Retro Duck's Dandelife : The story of Luke Hackney's life

A New Office and RetroDuck Originals

Retro Duck — Fri Nov 30 17:36:51 UTC 2007

From the April 5th newsletter Luke sent out, letting customers know we were moving to bigger offices (really just keeping the office we had and renting the one next door). This move was due to the purchasing of our screenprinting equipment:

“Sorry for the lack of updates in forever and a day, but we here at Camp RetroDuck have been busy. First off, and thankfully, we have been swamped with orders. That is a good thing, and I will say thank you to everyone that feels owning a shirt that says “Booze is the Only Answer” is more important than paying the gas bill. In addition, the office is currently being moved next door. That’s a lot of moving, and has personally, somehow, completely prohibited my duty of writing bad jokes in newsletter format.”

The purchasing of screenprinting brought new cards to the RetroDuck table: Original t-shirt designs:

“RetroDuck is proud to announce a new chapter in our history. I think we’re up to, what? Chapter six? So we’ll call it Chapter Six: RetroDuck Originals. That’s right, we thunked up our own ideas for shirts.”

The First Newsletter

Retro Duck — Fri Nov 30 17:10:57 UTC 2007

---------------------------------
www.RetroDuck.com
RetroDuck.com Newsletter #1
08.01.03
Read this issue in your browser:
---------------------------------

Hey kids! You're now reading the first issue of my bi-weekly newsletter for
www.retroduck.com, you're source for vintage t-shirts. Most of this newsletter
was written on various wadded up used napkins and scraps of paper later found
in the back pockets of my pants, by my mother, who will forever do my laundry,
at least until one of us dies. Later this was all typed up by my secretary, the lovely
Lana Jane.

NEW STUFF:
We just acquired the old inventory from a huge t-shirt shop in California. Soon we will be carrying even more swank gear. We got a lot of boxes to open yet, but so far we have seen everything from Led Zeppelin to Ghost Busters... We also have girly style shirts on the way. Stay tuned...

Also, I wanted to let you know that if you've always felt the need to slap a
"New Kids On The Block" bumper sticker on your g-ride, and I know you have,
we're now giving you the chance. We currently have a few bumper stickers up
in the "Accessories" section, and we have more to come.

SWEET DEAL:
Listen up, this is important. You've been signed up for this newsletter for
quite some time, and since this is the first issue, we're going to offer the following
deal to our loyal customers. Starting right now, the next time you order something
from RetroDuck, if you type "I'm a loyal customer" in the comments section
on your order form, we will give you free shipping and handling. We will be running this promotion until 08 August, so order soon! Also, if you type "PS- I love Luke," you won't
get anything else, but you'll make me really happy.

WHAT DO YOU WANT?
Let us know what you're looking for! We're not mind readers. Granted, my old
man has a glass eye that's a "Magic 8-Ball", but it always says "Answer Hazy.
Try again later". So tell us know what you're looking for. We are dedicated to making
RetroDuck even better. Drop a message to email@retroduck.com. Chances are, we will be able to get what you're lookin' for.

GOT A WEBSITE?
Go here:
http://www.retroduck.com/affiliate

SEND US PICTURES (OR ELSE!):
By September, we will be opening a picture of the month section up on the website. So send us pictures of you and your cousin Wally sporting RetroDuck gear. Each month, we'll select our favorites, toss 'em on the site, and those people will win things we have
yet to decide. I'll let you know exactly what next issue.

Love,
Luke

The First Order

Retro Duck — Fri Nov 30 04:58:05 UTC 2007

Bill Pollock, a longtime family friend of the Maday's, placed the first order on January 21, 2003.

He purchased a shirt with caricatures of each of the Beatles. Sean never charged his credit card because he was unsure of the transfer's quality and how long it would last.

Bill still wears the shirt to this day.

On January 22, a gentleman from New York City by the name of Nathaniel Hawkins placed the first paying order with his Visa: $25.50 for a Diana Ross t-shirt.

The Domain

Retro Duck — Fri Nov 30 03:56:15 UTC 2007

So Sean had purchased four boxes of vintage transfers and a heat press.

At the time, he was working at Artworks, a screen printing shop in East Lansing that has since folded, for $5.00 an hour. He also received a monthly stipend of $400 from the Air Force.

Between school expenses, his then-girlfriend Carlie, car insurance, cell phone bills and paying his grandparents back for the loan, he estimates now that he started the Duck on approximately $180 per week.

With December's payment fast approaching and the knowledge that Christmas was likely going to extend him well beyond his means, Sean realized money had to be made.

With the basic shopping cart programmed and most of the design elements worked out for the site, the only thing left was a name.

"I had no idea what to call the business and consequently no domain name to host the site from," said Sean. "I was being extremely picky, and was not satisfied with any of the names that I was brainstorming."

Faced with financial devastation, Sean was forced to compromise on the creative impasse that was preventing the launch of the business. At this time Sean purchased vintage.cc (which to this day redirects to the Duck), but wanted a catchy name and dot com.

Late at night in my Mayo Hall dorm room at Michigan State University, Sean began pairing adjectives with animal names in the hopes of finding something that worked.

After two days of this, with the financial concerns manifesting into serious stress, and final exams fast approaching, Sean stopped caring.

On November 26, 2003. Sean tossed the word "retro" against the first animal that popped into his mind and quickly registered the domain name.

The Loan

Retro Duck — Fri Nov 30 03:42:28 UTC 2007

Sean Maday borrowed $1,800 from his grandparents att 12% interest to start an online t-shirt iron-on business.

That was enough to buy four large boxes of 20 year old iron-ons and an ancient heat press from a guy's garage in New Jersey After the enormous shipping cost of getting all of that to Michigan, the loan money was gone.

That heat press later caught on fire.