UA Student Aims to Capture Spirit of Fayetteville

Maurice Elliott had not been to Fayetteville before he came to attend the University of Arkansas.

Elliott, a Dallas native, said he envisioned Northwest Arkansas as “just this flat place with a Walmart and a Sonic.”

“I never had any clue how cool this place is,” he added with a grin.

Now Elliott, 21, is putting his studies in management and entrepreneurship at the UA’s Walton College of Business to use in an endeavor he hopes will turn a profit by showcasing the area’s natural beauty. His line of T-shirts – label name: Fayettechill – is available online at www.fayettechill.com and at Walker Brothers Dry Goods in Fayetteville.

Elliott said he’ll soon introduce baseball-style chino caps, and eventually wants to have an entire line of clothing that appeals to those who enjoy the good things in life. Ideally, he sees his future work as “a Tommy Bahama for the younger set.”

“Anything leisurely in life, that’s what we’ll be showcasing,” Elliott said.           

With that in mind, Elliott has chosen the silhouette of a man in a hammock as Fayettechill’s logo. There currently are six T-shirt designs available, in both short ($25) and long sleeves ($30), with plans to add new designs as fast as is feasible. Elliott uses American Apparel shirts and has the printing done locally.

Elliott said he’s in talks with at least one other Northwest Arkansas retailer, and hopes to give his displays “a more professional look” in the near future. He’d like to do the same with his Web site, and has a photo shoot on a sailboat scheduled for April.

John Cole, owner of Walker Brothers, said he made sales space for Fayettechill available because he believed Elliott “had found a niche in the market that the market wanted.”

“Our customers like it,” Cole said, “and as long as they like it, he gets as much space as he wants.”

Elliott said he’s considering February his first full month of business, as that’s when the Web site was launched. He said Fayettechill did $1,500 in sales in February, and he’s aiming for 30 percent per-month growth this spring.

Asked if he worried about his product being too Fayetteville-centric, Elliott shook his head.

“Patagonia is a location, and Columbia, too,” he said, referencing the popular outdoors clothiers. “I want the emphasis to be on the lifestyle, not the location. It’s the lifestyle we’re selling.”