Gainesville’s Sean Childers builds a successful business with AR-15
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Early last year, Gainesville High School basketball player Sean Childers was named Sonic Drive-In Player of the Game for his standout performance in a win over archrivals Buchholz. It was quite an honor for the senior. But little did Childers know at the time that even bigger distinctions lie ahead in his not-too-distant future.
This year, the ambitious young entrepreneur, recognizing a golden opportunity with the NCAA’s freshly minted Name, Image and Likeness policy, seized the moment.
NCAA student athletes were now officially and legally permitted to realize personal monetary reward from the sale of commercial products effectively representing their burgeoning brand.
Wasting little time hitting the ground running, Childers promptly reached out to University of Florida star quarterback Anthony Richardson, asking if he’d like to jointly and financially benefit from the use of his college football identity in an apparel line venture. The resultant business agreement has come to be known as AR-15, thus making Richardson’s dream a reality, combining both his initials and uniform number in a creative enterprise.
Childers soon quit college. He is now fully devoted to his new business and to expanding Richardson’s customer base.
“He trusted me fully right off the bat, and I don’t think it would have been possible without that,” Childers said. “Because of his schedule, he wasn’t able to sit down and design everything with me. He said basically, ‘My brand is in your hands.’”
Childers’ first task would be to swell Richardson’s ever-growing contingent of fans as the new football season was about to kickoff. The thought occurred to him. Introduce a new shirt for every game.
“Why don’t we just keep buying the same people over and over again?” he said.
For eight consecutive weeks, Childers hatched an idea for the upcoming game’s offering. He utilized an image of Richardson from Florida’s previous contest and then added the opponent’s mascot for the next game. Childers would then forward the shirts to the home of the Gators, Gainesville, for rush printing, selling them at $25 apiece.
With the Gators’ regular season football campaign now concluded, Childers assures the Daily Florida Press that AR-15 is nowhere near over.
“We take what we have this season, learn from it, and then I plan to make his line of clothing my baby next season,” he said.
And Childers wondered, “Why stop with football?” recently inking merchandise manufacturing agreements with three UF men’s basketball players.
Recently, the hard charging artist established his own agency, Limelight Studio. The mission statement is clear.
“Sign players and brand them for life,” he said unequivocally. “Essentially, we’re going to get the players to build a brand and through us they’ll be able to really do what they want. It is their business; we are just the creative minds and business people who determine their creative decisions and how they want to present themselves. I don’t do royalties and I don’t do the fine print. My goal will always be to help players.”
Childers business acumen, as well as his heart, would each seem to occupy the right place. He appears genuinely driven to maximize income on behalf of his clients. At 19, the young biz whiz future projects as limitless.
So best make way. This kid’s just getting started.
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