A Wilmington startup that focuses on customized apparel and promotional products is preparing to launch.

Customizely.com is scheduled to officially start from within Wilmington startup incubator tekMountain on Nov. 13, according to a news release. The three founders of the company, Sarah Newton, Justin Marinos and Mattias MacDowell, have been working on conceptual ideas since July and began gaining more momentum in August, after contemplating the idea of their own venture in the customizing industry for years, the founders said in an email.
 
“Having over 20 years of combined experience in the custom apparel industry coupled with another 40 years in business and marketing gives us the insight and ability to understand the impact our customers need and want from a promotional branding partner," MacDowell said in the company's announcement. "We’re able to make recommendations on a more personal level while also giving our customers an incredible amount of options, then combine the two to create a branding experience rather than just another completed purchase."

A U.S. Army veteran who served in the 82nd Airborne, MacDowell is a serial entrepreneur who has started 10 companies, the first when he was 17. He is also a marketing professional who has held lead marketing roles in several business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce companies. Currently, he provides marketing consulting to Cisco Systems while co-founding Customizely.

MacDowell is also judging a pitch contest Thursday and Friday during the Cucalorus Connect conference, part of this week's 23rd annual Cucalorus Festival.

Newton has a degree in fashion design from Miami International University. "But the big city life wasn’t for her," company officials said in an email. "Her love for fashion and small town life is ultimately what led her to this industry and back to Wilmington and she’s spent the last 11 years working as a merchandiser in custom apparel."

Marinos spent years developing tools to facilitate the process of ordering customized apparel for a previous employer. He "understands the needs customers have with user experience in the industry, and has a passion to continue building a better experience," the email said.

The company is offering a prelaunch giveaway with the grand prize winner receiving $2,500 in custom embroidered or screen-printed apparel every year for the life of an organization, such as a business, church, nonprofit group, school or team, the release said.

Every prelaunch participant receives an initial store credit with options to earn additional store credit throughout the prelaunch, the release said.
 
Customizely is focused on national growth while maintaining a strong local presence, according to the release. Wilmington provides both the professional and technical talent to help scale the business as it grows, officials said.

"We love Wilmington, we love the people, and we would love to provide more professional jobs and outside revenue to the area through Customizely," Newton said in the release.

In addition to the three founders, Customizely currently has several telecommuters and remote workers, officials said.

"We're leveraging technology to solve the logistical challenges of grooming a streamlined and (mostly) remote staff. While we're looking to keep as many jobs here in Wilmington, we're also providing remote opportunities for other positions all across the country in the coming months," the founders said in an email. "Our careers page will be up sometime in December."

While company officials plan always to maintain a presence at tekMountain, where MacDowell is a mentor, "Ideally, we'll move our office into a space downtown," they said in the email.