Thomasville company Everfan aims to foster imagination through superhero capes

THOMASVILLE — Almost every child, in some form or another, goes through a superhero phase. They collect figurines, immerse themselves in comic book storylines or tie a towel around their necks and “fly” around the house.

A Thomasville-based company known as Everfan has granted both adults and children an opportunity to experience this in a new way.

The business, featured in the Business Unusual Section of November’s “Entrepreneur” magazine, is going into its fourth year. Its concept is based on an idea to promote school spirit by producing capes representing collegiate teams.

“It was an idea to combine collegiate sports and the superhero concept,” said Scott Chastain, founder and CEO of Everfan. “I did some research and realized that nobody else was doing that.”

Since 2010, twists and turns have allowed the company to expand what it offers. It is now making custom capes, such as ones with a company’s logo or with a child’s name on it, which now account for about 50 percent of the business, Chastain said.

“The basic mission is to foster imagination through creative apparel,” Chastain said. “Every kid’s superhero power is imagination.”

The appeal behind superhero capes is that it allows a person to be something or someone other than who they are — which adults embrace as much as children.

“(We sell to) adults as much as we do kids,” Chastain said. “It does the same thing to adults as it does to kids.”

With revenue expected to exceed $400,000 this year, Chastain described 2014 as a “good year” for Everfan in that it has found a niche in the market that will nurture its ability to grow and expand in the coming year through launching a new platform for people to be able to customize their own costumes.

With this new platform, for example, people will be able to mix and match certain elements of a princess dress to get the dress just how the person wants it.

“(It helps to foster) imagination and creative play,” Chastain said.

By making a product that naturally serves as a conversation piece, and is a way to reach out to people, Everfan has the ability to lift the spirits of those connected to nonprofit causes — such as providing capes for 5K runs, or for promotion of nutrition programs for elementary school children, both of which the company has been involved in, its CEO said.

This is pushed forward, at least in part, through a program known as “Capes for a Cause.” The “Capes for a Cure” effort is one such example, meant to provide capes for children who are battling cancer. For every “fighter” cape set purchased on its website, Everfan has pledged to donate an extra one toward the effort.

“Social responsibility is a big part of our mission,” Chastain said. “(We thought that) we could create our own nonprofit, or we could find nonprofits (that we felt we could partner with).”

The founder himself seems surprised now where the company has gone.

“(The progress) is really exciting to see,” Chastain said. “I wasn’t sure where it was going to go when it started. In the third year, it turned a corner and we figured out where our niche is.

“It’s a fun business to be in.”

There are currently 10 college institutions that Everfan has licensing for, although the company has made products for alumni associations — as well as other entities — connected to campuses it doesn’t have licensing for.

Presently, Chastain said he’s not sure whether he’ll stay in the collegiate market. “We may come back to individual licenses,” he said.