Brand: TapouT
Headquarters: Grand Terrace, Calif.
Product: Collection of apparel, accessories and gear for mixed martial arts enthusiasts. Prices range from $12 for a wallet to $200 for a jacket
Launch date: 1997
Sales: 2006: $12 million; 2007: $22.5 million; 2008: $100 million (projected); 2009: $225 million (projected)
Target demo: 18-34-year-old men, but steadily expanding its reach among women
Competition: None. Hitman Fight Gear, another MMA apparel and equipment brand, is also owned by TapOut.
Distribution: More than 20,000 stores worldwide, including Champ's, Tilly's and Hibbett Sporting Goods


When Dan "Punkass" Caldwell and his buddy, Charles "Mask" Lewis, were hitting the mats as part of their mixed martial arts training—a freestyle, full- contact combat sport popularized by the Ultimate Fighting Championships—they began to get a taste of the commercial potential for brands within the then-underground sport.

Caldwell and Lewis began creating T-shirts at Caldwell's condo and then sold them to friends and others at the underground competitions that eventually fueled the sport's mainstream growth.

"We were so deep into mixed martial arts that we just wanted to consume ourselves with it," remembers Caldwell. "We were able to do the clothing line and train all the time. It wasn't about making money. It was just fun."

By 1997, the pair had quit their jobs to start TapouT, the first such apparel company for the MMA world. A Web-only business, its sales grew from a meager $29,000 to $3 million by 2005. In those days, before the sport had really taken off, the brand made a name for itself by sponsoring athletes with amazing ease. Caldwell remembers being able to outfit some early fighters in head-to-toe TapouT looks for a mere $500. But as the sport grew, so did TapouT, and it was time for the next phase.

Enter Marc Kreiner.

An entrepreneur who claims to have promoted and marketed some $1 billion in disco record sales during the 1970s (his biggest group was Chic, of "Le Freak" fame), Kreiner said he saw in Caldwell and Lewis the same drive and potential he'd seen in songwriters Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards 30 years ago.

"They were telling me about this sport that was underground at the time, and how it was going to be bigger than boxing, the newest sport in 200 years, and they were going to have a TV show and everything," recalls Kreiner. "I believed their dream and knew that I was a marketing guy, and these two were phenomenal marketing guys and that if we executed this vision together, we could accomplish it."



Working together, the group brought in PemGroup, Irvine, Calif., as a minority investor and got the necessary capital to make sure that their brand was on all the right fighters at all the right events. The move coincided with the UFC's explosion of presence in the market place, with huge televised bouts and play on networks like Spike TV. As exclusive apparel sponsor for World Extreme Cage Fighting and the UFC, TapouT was always front and center. Sales were $3 million in 2005, but their efforts saw sales reach $12 million the next year. Coinciding with, and to support  growth, the company's employee roster grew from seven to more than 100.

The next stage of exposure came in 2007 when Caldwell, Lewis and a friend referred to only as "Skyskrape" signed on to do TapouT, a reality show that began airing that June on the Versus network. The show's premise, a search for the next great MMA fighter, saw the the trio combing training studios and arenas looking for the next big bad ass. Also in 2007, TapouT signed with CAA Sports, a division of marketing powerhouse Creative Artists Agency, Los Angeles, to handle licensing and entertainment deals.

"We'd been sponsoring the UFC for seven years, but when the show broke last year, it drew in people who were just getting into the sport, and that's where the boom came from," said Caldwell. "The show gave people something else to latch onto, another media outlet for us that was like an hour-long commercial for TapouT."

And boom it did. Sales for 2007 ballooned to $22.5 million. Now, as the show enters its second season July 30, with the added boost of TV spots, such as "Hammerhands," via CAA and PMK/HBH, Los Angeles, Kreiner estimates 2008 sales of $100 million, and is aiming for $225 million next year.

Caldwell says that he now sees growth coming from further lifestyle extensions of the brand, including comic books. To date, he has received some 100 photos of fans who have gotten tattoos of the TapouT logo. But what you won't see on the agenda are extensions outside of the core MMA sport.

"We've had people come to us to sponsor drag cars or skaters, but we just don't do that," said Caldwell. "We keep all of our money in the sport."