In high school, Kevin Brauer spent much of his time sewing recycled shirts into ties in his parents’ basement for his company, Upties.
Today, Brauer, now a junior in the College of Business Administration, co-runs a company called Commodios, which makes padded shorts.
Commodios was originally the idea of Souheil Badran, the president of Alipay America, an online payment platform.
Badran is a family friend of the Brauers. When Badran reached out to Brauer the week before finals his freshman year, Brauer said he thought, “What does he have up his sleeve?”
Recently, the NFL and other professional sports leagues has banned many traditional carry in seat cushions in their stadiums. Brauer saw this new regulation as a business opportunity, since these shorts provide immediate comfort for the wearer.
Badran decided to involve Brauer because of his “entrepreneurial spirit,” saying, “I knew we’d find a way to complement each other’s skills.”
“We met up for coffee in Whitefish Bay and he basically pitched me this idea for this first product in this company that would produce, essentially, these padded compression shorts,” Brauer said. “Our shorts provide convenience. Throw them on under any pair of pants or leggings, and you have that immediate cushion.”
A man wearing a pair of commodios under his shorts at a stadium.
The word commodious is Latin for comfortable, and as the company begins to take off, comfort is a key part of what makes Commodios so unique.
Commodios launched a Kickstarter campaign, an online platform where sponsors can pledge money to provide a beginning for companies in their initial phrases, Sept. 13 and will run for thirty days.
The goal for the project is $22,000. If the campaign is successful, the hope is production will begin.
“We will continue to gather user input and modify along the way until we go into full production,” Badran said.
Brady Augustine is one of many who have backed Commodios on Kickstarter, and he said he enjoys the shorts produced by Commodios. A limited number of products are available until the Kickstarter campaign is finished.
“I think my favorite aspect of Commodios is that they are virtually unnoticeable and add a significant and noticeable amount of comfort far beyond what I would expect from something that is so low profile and lightweight,” he said.
So far the Kickstarter campaign is nearing $3,000.
“Minutes after I went live, pledges starting coming in,” said Brauer, who was relieved by the response. After 24 hours, $1,000 had already been pledged.
Brauer said he is hopeful about the future of the company.
“Now that I have some experience under my belt, I think Souheil and I have a clear image of where this is going. I think with Upties, I just threw myself into it, and I love that mentality, but Commodios is more planned out,” Brauer said.
