Sports Illustrated

Stylish Profile

As the starting center for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jeff Faine touches the football more than any of his teammates each Sunday afternoon. Off the field, he's got his hands just as full with a variety of businesses that he's put his time and money behind. He began with a chain of restaurants and nightclubs in and around Cleveland (Faine was drafted by the Browns in 2003 out of Notre Dame), where he learned the basics of running a successful franchise.

Faine, 27, eventually decided to focus on his love for stylish clothing. After more than a year of discussion with good friend Pete Downing, 29, the two decided to bring a fashion-forward clothing line and lifestyle store to Orlando's downtown district. Downing, a successful nightclub manager, helped Faine hone his focus and negotiate the complexities of opening a retail outlet. Now the partners are scheduled to open Forty VII Clothing (www.fortysevenclothing.com) in October, a 3,600 square foot boutique complete with live music and DJs, local artist displays and, of course, unique clothes.

Jeff, you and Pete have a similar sense of style. How did you take that basic interest and arrive at the idea of a clothing store?

Faine: We didn't take the clothing store to New York or LA, we took it to Orlando, where clothing doesn't have much presence. We wanted to change that. We went there as businessmen and looked at what Orlando had and what it lacked. There's a ton of living, the condo boom downtown, but there was no infrastructure to support it. You don't have the great restaurants, the good shopping and whatnot. We wanted to do something about the shopping, which is something Orlando is craving, the whole idea of bringing a clothing store down there.

How did your relationship with Pete get started?

Faine: It was about four years ago, and I basically met him through mutual friends. He was just kind of burnt out from the bar scene and needed a fresh start. One day we started talking, and we meshed well, and we became really good friends. We sat around for quite some time and then said, Hey, we've got to do this, and make some moves.

We talked about it for some time and really hammered it out so that we were on the same page creatively and also what we wanted to be - a store, a company.

Downing: The idea came one night and we just stuck with it. We took a couple of trips out west, and up to New York and took pieces of this store here and this store there, and evolved it into our own.

Who managed the relationship with the brands you're going to carry? How did you get them on board?

Downing: That was me with the legwork. Jeff and I came up with a list of what I guess was about 75 brands we'd like to carry in-store, and I just started - with having no background in this industry - from the ground up. Going to a website, calling a corporate office, just building relationships. Pretty much everyone said the same thing. There are a lot of brands in the Orlando area, but not downtown. I painted them a picture of what we were doing and planning, and they kind of jumped right on.

Faine: One of our storefronts is right on Church Street, so we'll be able to cater to the nightlife. We'll stay open until most of the crowd gets out, so probably like midnight. We like to call ourselves an eclectic department store, we've got everything from a $20 T-shirt to custom bespoke suits from Astor and Black. It's something I think will reach the 21-year-old kid going out to party, and also to the businessman who's going to come down and want a custom suit made for himself.

Downing: I thought we should sell brands on the fact that this would be a lifestyle sore. We're going to carry a higher quantity of brands but less quantity of individual pieces. They're going to see a turnaround of clothes on a bi-weekly basis that they won't see in a department store. I want to market it similar to a nightclub, doing cross-promoting, sponsorship nights, fashion shows - you name it, we're trying it. Because that's our key demographic in the downtown demo, is the people who are out at night at some of the nicer bars and establishments.

What kind of obstacles have you run into?

Faine: The biggest obstacle is construction and the permitting in downtown Orlando. We're going into a brand new space, and when we took it over it was a shell - the first floor of the Solaire building, one of the biggest condo buildings in downtown Orlando. We went in there, and the floor was completely dirt and fresh surface. We had to get an engineer to figure it all out, and we did, but it took us three or four months. We were talking about dropping the floor 18 inches, which is eight truck fulls of dirt and cutting supporting beams, and that's not something you do in a day. I'm kind of learning Business 101 on the spot - what to order, how to order at conventions in Vegas, Miami, New York. It's been a great learning experience.

Downing: On our next store, we're going to find an existing building that has a foundation, four walls, lights and water. Neither of us has done something from the ground up, and I should have researched the building a little more and found out what they were going through. But we really liked the location, so even if it's been a year in the making, it's been worth it. Next time around, I'll look for existing buildings that we can do turnkey in a couple of months.

How did Pete help you figure it out?

Faine: The great thing about Pete is he's managed employees for years and that's something that - the day-to-day business - I'm going to rely on him to handle it. I'm really comfortable doing that. He's managed one of the best nightclubs in Orlando, handled payroll, day-to-day, making the place run. This business is different, but we're still trying to get people through the door and give them a good experience. He's got a great eye and he's definitely fashionable.

What's the next step? Advertising the brand?

Faine: We've brought in a fashion designer from Kent, up near Akron, Ohio. She's developing our cut and soul line. We're trying to narrow down what manufacturer we want to use once we get the samples out. We're going to launch men's and women's hopefully around the holiday season, spring at latest. And then we need sales reps to get those clothes into separate stores.

Downing: Down the road, I'm looking to expand the stores as well as our line. We're putting a lot of effort into creating our own unique look. The launching store, the first couple of stores, is a good way to drive our own brand, in my eyes. We offer 40 other brands for people who come in, but we should really push them on the Forty VII line. Eventually we're going to start popping up in smaller stores. We're going to stay in markets that aren't saturated with clothing stores, at least initially, until we have the infrastructure and we're ready to take Forty VII and that's all we'll sell.