Senior members of Collegiate Design are promoting their brand throughout campus, sporting their brand and logo, “Know the Code.”  
Left-right: Alex Ezhari, advertising major- Elias Gedyon, Head of Publicity- Jemiel Lowery, Vice president & Co-founder- Daniel Taniguchi, CEO & Co-founder.  (Savannah Wasserman/Emerald)

Growing up with the desire to make a difference, University of Oregon sophomore and business major Daniel Taniguchi thought there was no better place to start a company than in college — where all the learning and instruction takes place. In fall of 2012, Taniguchi and several friends sat around a table in his apartment at Skybox and talked about the possibilities. That meeting was the beginning of their student-run company, Collegiate Design clothing.

Since then, the group of seven UO students and young entrepreneurs have been hastily working on building a business and clothing-line based around the need of college students.

Being students themselves, they could relate to the day-to-day struggles that students face such as paying rent, keeping up with classes and having jobs on the side. The company is aimed at providing students with work and real-world business experience, as well as providing products at an affordable price.

UO advertising major and Collegiate Design business head of marketing, Alex Ezhari said that their intention to only hire students is what makes the business unique. “Our goal is to bring out that college mentality while highlighting the business side of things, especially in the business world now,” said Ezhari.

Collegiate Design was officially founded in March 2013 and the team is currently working on promoting the business by interacting and engaging with students on campus, giving away free T-shirts or tanks, hosting events and through social networking.

Taniguchi said that by engaging with students first-hand provides personal and hands-on experience that allows for effective promotion. “One of our main focuses is to be innovative, not waiting for people to come up to us, but for us to approach them; that way we’re able to get the word out and talk about what it is that we’re doing,” Taniguchi said.

Collegiate Design’s slogan, “Knowing the Code,” provides the company’s rules as well as serves as their “life application.” The groups goals are to know the community, provide a clean image, serve students and always look for new ways to be creative.

Their goal is to have their website up and running by fall 2013. Through their website they hope to reach out to students and begin recruiting team members based on majors or specific areas of interest (I.E. marketers, designers, etc.).

“Every person included can have the opportunity to experience the innovation that we strive for and the company we care so much about — we want to keep the options and supply visible to all the students,” said Taniguchi.

To keep up with the group or get involved, look for Collegiate Design on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates, information and events.