Savage Apparel Co., Five Ultimate, and ARIA Discs have merged to officially announce the launch of XII Brands.
XII Brands now operates as the parent company of Savage and Five as well as ARIA, the disc company created by Five’s Founders. The name XII comes from the combination of Savage (known for its VII logo) and Five.
As two of the top apparel providers for ultimate Frisbee teams, Savage and Five have a friendly but long-running rivalry that extends over a decade. With Savage on the East Coast and Five on the West, both companies have cultivated unique brand identities with devoted fans and worldwide followers.
The owners of Savage Apparel Co. (Todd Curran, Dan Curran, and Dan Lee) and Five Ultimate and ARIA (Zahlen, Xtehn, Vehro, Rohre, and Qxhna Titcomb) now share ownership of XII Brands, creating a mutual interest and investment in the success of the three companies existing under its wings. Savage continues to operate out of Richmond, VA, and Five and ARIA hold down their longtime headquarters in Seattle, WA with current staff remaining in place on both sides.
Savage, Five, and ARIA will continue to exist as distinct brands but will share resources. Each company’s sales and marketing teams and designers, along with fabrics, cuts and general company cultures, will remain unique. Five and ARIA will continue to focus on ultimate Frisbee, while Savage will continue expanding into other active markets such as disc golf, dodgeball, Spikeball, and quidditch.
In 2019, Savage Apparel Co. committed to greening its operations by introducing the GreenLine, activewear made from 100 percent recycled plastic bottles. The most significant change to note for Five Ultimate is that the company will also be transitioning to using recycled fabric developed specifically for their catalog. In addition, the goal is to move U.S. orders, which were previously produced overseas, to domestic production — at the XII headquarters in Richmond, VA. This means a drastically reduced carbon footprint for all domestic orders. Five and Savage are both working with partners in Canada, France and the Philippines to produce international orders to reduce carbon emissions for those markets as well.
Savage Founder Todd Curran will serve as the CEO of XII Brands.
“Teaming up Five, Savage and ARIA is setting up XII Brands to be the number one company in Ultimate,” Curran said. “We’re prepared to provide top quality and service to the entire global Ultimate world.”
Former Five Ultimate CEO and XII Brands VP, Vehro Titcomb, said, “So much business news these days is just lip service. This is different. This is about making Ultimate better. We’re ready for this next stage.”
ARIA Co-Founder and Product Engineer Zahlen Titcomb said, “I’m a big fan of scalability. The original vision of ARIA has always been to give the world a better Ultimate disc and a better approach to how we think business should be done. We’re really excited to team up as XII and leverage this new partnership, and future expansions, to deliver even more excellence and joy around the world through discs. Innovation is here, and it’s time to boost it.”
Photo courtesy Savage Apparel
