11/14/2014
To our quidditch friends and family -
It’s with heavy hearts that we announce our withdrawal from the sport of quidditch. As many of you know, for the past four years, Quiyk has been a consistent and committed presence in the quidditch community. From our entry into the game at our 2010 launch at World Cup V in New York City to our most recent World Cup appearance this past March in North Myrtle Beach, we’ve enjoyed every minute of the ride. What started as a “what if” idea in the backyard of two college freshmen in Seattle, WA grew to something we could not have ever imagined. From having our uniforms featured by Wired and Forbes to having our jerseys appear on national television for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, we’ve consistently had our minds blown by what we’ve been able to do with high quality performance wear and the support of the quidditch community. However, as the years have passed, we’ve gotten older, graduated, found jobs in the real world, and unfortunately Quiyk has fallen by the wayside. What began very much as a “labor of love,” fueled by our passion for the sport, has no longer become a viable side project for us. We no longer feel like we are able to commit enough time to put our “best foot forward” in our efforts to serve the quidditch community with our product.
We consider our impact on the sport with great pride and because our Snitch Shorts have become an integral part of the game; it was no easy decision to decide what to do with them as we considered closing our doors. Because our shorts are fully embedded in the game, we’ve decided instead of ending production entirely to pass them along to the talented and more than capable hands of Kevin Peterson from Peterson’s BroomSticks. We have full confidence that he will be able to carry on Quiyk’s vision with his version of the Snitch Shorts and wish him the best. You can find links to his site (http://www.petersonsbrooms.com) on ours, and can expect an announcement from him as to when Peterson-produced Snitch Shorts will be available.
We wish quidditch the very best. We want to encourage the governing bodies, teams, and players to embrace quality and to never settle. We think the best part of Quiyk was that it was born out of entrepreneurial opportunity and passion. We truly believe that we never settled when it came to our product. We tried to produce the best performance wear we could make and it brought us joy when we found others who believed in that as well. We were far from perfect, but we tried our best, and for three guys who just wanted to make a good athletic-wear shirt for a sport we loved, we think we did pretty well. It still blows our minds to think we were able to accomplish all this with no previous background in fashion or garment construction. So in the DIY spirit of quidditch, try and fail and be okay with having to try again.
In closing, we’d like to thank the IQA/USQ and quidditch community (shout out to Emerson College Quidditch!) for all the great times over the years. We’ll never forget seeing our product for the first time worn by Snitches on Randall’s Island back in 2010 or by the national teams of the Quidditch Summer Games in Oxford, England. Our product has been worn all over the world, from The Great Wall of China to the mountains of New Zealand, and it is entirely because of our friends, family, and fans. We're honored to have been a part of something so special for so long and will always remember the great times we had with the sport of quidditch.
Much love and thanks,
- Matt, Eric, and Nadav
http://quiyk.tumblr.com/post/102621607263/quiyk-is-closing-its-doors
