Summary
Overview
Tom Rinks shares his unlikely journey from furniture salesman to creating one of the most recognizable sunscreen brands in the world. Starting with t-shirt designs, moving through a legendary lawsuit against Taco Bell over the Chihuahua mascot, and eventually building SunBum into a $400 million brand, Tom's story demonstrates how design thinking, relentless work ethic, and strategic branding can transform simple products into cultural phenomena. The episode reveals his philosophy on brand building, the importance of knowing when to step aside, and why he deliberately stayed out of the spotlight despite massive success.
From Furniture Sales to T-Shirt Empire
Tom Rinks began his career as a commission-only furniture salesman in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he mastered the art of selling and understanding what customers wanted to feel about their purchases. A chance observation of surfers on Lake Michigan inspired him to create a humorous 'Surf Michigan' t-shirt, which he boldly pitched to Meijer stores despite having only one sample. This single shirt led to an order of 1,800 units and launched his side business, New Agenda, which eventually expanded to licensing deals with over 400 schools including the University of Michigan during the Fab Five era.
- Tom worked five years at Art Van Furniture on full commission, learning crucial sales skills by understanding customer psychology and motivations
- He created the 'Surf Michigan' t-shirt after seeing surfers on Lake Michigan, featuring an old man on a longboard with cobwebs and the tagline 'waiting for the big one'
- Despite having only one sample t-shirt, he posed as a surfwear rep and got a meeting with Meijer's buyer Vivian Dreyer, who ordered 1,800 shirts
- His 'Slam Dance' shirt for University of Michigan sold 10,000 units during the Fab Five's March Madness run
- He eventually obtained over 400 college licensing deals, though he struggled with understanding margins and profitability
" In the modern world, you could be as creative as you want, but unless you know how to sell, you're just not going to make it. You have to be able to sell your ideas. "
" If it was a woman, I would send a guy, a salesperson over there, and he would use words like soft and sexy and smooth as he touched the leather. And if there was a man customer on the same leather sofa, I would get a woman salesperson to go over and use words like strong and sexy and cool and rugged. "
The Psycho Chihuahua Phenomenon
After seeing Madonna with her Chihuahua in a magazine, Tom convinced his partner Joe Shields to create a t-shirt line called Psycho Chihuahua featuring a fierce little dog with edgy slogans like 'Big Dogs Suck.' The design became a massive hit at trade shows, catching the attention of Taco Bell executives who were searching for a mascot. Tom and Joe worked with Taco Bell for 18 months, developing commercials, uniforms, and promotional materials, transforming their cartoon chihuahua into a real dog concept—only to be ghosted by the company and watch helplessly as Taco Bell launched the iconic 'Yo Quiero Taco Bell' campaign using their exact ideas.
- Tom saw Madonna with her Chihuahua 'Chiquita' in a magazine in 1994 and recognized it as the next trend after observing how cool brands filter down through demographics
- Psycho Chihuahua t-shirts with slogans like 'I don't roll over and I don't play dead' and 'Big dogs suck' sold tens of thousands of units
- At the Licensing Show in New York, Taco Bell executives approached their booth looking for a mascot and began an 18-month collaboration
- Tom and Joe created commercials, storyboards, tray liners, uniforms, and designed every aspect of what would become the Taco Bell Chihuahua campaign
- Taco Bell suddenly stopped returning calls in 1997, then launched the campaign three months later using Tom's exact commercials and concepts
" I just lost it, you know, because it was the commercial that I'd written. And, you know, the first three commercials were our commercials that we had storyboarded and shared and sent. So it wasn't a, it was the, it was everything was the same. "
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