Love Your Melon

Love Your Melon Inc. is an apparel company started by co-founders Zachary Quinn and Brian Keller in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 22, 2012. Each year, Love Your Melon donates 50% of net profit from the sale of all products to nonprofit organizations they support in the fight against pediatric cancer, such as Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, DKMS, and more. As of January 1st, 2021, the company has given over $8.3 million to nonprofit organizations fighting pediatric cancer and 213,516 beanies to children and families battling cancer all over the world.[1]

Love Your Melon Inc.
TypePrivate for-profit
IndustryRetail
Founded2012 (2012)
HeadquartersMinneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Key people
Zach Quinn-Founder
Brian Keller-Founder
ProductsHats and apparel
Revenue$31.5M annually (as of 2017)
Websiteloveyourmelon.com

The company began by selling cozy knit beanies and set out with a mission to give a hat to every child battling cancer. Since then, the company has extensively expanded their product lines to include mittens, scarves, apparel, caps, and home goods. Its classic knit beanie remains Love Your Melon's most iconic and best-selling product.

History and Company Growth
Original Love Your Melon Beanie and Patch Design

Co-founders Zachary Quinn and Brian Keller met on the second day of an entrepreneurship class at the University of St. Thomas. Love Your Melon was born through a class project, where the pair were tasked with starting a business with a give-back component that made a profit by the end of the semester. [2][3]

Inspired by Blake Mycoskie's book about the founding of Toms Shoes and the concept of a Buy One, Get One business model, Quinn and Keller began their business by setting up a "Love Your Melon Beanie Stand" outside of Cafe Latte, a Quinn family restaurant in St. Paul, Minnesota.[2] The pair kicked off the Beanie Stand in October of 2012 with a total of 400 knit beanies from a knitting mill in Portland, Oregon featuring a hand-drawn embroidered patch design. For each beanie sold at this stand, a beanie was given to a child battling cancer to fulfill their goal of creating smiles and of providing children with a beanie to keep them warm and comfortable through cancer treatment. Within two days, the beanies were sold out and Love Your Melon was able to donate their first 200 hats to children undergoing cancer treatment at hospitals across the Twin Cities.[2][3][4]

Love Your Melon Black Speckled Beanie
Melon Treats at the Love Your Melon Studio

Very quickly, Quinn and Keller realized the potential of Love Your Melon and the impact they could make for children and families battling cancer everywhere. In the first four months of business, Love Your Melon sold over 800 hats, and similarly, donated over 800 hats under the 1-for-1 model. Through fundraising and partnering with local nonprofit organizations, hosting Beanie Stands at local events and college campuses, and working with hospitals across the Twin Cities, Love Your Melon quickly gained traction and was growing exponentially.

Through Love Your Melon's Campus Crew Program, which began in 2014, the popularity of the brand increased as college students across the nation began to spread awareness and personally deliver beanies and smiles to children battling cancer at hospitals nationwide. The Campus Crew held tabling events, hosted swab drives for Be The Match and DKMS, created Superhero Adventures and visited hospitals across the United States to deliver beanies and spend the day with children battling cancer.[4][5][6]

In 2016, Love Your Melon reached their goal of putting a beanie on every child battling cancer. Moving to a private company, Love Your Melon changed its Buy One, Give One model to instead give 50% of net profit to nonprofit organizations they support, such as the Pinky Swear Foundation, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and more to maximize the impact they can make in the lives of children battling cancer.[7] As of January 2021, the company has given over $8.3 million to nonprofit organizations fighting pediatric cancer and 213,516 beanies to children and families battling cancer all over the world.

In September 2018, Love Your Melon opened their first retail location in North Loop, Minneapolis.[8][9] The Love Your Melon Studio is an event space for exclusive product drops and company events. In July of 2019, the LYM Studio was transformed into a summer-long ice cream shop called Melon Treats to bring happiness to and support the local community.[10][11] Sponsored by Blue Bunny Ice Cream, Melon Treats mirrored the Love Your Melon mission by giving 50% of net profit to nonprofit organizations that lead the fight against pediatric cancer.

