Ad agency owners create clothing brand

Furious Creative ad agency owners Shawna Lagnado and Garrett Braun have helped many clients develop a brand, but they ultimately lacked control of where that brand ended up and how it was positioned.

So they decided to create their own brand of apparel and giftware. Avenue F Clothing Company launched in December with a line of T-shirts that spoof popular clothing brands such as Abercrombie and Fitch (Ubertrendie & Rich), and coffee mugs that disparage co-workers.

"We wanted to do something where we could completely control the brand, the products and the marketing," Lagnado says.

Reno-based Avenue F Clothing imports mugs made in China and buys T-shirts online from a manufacturer in Peru. Lagnado works the creative side of the brand's messaging, while Braun handles all the design work. Traveling T's of Reno does the custom screenprinting, and products are imported through Griffin Distribution of Sparks. Lagnado handles order fulfillment.

"The idea has received a lot of really good feedback," she says. "Most of our network is in this area, but we have sent products all over the nation."

Sales are conducted exclusively through the company's Web site, avenuefclothing.com. Some orders have come from overseas, Lagnado notes.