We sat down with Trent Capps, Local Revere founder and CEO, to get the skinny on what the buzz is all about with their creative and hyper-local approach to TCU fan gear as well as to find out just where the name came from.
Frogs O’ War has launched a new social media and web partnership with Local Revere. We sat down with Trent Capps, Local Revere founder and CEO to get the skinny on what the buzz is all about with their creative and hyper-local approach to TCU fan gear as well as to find out just where the name came from.
FOW: When and where was Local Revere founded? What was the motivation for founding the brand?
Trent: The idea of Local Revere was conceived in February 2016 after I had just exited from a tech startup that focused on the licensed apparel space. My time there really emphasized how staid fan gear was with not a lot of creativity being used; rather, just the same assets/logos rinsed and repeated.
The next few months involved brainstorming the vision for Local Revere and we launched in September 2016 largely as a creative outlet to bring story driven, one-of-one designs to sports and pop culture fans and to offer something unique in the marketplace. An underlying motivator was really to selfishly provide cool tees for myself, family, and friends haha.
It remained a creative outlet/side passion for the next few years as tech startups continued to keep me busy during the day. February 2023 is when it all changed thanks largely to TCU hosting their first-ever alumni “Horned Frogs Fair” where local businesses had the opportunity to showcase their business and product.
We made some amazing connections there and an initiative to move TCU fan gear forward in a creative/hyper-local way began with their licensing team and leadership at the campus/stadium stores.
FOW: What are the goals and aspirations for Local Revere? What are you hoping to provide to TCU fans and the Horned Frog community?
Trent: Local Revere is about bringing out the glory in the story with vintage touch and modern attitude; hence, our tagline “No Story. No Glory.”. I am as passionate a Horned Frog sports fan as there is, so tapping into that and getting hyper-local with our approach is important to us. Our aim is to breathe creativity and excitement into TCU fan gear where when fans see our product they instantly realize it’s something different and fresh (a Local Revere tee ), not the same assets/logos they’ve seen throughout the years.
FOW: Tell us about your background – Your time at TCU, your experience in the apparel industry, etc. What do you enjoy most about building Local Revere?
Trent: My time at TCU was amazing – the campus, faculty, and curriculum are all top-notch! I studied entrepreneurship through the Neeley School of Business and graduated in 2006. My background has been heavy in tech startups from an operations and growth perspective across various industries including ecommerce and real estate/proptech.
My initial experience into the apparel industry was back in 2015 when I joined FanPrint heading up their operations and this is what led me to starting Local Revere as previously alluded to. I met my wife at TCU as well and she was a fashion major so it’s been fun tapping into her experience along the journey.
What I enjoy most about building Local Revere…that’s a great question! I’d have to say the people we get to interact and share stories with. I think back to all of our pop-up shops where I could spend 15 minutes just talking about the outcome of a TCU game with a fan, or hearing them say how they love our creativity and freshness would add fuel to what we’re doing.
FOW: Describe the apparel y’all offer – How does Local Revere provide something different for TCU fans in comparison to other brands?
Trent: If you were to ask those that know me well, you’ll quickly learn that I’m a tee junkie and subconsciously I think that’s why I left a suit and tie job for the tech startup life in 2015 haha. Being a tee junkie has its perks…like knowing what a shirt should feel and fit like. We have a phrase we use around the office and it’s “Only The Best”. For us, that’s found in the details of our apparel…design touches, premium fabrics, and a super soft print that’s uniquely formulated.
Our creative and hyper-local approach provides apparel that fans can feel connected to because “IYKYK” is in our TCU DNA. We aren’t just using standard TCU assets/logos or ones you’ve seen blasted out of the college vault catalog for the last eight years. Our collections are 1 of 1 designs where the artwork you see is truly original. An example I like to highlight of this is our ‘Carter Boys BBQ’ football tee that combines the 1 of 1 with IYKYK.
Another example is our exclusive Sonny Dykes ‘Do Your Job’ football tee that was officially approved by Coach and for those that watched ‘Carter Boys’ on ESPN the last two seasons know what that’s about. To round the bases on examples (pun intended) is our ‘Magic In The Fort’ baseball tee that pays homage to the movement over the last several years known as “Lupton Magic”. All of this is being done as “Officially Licensed” TCU goods which makes it even sweeter!
FOW: Where can people find you? How much is only available online and how much is available in retail space?
Trent: Currently we have our online store and are also featured in TCU’s campus and stadiums stores as well. All of our TCU gear can be found both online and at TCU. I do like to highlight that we are 100 percent free shipping…always…because who likes to pay for that?! We are in the process of exploring future retail distribution channels as we continue to build excitement around what we’re doing.
FOW: How do you hope to continue growing the brand in the future? What are some ideas or new concepts you have in store?
Trent: Getting officially licensed with TCU last summer has been a catalyst for Local Revere and then to embark on our creative initiative for fan gear was monumental. I’ll never forget that night on Sept. 9, 2023 when our initial TCU collection was unveiled in the Amon G. Carter team store. I was staring at the ‘LR’ merch as a fan for the first time and a rush of excitement set in…kind of like when TCU sealed the Fiesta Bowl victory on a Michigan 4th and 10 botched snap with 34 seconds to go or when Tank Carder batted down a Wisconsin Scott Tolzien pass on the two-point conversion to try and tie it in the Rose Bowl victory in 2011.
We currently have several strategic initiatives in the works that range from building more brand awareness, dropping new collections that go beyond TCU (i.e. our ‘Locales’ collection centered around Dallas-Fort Worth and Texas vibes) , and adding more apparel items such as hats, hoodies, and other goods. We have started exploring key partnerships and even dipping our toes in the NIL space (stay tuned ).
FOW: By now, readers may be asking how did the name Local Revere come about?
Trent: No one tells you how hard choosing a company name is haha. I noodled on this for weeks because at the core, I wanted the name to serve two purposes. One, was it had to embody our city and the people who join us in calling it home because community is life (Local). Second, it needed to underscore what it meant to be a fan of something and we all have those memories of a sports figure/team that we idolized growing up or our hometown that shaped us (Revere). I feel like we caught the electricity between those purposes, infused it with some good old fashioned hard work, and creatively crafted it into a brand that is just truly getting started.
Local Revere
No Story. No Glory.