Issue 067

November 2010

TapouT have been sold to a major brand development company. But a year and a half after Mask’s tragic death, co-founder ‘Punkass’ “ain’t going anywhere”.

Of course, the last few days have been nuts,” says Dan ‘Punkass’ Caldwell, president of TapouT, “but the acquisition is the best thing that’s ever happened to our company. It’s like when Zuffa put money into the UFC and took it to levels few people thought possible.” He’s wallowing in the afterglow of his label’s – MMA’s largest – sale for an undisclosed sum to Authentic Brands Group (ABG), an umbrella development company that’s worked with brands ranging from Polaroid to Ride snowboards. The sale is one of several recent landmark moments in the sport’s lifestyle sector. Large companies are snapping up MMA apparel houses at the rate Bellator present fight cards (that’s often). It seems that the causal fashion market has finally realized MMA’s its next prize cash cow. Although, somewhat predictably, that’s made the sport’s partisan element rise up.

“I’ve read some of the comments on The Underground Forum – ‘SellouT’, stuff like that,” Dan says. “When people do things like this in business the purpose isn’t to walk away. We’re not going anywhere. The purpose is to make the brand bigger and better and get even closer to our original dream. You grow a brand for 12 years, it’s part of what you do. I mean, TapouT is tattooed on my body! The fact that a company like ABG who I look up to are interested in us, that’s exciting. Taking it to the next level is exactly what we want. I want the fans to know that we appreciate them – and they ain’t seen nothing yet.”

ABG’s owned by entrepreneur Jamie Salter. Is he an MMA supporter? “He actually got into it through his son,” explains Dan. “We all remember our first fight card. Well, Jamie’s was in Montreal. The fans there are fantastic and he was blown away. He’s a really smart guy, and he thought, ‘How did I not know about this movement? Where are all the big companies at?’ Of course, they weren’t there – but we were. And he saw us kicking ass and taking names. And he wanted to be a part of it. Listen, we’ve had talks with a lot of different people who wanted to buy TapouT over the years. Nobody had the energy, the enthusiasm that these guys did. They said all the right things and I’ve never felt more comfortable with anybody in that position.”

ABG also snapped up Hitman Fight Wear and the Christian Audigier-esque Silver Star Casting Company label, and the two former contenders will work alongside each other to a degree. “I’ve always been cool with Luke [Burrett, Silver Star’s co-owner]. We’ll be like two brothers playing for opposing football teams. On the field we’ll try to compete, but once we’re off it we’ll high-five and be looking forward to the next game.”

Charles ‘Mask’ Lewis, TapouT’s co-founder, sadly deceased. As a man of noted principle, what would he think about the sale? “We were best friends for 20 years. And sometimes I sit here and think, ‘What would Charles do right now?’ We certainly used to talk about finding larger companies to ally ourselves with! Every time we spoke to the press we’d say, ‘We’re not garment guys’. It’s not like we had a label before TapouT. We did a lot of sh*t right but we made a lot of f**king mistakes. Our enthusiasm offset those mistakes, but to have guys that really understand the business is fantastic and I’ve never been more excited to come to work.”

It’s been almost 18 months since Charles Lewis Junior – Mask, TapouT’s co-founder and in Dan’s own words its “face” – was forced off the road by a drunk driver near Newport Beach, California, and died in the ensuing crash. Our sport lost an icon and one of its earliest provocateurs – Dan lost his closest confidant and business partner.

“He took point position with the business. He’d even be there if you just needed someone to talk to – ‘SkySkrape’ [Tim Katz, the third member of the infamous ‘TapouT crew’] really depended on him. I get all choked up if I start talking about Charles. It really f**ks me up.”

But even without Mask, TapouT surges from strength to strength: releasing game-changing new designs, expanding into technical fight wear and even producing inspirational documentaries with director Bobby Razak, which you can find on tapout.com.

Dan and Charles started TapouT together way back in 1993. Its serendipitous story is indicative of MMA’s early years: just two guys, with unbridled passion for the sport, clawing their way to victory, picking themselves up and throwing themselves back into battle whenever they got knocked down. ‘You couldn’t put on a uniform and feel the way we did in the gym,’ Mask is famously quoted as saying, ‘so I came up with a T-shirt.’ 

