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The winters are harsh in Maine, but the fall semester of 1997 was particularly cold for one first-year student living in Kennebec Hall. Lying in his sleeping bag, on the bottom bunk, Gary Clegg was irritated he had to keep removing his hand from under the covers to channel surf. Clegg’s irritation grew into an idea that would later shape his career.
When Clegg returned home for winter break that year, he asked his mother to make him a blanket with sleeves so he could continue to comfortably flip through TV stations in his dorm room.
“Being the good mother she was … she made me a monstrosity of a prototype,” Clegg said.
The Slanket was born.
Clegg and his roommate from that year, Nick Collins, returned to the University of Maine Tuesday night to discuss the journey of the Slanket from dorm room novelty to a thriving business. This was their first visit to UMaine since they graduated.
“It’s funny because, looking back on it, it wasn’t an automatic sensation,” Clegg said. “Even some of my closest friends didn’t even know about it.”
“There really isn’t an overnight success,” said Deb Newman, moderator of the presentation at the Foster Student Innovation Center.
Newman modeled a blue Slanket during the event. Held around her waist with a thick, black belt, it looked remarkably like a stylish dress.
Clegg put the Slanket aside after graduating from the Department of Communication and Journalism in 2001 to travel the world. While working on a novel and living on his brother’s couch in Colorado, Clegg decided to make his product a reality.
He moved to New York City to bartend and pursue acting, while returning to Maine on the weekends to package the first round of Slankets and ship them to his initial customers.
Collins helped with the packaging and began to include personalized notes in the shipments.
“Not only is this fun, when this person opens the box, I know that they’re going to get a kick out of this,” Collins said.
But the personalized notes and bartending had to be put aside when the product became a success and business was a reality. Internet sales skyrocketed and QVC, a TV shopping network, picked up the product.
Clegg and Collins made it clear the Slanket is the original blanket with sleeves. Although the Snuggie has a wider advertisement reach, Slanket came first.
“I still, to this day, when we talk about the Snuggie, I get really mad about it,” Collins said.
Since the Slanket is a simple design, Clegg could not patent the pattern, and Snuggie was able to market a similar product. Since Snuggie is owned by a large corporation and Clegg started his own company, Snuggie was able to market more widely.
“They had the resources to do that,” Collins said.
“In the end, marketing and good branding [are] so much more important,” Clegg said.
Since the Slanket hit the market, it has been featured on TV programs such as “The Today Show,” “30 Rock” and “Late Night with David Letterman.”
It comes in a variety of styles — including a pirate theme, called “Walk the Slank” and a “siamese” Slanket for two, which includes four arms.
Clegg and Collins brought many of these and raffled off their product at the end of the event.
Clegg said he was proud of his product and the way he conducted business.
“I think it takes a combination of creativity, a strong work ethic, a lot of sacrifice,” Clegg said. “For me it’s about how business integrates with your life.”
“Being in Maine, don’t feel like you’re so disconnected from the rest of the world. It’s not as difficult as you believe; you just need to try,” he added.
“I always felt like in Maine, I can’t do anything from way over here, but you can. I’ve seen it happen from other Maine companies all the time. So, don’t let that stop you. The world is a small place,” Clegg said.
Bangor Daily News