UMD Freshman’s Tailgate Clothing Business Takes Off
By Emily Condon
October 30, 2021
Image Credit: Emily Condon for The Campus Trainer
Before making her appearance on campus, freshman letters and sciences major Annika Eleander launched a custom tailgate business in late March 2021. In recent weeks, dozens of terps have been spotted at tailgates walking around in Annika’s Customs.
Around the end of March, Eleander’s friends were looking for tailgate clothes, and stumbling upon many overpriced sites. “I had friends buy $100 sweatpants and $70 tanks that were poor quality and broke when they wore them,” said Eleander. “I just started making clothes for my friends to help them save money and have their clothes be good quality.”
While she never had the intention of selling clothing, Eleander began receiving messages asking for her to produce more clothing. “Although I was hesitant at first, I saw it as an easy way to make money before school started,” she shared.
Annika’s Customs can be found on Instagram @AnnikasCustoms. Eleander takes orders for custom products that can be personalized for any school, including products such as tank tops, sweatpants, sweatshirts and even bucket hats.
After receiving products from wholesalers, Eleander creates designs and prints them onto vinyl transfer sheets through her Cricut machine, which she then heat presses onto the products. Aside from the University of Maryland, Annika’s Customs can be found at over fifty schools, including Columbia University, Syracuse, Penn State and Northeastern.
“I’ve seen so many people wearing my clothes here; it's crazy. The first gameday everywhere I looked I could see someone wearing what I made,” she said. “It’s the coolest and strangest feeling to see people wearing and loving the clothes all the way here in Maryland that I made in my bedroom back home in Lexington, Massachusetts,” explained Eleander.
Some of her customers heard about Annika’s Customs through social media.
“I heard about Annika's Customs through [a UMD freshman Snapchat] group chat,” said Kaylie Schorn, freshman biology major, “I bought a tank top, sweatpants and sweatshirt.”
Others, such as Francesca Viscuso, a freshman letters & sciences major, expressed similar sentiments about her products.
“Annika sent her Instagram page into a group chat before school started and I checked it out and she was really good,” Viscuso said. “I’ve placed an order of sweatpants, shorts and shirts. Her products are really done well and well made. They are also super creative and trendy in the designs.”
StartUp UMD, a local university program that looks to support student, faculty, and alumni entrepreneurs, shared support for Eleander’s venture.
“I am always in favor of students starting any kind of venture of creation, as long as it's moral and ethical. But to be very open minded and have reasonable expectations of why they are starting that business and what they expect to create with that business,” said Sammy Popat, Campus Connector, Discovery District Manager and Interim Director of Mixed/Augmented/Virtual Reality Innovation Center (MAVRIC) .
On Friday, Oct. 22, Annika’s Customs launched its website to expand its business.
Image Credit: Emily Condon for The Campus Trainer
“I have big plans for Annika’s Customs while I'm here at Maryland. Both my parents own their own business so since I was young I've been able to see what growing a business is like. I would love to grow this into something huge and with the opportunities here at Maryland I think anything is possible for Annika’s Customs,” she shared.