On April 23, 2019, Love Your Melon registered their signature zig-zag stitch around a rectangular patch as a trademark.

The Campus Crew Program closed in June 2020 due to uncertainties regarding the pandemic on college campuses and in-person giving events at hospitals. Over the years, the Campus Crew Program helped impact over 150,000 children battling cancer by personally hosting 1,662 hospital giving events, delivering over 186,474 beanies to children battling cancer, hosting 346 Superhero Adventures, and adding 26,135 individuals through 416 swab drives to the National Bone Marrow Registry.

Love Your Melon Knit Blanket and Throw Pillow

Philanthropy

Love Your Melon is dedicated to giving a hat to every child battling cancer and giving fifty percent of net profit to the fight against pediatric cancer. Fifty percent (50%) of net profit from the sale of all Love Your Melon products is given to nonprofit organizations fighting pediatric cancer through therapeutic experiences, financial support, groundbreaking research for children and their families battling cancer.

As of January 2021, Love Your Melon has given over $8.3 million to nonprofits leading the fight against pediatric cancer and 213,516 beanies to children battling cancer.

Product Design and Manufacturing

In 2012, Love Your Melon began manufacturing knit beanies with a Portland, Oregon knitwear manufacturer, Columbia Knit. Focused and driven by domestic manufacturing, it now works with over 50 different suppliers across North America, including Minneapolis-based Softline Brand Partners, and Minnesota Knitting Mills in St. Paul, Minnesota.[12] All Love Your Melon products are designed, sourced, and produced in the United States and Canada.

The company has extensively grown its product line to include other accessories, such as scarves and socks, home goods including blankets and pillows, and cozy knit and cut-and-sewn apparel. The company has been able to scale nationally in less than five years and has a reported 2017 total revenue of $31.5 million.

Love Your Melon has become known for its weekly product releases. Each week, unveiling brand new, never-before-seen products involving new variations of beanie designs and product categories. Although they keep their Classics Collection featuring their iconic beanie knits and red maple colored patch, the company rarely restocks weekly releases, making all items limited-edition and sought after.

Each spring, Love Your Melon hosts one of their only promotional periods, BOGO Day, in order to clear past-season inventory and allow space for new innovative products and upcoming releases.

References
  1. "Nonprofit Giving | Beanies for Children Battling Cancer". Love Your Melon. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  2. Buchanan, Leigh E (8 October 2018). “How These 2 Millennial Founders Rallied 13,000 College Students to Help Kids Battling Cancer". Inc. 5000
  3. Auping, Jonny (2017-10-08). "This Company Is Putting Its Money Where Its Values Are". SUCCESS. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  4. Taylor, Peter Lane (12 December 2016). "Millennial Start-Up Love Your Melon: Giving Back Is Sweeter Than Making Millions". Forbes
  5. Zimmerman, Kaytie. "Meet The Makers Of A Clothing Brand That Mobilizes Millennials To Fight Cancer". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  6. Clifford, Catherine (2016-12-22). "This college dropout turned a class project into a $20 million company to help kids with cancer". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  7. "Nonprofit Partners – Love Your Melon". Love Your Melon. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  8. "Love Your Melon — class project turned national brand — to open first brick-and-mortar location in Minneapolis". Twin Cities. 2018-09-28. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  9. Lockwood, Lisa; Lockwood, Lisa (2018-09-21). "Love Your Melon to Open Studio/Pop-up Store in Minneapolis". WWD. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  10. "Pop-up ice cream shop at Love Your Melon". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  11. "Love Your Melon summer social". kare11.com. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  12. MacBride, Elizabeth (30 June 2017). “How A Minnesota Startup Scaled To $40 Million Selling U.S.-Manufactured Clothes". Forbes
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