Several university students-turned-entrepreneurs have developed their own men’s clothing line called Frank West, which designs and produces men’s button-down shirts. The team of students behind the company includes West Shepherd ’17, Frank Henry ’17, Max Wankner ’17 and former student Charlie Wang. The mission of Frank West is to encourage students and young adults to take their ideas to the next level, and to not be afraid to go after what they want.

“When creating our brand and furthering our ideas we held nothing back and sought to achieve the most we could. We believe that young people have vision and fascinating ideas, from this we want to inspire them to take action,” Shepherd said.

The fit of the men’s button-down shirts are designed to be comfortable with outstanding quality. The group said that the brand will appeal to young college-aged men but can look and feel good on a man any age. Frank West branches out from popular brands, such as Vineyard Vines, Ralph Lauren and Brooks Brothers with a look that infuses the creators’ own feel for what a button-down shirt should look and feel like. The Frank West logo is on the cuff of each shirt to add its own flair.

The shirt is also more affordable for students, allowing them to buy more than competing clothing brands would allow.  

“When people wear Frank West clothing, they are going to look presentable because not only comfort, but looking put-together and presentable was important when establishing our look for the brand,” Henry said.

The creators of Frank West balance time between schoolwork and their company by staying extremely organized and always one step ahead.

“Having our company is like being on a sports team here at Bucknell-it requires discipline, organization, and communication skills to keep up with school work. We like the balance of the company and school because creating Frank West is something we enjoy working on,” Shepherd said. 

The plan of Frank West is to hopefully appeal to as many college campuses as possible. The creators are interested in seeing how far the company takes them and hope that this experience will prepare them for their careers post-graduation. In the future, they would like to include more apparel into the brand and of course stick to their motto of taking action and being creative.