Jason Farrell is a Hoser, and he has the clothes to prove it. The Yorkton man is launching the Hoser brand of apparel, and his pitch of the idea to Dragon's Den will soon be featured online.
Farrell says that the inspiration for the brand came from noticing that nobody had actually trademarked the word Hoser. Farrell decided that the best course of action was to buy the trademark, and build a brand out of the result.
"My idea was to turn this into the next big brand which was truly a Canadian identity. If you go to a store and you want to buy something which distinguishes yourself as a Canadian, the only thing you really have to buy is something with a maple leaf on it, the only real brand we have is the Roots brand," he says.
Hoser will be launching with some major exposure this week, with Farrell's pitch being part of the online portion of Dragon's Den on January 18. It's one of twenty pitches each season that make it online. While the details are under wraps until the pitch actually airs, Farrell says that the experience of pitching was surreal.
"I've done a fair bit of public speaking in my time, so I really wasn't that worked up about this until I was standing back stage and I hear the words "Mr. Farrell, you're on in 10, 9, 8..." It was then that it hit me like a lightning bolt. I started walking down the stairs, and I turned the corner and the lights hit you in the face and the five of them are sitting in their chairs hunched over and waiting for you to give them your pitch. It is the most intimidated I've ever been in any public speaking scenario."
The goal of his pitch, Farrell says, was to get the brand launched on a national scale, and he says he's confident that it will get there. While there are many unknowns, he says that he's had many indications that the Hoser brand could take off.
"The trademark lawyer in Toronto, he said that he couldn't believe that nobody owns the intellectual property to this word, that this was a great idea. If he's any bar that we can measure potential success, it should be pretty exciting."
The product will launch on Friday, and will be sold through www.hoseshop.ca. The pitch will be available on January 18 by 3:00 p.m. EST at cbc.ca/dragonsden.
