FightTrends.com Interview With Shoyoroll Owner/Founder Vince Quitugua
Hey all, this is Cody with FightTrends.com and I am going to be talking with Vince Quitugua, owner and founder of Shoyoroll.
Cody: Tell me a bit about yourself and Shoyoroll.
Vince: Shoyoroll started back in 2000. It started as a hobby with myself and a bunch of friends. We were all fans of the UFC in the 90’s. Royce Gracie got us inspired to learn jiu-jitsu after we watched the Rickson Gracie choke video and old school Gracie Torrance challenge matches. We then began training jiu-jitsu in the late 90’s. We were a bunch of friends from the islands, Guam to be exact, learning armbars and triangles. After you learn a few moves, you get inspired real quick and you get hooked on the lifestyle. That is how we got linked to the sport.
Cody: There must not have been too many places to train Jiu-Jitsu in Guam back then right?
Vince: No. Guam only had 1 or 2 schools back in the 90’s. A Purebred gym and a Relson Gracie affiliate school. It was not until I moved to Los Angeles in ‘99 that I really got to train and experience Jiu-Jitsu to the fullest.
Our roots are in surfing. So we got inspired by that industry since surfing and skating sets the standard for apparel in extreme sports. I’m a normal Jiu-Jitsu geek that loves the sport and MMA. I’m a normal dude like most people, just enjoying both sports grow and evolve. I feel blessed that I’m able to be a part of the industry.
Cody: Give me a little more background on Shoyoroll and how it started.
Vince: Shoyoroll Brand started as a very small company. We started with 5-10 iron on t-shirts printed from my friends HP printer. No real demand… just a cool name and I always wanted to start a clothing company. Coming out of high school, you never know what you’re really doing. So we gave it a shot and started very slow. We were inspired by Jiu-Jitsu and that is where the word Shoyoroll originated from, get on the mat and SHOw YOur ROLL.
For the longest time we made zero money. To be honest, we struggled for probably the first 6 years to try to even break even on our investment. We had stuff out there, but it was never enough to keep the brand going and it was only known in certain areas where friends could push and promote the product. We were kids that knew nothing about business and were just trying our best to understand it. All we knew is we liked the sport and we were not going to give up on our label and our movement.
To read the rest of this interview, visit FIGHTTRENDS.COM.
The above interview excerpt is re-published on MMAFrenzy.com as part of a partnership between MMAFrenzy.com and FightTrends.com.
Loading ...
I am so excited to be able to share this with Frenzy readers. For those of you that don’t know, Shoyoroll makes gis/kimonos that are much more stylish than most gi manfactureres. Vince is a brown belt and really supports the sport and its athletes.
We have interviews with Nogi and Tri-Coasta in the works. If there are any questions you would like us to ask them drop us a comment over at FightTrends.com.
Thanks Frenzy readers!
I’m really excited about our partnership and look forward to reading more interviews.
I hope the rest of the Frenzy readers take a liking to this as well, and believe they will do just that.
I hope so as well. There will be much more unique content and guest posts by companies in the industry in the comming weeks. It should be very interesting and give readers an idea of what it is like to start and run their own fight company.
more power to ya! but why is there a picture of a woman lifting up her shirt? what does that represent, or how did you come to choose that as the first pic to show on this site? for me personally i do not like when any company uses “sex” or “a sexy woman” to sell there product! what does that have to do with MMA? it is tasteless to me! “sex” and MMA do not go together imo.
but i am glad to hear/see guys that are passonite about MMA, getting things going for themselves and for the sports!
this is just my opinion, and am sorry if i afended anyone? i do not own a company nor know how to run or promote one. but to me it is either selling out, or lack off effert or creativity! IMO
Kris actually posted the story, so obviously he was fine with the choice of photo. Also, bear in mind this is a clothing focused article, and sex has always been used to sell clothing.
Don’t worry, you didn’t offend anyone. To be honest, the reason I picked this picture was becuase I liked it. It has a pretty girl surrounded by a pile of Shoyoroll T-Shirts. It draws attention and I would think the majority of readers here and at FightTrends probably liked the image as well. The fact of the matter is 95% of Shoyoroll, and the UFCs, fan base is young males. This picture appeals to that demographic. Go to TapouTs website and they have the same thing going on. When your target market is 18-34 year old males nothing sells better than sex. As far as marketing goes this is tried and true. Look at Gina Carano on ESPN magazine, or Rachelle Leah in Playboy. Beautiful girls will always be a part of the fight game.
thats cool i am sure you are right! it still bothers me that this is the way things are!
do what you do!
That’s annoying… Can’t buy anything on the site (with the exception of two gi’s)
JDUbbs, you can purchase Shoyoroll products at the 3 retailers listed in the interview. Shoyoroll is in the process of rolling out their new line of products, which is why there is not much to purchase on the website.
SWEET! Found it Thanks…
Good stuff IMO fighttrends.com
Thanks jcohl! I hope I can bring a lot of other interesting material to Frenzy readers in the future.
Very cool. I have two of their Gi’s and they are TOP NOTCH. Interesting interview too. I like some back story to my gear. Well done.
Thanks for the compliments!
I can’t wait to get my hands on their new gis. The white and green just does it for me.
This interview is really great and it’s interesting to read the history and background of this new brand that are putting out some really nice t-shirts and kimonos
Thank ya much! You can preorder the new Shoyoroll Tees over at Budovideos. I believe they ship later this month. The “Rebels Against the Mainstream” is my favorite for sure.