the world, and when all ceremonies were over, we couldn’t wait to get back home and get back to work. After all, we had just opened our new 60000 square foot facility in Newfields and were on pace to double our sales in 1995. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the White House was the pinnacle of our success and symbolic of changing and more difficult challenges ahead. More on that later.

Mark Lane

President

Coed Sportswear, LLC