Kyle Bergman: What Do You Get When You Combine Two Great Ideas?

When Kyle Bergman first heard about a new fashion statement, sweatpants overalls, he wanted a pair for himself. Unfortunately, the only ones he could find for sale were for women. Undaunted, Kyle took his experience from the merchandise retail industry and created a business that sells sweatpants overalls to both men and women. He called them Swoveralls.

Kyle’s business, The Great Fantastic LLC, launched in March 2017. He sold his first pair of Swoveralls in September of 2017. Over the following year, he pulled in nearly $250,000 in gross sales. According to Kyle, if you google “sweatpants overalls” online, Swoveralls are the only ones you’ll find.

Prior to starting The Great Fantastic, Kyle worked in the buying office at Bloomingdale’s. He then went on to work for Birchbox, an online subscription service that sends subscribers boxes of makeup samples and other beauty-related products.

But while the industry experience was invaluable, Kyle prefers to be his own boss. He loves coming up with ideas and then executing them to be sustainable and profitable. “I’m one of those people who would rather work 100 hours per week for myself versus 40 hours a week at a desk for someone else,” says Kyle. “I’m a producer. I like talking the talk and, shortly thereafter, walking the walk.”

Not surprisingly, Kyle receives frequent requests to make specific designs or add college logos to his Swoveralls products. New parents are asking for Swoveralls in baby or kid sizes, too. Says Kyle, “The biggest challenge is always staying focused and not spreading myself too thin with cool opportunities that arise – things that look shiny and seem like they might be amazing to do, but realistically they could stretch me from a cash flow standpoint.”

Kyle considers himself a classic entrepreneur who would rather paint with his hands than produce a bar graph or analytical spreadsheet. With that in mind, Kyle had another great idea: he hired 1-800Accountant to help with accounting and tax issues. “1-800Accountant has been amazing at holding me accountable and reducing the amount of stress I have,” says Kyle.

With so much at stake, Kyle likes that he can talk to an accountant whenever he needs solid advice. “Deni looks at everything and tells me I’m doing great. It’s nice to know I have someone with that expertise, someone who can say you’re all good with this, now you can focus on painting with your hands again.”

In the last twelve months, Kyle has proved that the Swoveralls concept is a good one. Now, he’s looking forward to growing in the existing market. “Sweatpants overalls didn’t exist more than a year ago. I’ve created this subcategory within athleisure and loungewear. I want to put Swoveralls in every household in the world!”