Before the TapouT crew’s value to the sport became obvious – swathes of profits were ploughed back into supporting up-and-coming combatants as was profiled in the brand’s reality TV show – the guys drew flack from the more earnest elements of MMA’s fan base for their outré look, a combination of street style and Road Warrior-esque DIY battle-couture. Whatever fans’ opinion on the aesthetics, they sat up and took notice when Zuffa cameras settled on the TapouT crew. 

“Charles called himself Mask because when we were out he’d be introducing himself and shaking everybody’s hand, whereas actually he was kind of quiet. He called that his mask. So it was how we were. I felt we were bringing what MMA needed: some memorable characters. I don’t think it should lose sight of that – that’s what makes MMA cool and sexy right now. When boxing had Mike Tyson, when it had Muhammad Ali dancing around in front of the camera and calling himself ‘pretty’, that was when it was at its biggest. MMA does have a lot of characters: Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Dan Hardy, Georges St Pierre – they’re all individuals for their own reasons. You can’t forget those guys who carry the show. Sure, we were a little more flamboyant, but you could pick us out in the crowd. My nickname’s very much from my past. You have to straighten up and get a little corporate when you’re dealing with business. But I was always serious, and my look reflected that.”

Dan suggests that his exacting and philosophical manner could be down to growing up alongside his family in one of the more notorious areas of San Bernardino, California, which still finds itself named among America’s most dangerous cities despite recent crackdowns.

“Me, my brother and my dad all had the windows of our cars shot out. I never saw it as abnormal until I left. Then my mom was mugged for her purse right in front of the house, at which point I told my parents to get out of there. I bought them a house, had it furnished and told them to leave, ‘Just go.’ My parents have been together for 40 years, we’re a really close family and I think that’s what’s kept me going through all the bullsh*t we had to go through to build the company.”

But times have changed unrecognizably for Dan. Mask would’ve been proud to see him glad-handling the great and the good at Las Vegas’ last major UFC event, Carwin vs Lesnar. 

“Seeing someone such as Paris Hilton at a UFC event, wow. But I suppose she’s an it-girl and she wants to be at the ‘it thing’. I spoke to ‘The Rock’ a bit at UFC 116. He came up, knew exactly who I was, congratulated me on the strength of my business and said he was sorry for our loss. I’ve had the chance to have dinner with Jay-Z and I met with TI yesterday.” Without pausing for reflection, he adds: “I’m not trying to impress anybody. I’m just trying to point out that these guys are doing what they do but still love the sport of mixed martial arts, and you make a connection through that real quick.”

Rarely was this more sincerely said – he, meaning Mask, wouldn’t want us to be somber. And it’s damnably tragic that Charles Lewis Junior, who played his show-stealing role in MMA’s earliest years, won’t see the sport continue to abound in the noble, visceral and not a little glamorous manner he embodied. But take some joy in the truth that fate had one departing gift for Mask – a peer to carry on his magnum opus.

“Every day in our lives is exactly where we want to be. We’re making movies now with Bobby Razak and I was lucky enough to be able to produce those. We have a documentary with Georges St Pierre coming out, more movies on the history of MMA and Evant Tanner too. It’s unreal. I look back sometimes and I can’t believe how far we’ve come. Obviously we want to expand categories, get more income and build the brand,” TapouT’s gross in 2009 was approximately $200 million according to its official website, “but that all just comes when you just focus on what you’re doing better. We want to keep our feet planted, and continue to touch people’s lives, work hard and make sure Charles is being remembered. And we hope we can inspire others in what we’re doing, running their martial arts gyms or whatever they’re trying to do. Now, we finally have access to elements – public relations, marketing, distribution for example – that weren’t quite so straightforward before. We are aiming at Nike and those big brands. And they’ll keep looking in their rear view mirror until one day they have to watch us fly by. That’s the goal.”

Interview by Gary Alexander and Steve Beale