Alumni Spotlight: Rivalry Wear Co-Founder Dan Hershberg '06

Recently, we highlighted Rivalry Wear, an emerging sports apparel vendor. In case you missed it, the company was founded by two Cornell Alumni, Dan Hershberg '06 and Jorge Lee '07.  We were able to hear from Dan about Rivalry Wear, Cornell, and much, much more.

1. Could you tell us a little about your background, including your time at Cornell?

I’m originally from Philadelphia, where my father has been a Professor at Penn for 40+ years. Despite his best arguments, I chose to enroll at Cornell in 2002. While on campus, I played three years of club soccer for Mundial, spent countless hours with the Lynah Faithful and in between that, somehow managed to get my degree in American Studies. I also made a point to eat at every dining hall on campus and can confirm that Cornell food is second to none.

2. What was your path from Cornell to your current endeavors, particularly Rivalry Wear?

After graduating in 2006, I took a job with ESPN as a production assistant at their Bristol, CT studios. At ESPN I produced and edited montages, as well as other creative pieces that aired nightly on the 11pm and 1am SportsCenter. My work was featured in--and responsible for—the creation of the SportsCenter “Encore” segment, a creative revisit of an important game or series from that night.

In the fall of 2008, I felt a pull towards entrepreneurship and moved home to Philadelphia where I started Philly Phaithful, a business specializing in originally designed Philadelphia sports apparel. Over the last five years, our company has been featured in ESPN the Magazine and Sports Illustrated, as well as on many local networks like Comcast SportsNet and WIP Sports Radio.

During that time, I focused on learning everything I could about the day-to-day operations of running a small business, with the long-term goal of growing the basic concept into a brand with a more widespread appeal.

Even with the launch of Rivalry Wear in November 2013, I still run Philly Phaithful as well as our sister company, Broad Street Broad, a Philadelphia female sports apparel brand started by my girlfriend Christine Blechman, before she moved back into the full-time sector.

3. Why Rivalry Wear? What compelled you to get into the sports apparel industry, and why was this the model you chose?

Rivalry Wear is the result of what I’ve learned running Philly Phaithful. Along with my business partner Jorge Lee (HE ’07), the business model we developed over the last year and a half was designed to address the variety of obstacles I faced while operating Philly Phaithful. As a small business owner, you face a myriad of daily challenges, from customer service and fulfillment to cash flow and marketing on a shoestring budget.

From a customer-facing standpoint, the Rivalry Wear model gives us a platform to provide our customers with a unique opportunity to control the final purchase price of their item through social media interaction, as well as the chance to purchase timely, relevant products.

From a business-facing standpoint, we’ve been able to largely eliminate the sunken cost of inventory, minimize the amount of advertising dollars necessary to promote our brand, and create an advanced schedule that streamlines the production process.

4. How do you envision Rivalry Wear growing? Where are the opportunities for expansion?

While we’re still in the infancy of our business model, we’re quite bullish about the growth potential. Currently, we feature six cities (Boston, Chicago, LA, New York, Philadelphia and the Bay Area) plus a national section, but we’d like to expand into other markets once we’ve laid a solid foundation and worked out any kinks that might develop over the first 6-12 months. There’s also been internal discussion about expanding into college apparel, although that’s probably a little ways down the line.

 5. Where do the ideas for your shirts come from? Some of the designs are very entertaining. 

Currently, all of our concepts originate in-house, although we do have plans to push our “Submit Your Own Design” page for a bit more crowd-soured material in the future. The designs themselves are a team effort, most stemming from brainstorming sessions that focus on current events in the sports world, relevant pop culture themes and often times, random ideas that seem like fun.

6. Could you think of an experience at Cornell that had the largest impact in shaping your professional life?

While it might only seem tangentially related to the path I chose, taking Introduction to Wines my senior year most definitely had the largest impact in my decisions to start my own businesses. Up until my senior year, I never looked at my course selection with a pre-professional eye. That is, I took what was required of me to graduate and didn’t focus on classes where I was completely engaged and enjoying the subject matter.

Taking the class opened my eyes to the fact that a finding a career didn’t have to be solely about work, in the traditional sense. I was fascinated with wine and many people were making a living in the industry, from growing grapes and creating product to selling and marketing a brand. Seeing as how sports had always been my passion, this experience allowed me to think about ways that I could channel that passion into a career and more specifically, the variety of paths I could take to achieve my goals.

7. Do you have any advice for entrepreneurial students interested in sports?

It’s important for students to decide if they want to turn their passion/hobby into their profession. That might seem like a natural progression but in reality it’s not always feasible or even desirable to merge the two.

For instance, I couldn’t have been more excited to take the job at ESPN, but after two years of working there I couldn’t have been more excited to leave. Working 6p-3a, weekends and holidays will do that to you. If being a fan above all else—attending/watching games—is what matters most, I wouldn’t recommend working for a team or sports media.

Often times, it’s more important to know what you don’t want to do, even though it’s usually easier to focus on what you do want. My experience at ESPN didn’t end up in a 20-year career, but it got me to think outside the box about how to pursue a career in sports without sacrificing everything I love about being a fan. In a nutshell, that’s what entrepreneurship is all about: identifying a problem, clearly determining a goal, and then executing a plan to find a solution.

Along those lines, the single biggest piece of tangible advice I ever received is to write things down. From short term to-do lists, to intermediate plans to long-term goals, it’s incredibly helpful to keep everything right in front of you. Having clearly defined goals provides a semblance of structure that a non-entrepreneur might have provided for them.

We would like to thank Dan for taking the time to answer our questions. Don't forget to check back next week for an exclusive interview with Jorge Lee, Dan's co-founder at Rivalry Wear. And while your at it be sure to check out the website if you haven't already. Rivalry Wear Company Website