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Elope, Inc.

  • 3 min read
  • 4 chapters

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History

Founding

Kevin Johnson, Keith Johnson, and Franzi Fu founded elope in 1993 after backpacking through Nepal, Thailand, Taiwan, India, Japan, China, and Indonesia. To offset travel costs, they sold products they purchased during their trips at a rented kiosk in The Citadel Mall, where they sold 1,000 hats within two weeks.

They contracted a Nepali factory shortly thereafter to manufacture their hats, the first of which were Mad Hatter, jester, and stovepipe hats marketed towards skiers and snowboarders. In 1995, following a year of little snowfall and poor sales, elope brought products to their first trade show and began expanding into the Halloween industry. The company was officially incorporated the same year.

Locations

elope rented its first non-residential headquarters, a 2,800 square foot warehouse, in 1999. Two years later, the company purchased its first building, an 18,000 square foot office space, and moved their headquarters there. According to the Colorado Springs Business Journal, a 300% growth rate in 2003 meant "expansion was imminent," and 2004 saw the purchase of a larger, 55,000 square foot building. Their current headquarters were purchased on October 10, 2012.

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More in Family, kinship and friendship

MarriageCulturally recognised union between peopleFamilyGroup of related peopleFriendshipMutual affection between peopleParentingProcess of raising a childElopementType of marriage ceremonyInterethnic marriageMarriage between individuals of different ethnic backgrounds