I would love to write this article about the big news that I have been hinting at, but I am patiently (read: frustratingly) waiting on news and paperwork before I say anything.

Instead, I will give you a little insight about another big project that I have taken on as it is a great story…

Behind the Shirt w/ Marc Wilson #10: David vs. Goliath

Some people might be familiar with the MMA and Lifestyle brand FVSTR and would have seen it on such fighters as Brendan Schaub, Anthony Johnson and a close friend of mine, the late Shawn “Coach” Tompkins. If you were wondering why FVSTR seemed to have died down for a while I will let you know some of the details. Now that the owner has restructured the business to take back control of the company (and also included myself in the ownership group) I thought that I would share the story that cause the problems as it is a true David vs. Goliath story… with a less dramatic ending.

To preface the story though, for years before it was FVSTR the brand actually was “Fivestar Clothing” and the decision was made to change it to FVSTR to have a more recognizable name.

After moderate success under the FVSTR moniker, the company was made aware that industry giant Quiksilver was planning a line of apparel for legendary surfer Kelly Slater and some other athletes that was to be called VSTR (Apparently it is supposed to be “Visitor”, which to this day none of us can figure out what that has to do with Kelly Slater or anything for that matter). With that notice, they even admitted that they should have registered the name earlier and done their due diligence on the branding before they were looking to launch. Quiksilver was prepared to take FVSTR to court over the name despite the FVSTR trademark being in place for over a year before VSTR ever was.

There was some dismay within the company as some people wanted to fight Goliath, some thought it best not to take the chance against a legal department and financial backing that no small brand could compare too. At this time, I was only managing the sales and building a sales team; not officially a part of the company for me to have an opinion (not that it’s ever stopped me before). The other options were to try to continue with the FVSTR branding as long as possible, or the result we ended up going with was to revert back to the original “Fivestar Clothing”.

With all of those changes, it was time to also launch the other parts of the business and solidify the company in a way that better suits the market. So with the new ownership group together and on the same page, you may have noticed some things happening including launching Fivestar Athletics LLC as the parent company to the following business’:

FIVESTAR CLOTHING –
Fivestar Athletics, now encompasses the Fivestar Clothing brand which will relaunch the online store in the coming weeks. New products will be released this summer including more of our top-quality t-shirts, fight/board shorts, caps, hoodies, tanks and some women’s gear. Later in the year we will also release a high-end lifestyle line as well as Performance Training apparel to segway into the next line of business.

FIVESTAR TRAINING FACILITY –
As well as the Lifestyle and Performance apparel, Fivestar Training Facility opened it’s first location in British Columbia this winter and other locations will be opening up across North America. FTF locations cover all aspects of MMA and Performance training and all include a full sized octagon. Normally located inside fitness centers with access to the fitness areas as well professional training and classes in: Gracie Jiu Jitsu, Boxing, Kick Boxing, Wrestling, MMA, etc. Each location also is an official retailer of Fivestar Clothing. If you are interested in opening a Fivestar Training Facility in your area please contact myself or Justin Donally of Fivestar Athletics.

FIVESTAR FIGHT LEAGUE –

In conjunction with the Fivestar Training Facilities, we are in the sanctioning phase for the very first Fivestar Fight League show which is targeted for this summer in line with the Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alberta. Until the sanctioning is finalized we won’t release much details but this will be a professional, televised fight league that will also have an amateur division and will co-promote with Fivestar Clothing as well.

There is a fourth part of the business that we will also be announcing soon that is great news for people who are interested in the MMA Apparel industry and when details are ready we will do a big launch.

The moral of the story is…

Goliath shoved David around a little bit, but David took his ball and went home… Then he plotted Goliath’s demise.

Marc Wilson
Owner – Derailed Industries
[email protected]
1-519-870-1817
www.derailedindustries.com