Overview

Hozell was founded by long time friends Chad Campion and Jeff Jackel.  Jeff was the quintessential Southern California “grom”, growing up in Orange County around the surf community and clothing industry.  Chad grew up in the Seattle area and moved down to California with his family in the middle of high school.  The two met during their senior year at Capistrano Valley High School – and have remained friends for the past eleven years.  

It’s admittedly a little cheesy, but the original idea for Hozell was born on the golf courses of Orange County where the guys and their friends would spend lazy afternoons during breaks from college, and later from the grind of post-college life. The two connected over the idea that there was no icon, style or brand that encompassed their lives, passions and pursuits, with which they could identify.  So began Hozell Clothing.

Both guys wanted to start a company that they loved, believed in, and could stand behind completely.  That’s why all Hozell clothes are 100% made locally in Southern California and the brand is very environmentally conscious in its approach and production methods. The two spent the first year completely entrenched in the processes of development and production, insistent that they learn every step in detail.  This first hand knowledge and experience helped the team foster relationships with reliable vendors and gain a complex understanding of apparel production that has directly lead to more creative, better quality garments.

And now, Chad, Jeff, and Hozell are at the epicenter of an emerging culture of young people who epitomize the "c'est la vie" approach to life; weary of taking it too seriously, and growing up too fast.  Everything that embodies this growing, vibrant brand comes from the minds and hands of these two guys who say it’s easy when they’re essentially making clothes for themselves.
 

About Jeff

Jeff grew up on the manicured streets and crowded sandy beaches of Orange County.  His dad spent the 80's and 90's running a number of SoCal clothing companies like Hang Ten, Sideout, and Ocean Pacific - which not only meant unlimited corduroy shorts for family members, but left Jeff with a privileged insider perspective in the realm of lifestyle apparel.  Through the years, Jeff would spend time in the design rooms of these influential clothing brands, working on art and learning the creative process first hand.  Jeff continued down a path of art in different forms, which led him to Los Angeles and the USC School of Cinematic Arts.  He produced a few award winning short films after college and did the whole Hollywood thing for a bit, before partnering with an Atlanta-based marketing firm to launch a branded-entertainment company.  Jeff fell in love with the world of marketing and branding, and soon discovered that what he liked most about entertainment was the entrepreneurial aspects of building and growing new projects from scratch.  With an innate and cultivated eye for coastal California style, knowledge and love of quality boutique clothing, and an art and marketing background in a number of mediums, Jeff seamlessly fuses these opposing worlds to create freshness and individuality with the design of Hozell’s clothing, and the message of the brand.  
When he’s not creating graphic art and apparel for Hozell, Jeff loves collaborating with friends and other creatives – freelancing and designing clothing and art for projects and companies such as Swell.com, River Collective (w/musician Andrew McMahon), The Ryde, Roxy/Quicksilver, musician William Tell, Boarding for Breast Cancer, Jeff Yokoyama at GY, and others.  Jeff's fashion & style hero is his good friend from the south pole, The Style Penguin.

You can send Jeff a note here.  Find him on Twitter.  And he is pretty active on our JC Hozell Facebook.

About Chad

Having grown up in the grungy, granola, pacific northwest of the the 1990's, Chad was hit in the face with the "lifestyle apparel" brands and the surf/skate culture upon moving to OC in high school.  Soon after, Chad went away to Bucknell, a small liberal arts college in rural Pennsylvania, where his west coast style and perspectives seemed an anomaly.  After a stint in Buenos Aires, he made the move to NYC where he lived a conflicted life...spending the majority of his hours at a very corporate financial job, all the while enjoying the NYC music scene, spending long nights out on the town and striving for a creative, bohemian outlet.  Chad loved walking the streets of lower Manhattan, enjoying everyone's individuality and personal style.  Often accused of having a style similar to that of a gas station attendant - understated, unkempt, and altogether laissez-faire - Chad brings a unique and varied perspective to Hozell, shaped by years of living all around the country and traveling the world.  Send Chad a note here.  Or find him on Facebook or Twitter

Chad's favorite shirt:

 While Chad longed for the California golf courses and afternoons at Crescent Bay, the laid back lifestyle of Orange County also kept calling Jeff's name.  The idea of creating something new and authentic resonated deeply with both of them, and the duo collectively decided to move back to Orange County to pursue what would become Hozell.  For a span of a number of months, both youths lived with Jeff's parents in San Clemente while creating the first pieces of Hozell clothing.  They are now running the company out of a loft up the hill from the beach, and when they're not working they like to golf, eat Mexican food, play bocce and pool volleyball, drink Arnold Palmers, surf, and spend time with friends.