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Syracuse University sophomore Neil Lepard thought last spring that he lost his summer job as a beach lifeguard on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. When the public beaches remained closed to slow the spread of COVID-19, he called his cousin and fellow lifeguard Fred Manoog to create a plan for how they could productively salvage their summer.

“We wanted to have a little bit more of a purpose than just two kids selling stickers,” said Manoog, a sophomore at Providence College.

Lepard and Manoog decided to start Sweeping Tides, an online surf apparel shop, in early May. Robert O’Brien, a friend of Lepard, joined the team to help run the website and manage the technological side of the business.

The store began by selling stickers because of their affordability. A portion of the shop’s profits goes toward Oceana, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ocean preservation. Over the summer, the business donated nearly $700 to the nonprofit.

This semester, the company introduced sweatshirts and beanies to the brand and has ordered 200 units to sell through its online website. Five percent of the profits from Sweeping Tides’ saltwater comfort-wash hoodie goes to Oceana.

Besides being lifeguards and college students, the cousins are also avid surfers. They both started surfing their sophomore year of high school, but they didn’t really get into it until last summer.

“Going out there, it’s dead quiet,” Lepard said. “All you can hear is the waves and your friends … and it just slows down the world.”

SU alumnus Peter Glenn helped design Sweeping Tides’ logo after a Massachusetts surf shop put Lepard and Glenn in contact. Working with the cousins offered Glenn the opportunity to reminisce on his SU days. Emily Steinberger | Photo Editor

In the early stages of the business, Lepard drew concepts for a logo and looked at apparel designs at local surf companies. He found a collection of designs he liked at Pump House Surf Shop in Orleans, Massachusetts, and reached out to the store to locate the artist, who turned out to be SU alumnus Peter Glenn.

Lepard contacted Glenn, who accepted the invitation to work with the business to design a logo for Sweeping Tides.

Glenn is a teacher in Westborough, Massachusetts, which is around an hour and a half away from Cape Cod. He’s been going to the Cape forever.

“It was this really neat multilevel connection, where we both love the Cape, we both love the water, we both love the idea of keeping our oceans and fisheries clean,” Glenn said. “The Syracuse connection was a bonus.”

Lepard’s original logo featured a dolphin, but Glenn suggested changing it to a sea turtle surfing on a broom. The change to a turtle was because of its association with ocean pollution and as a tribute to the returning sea turtle population in the Cape Cod area.

Glenn said he’s impressed by the group’s ambition – especially given the current global health climate – to manage a business, schoolwork and their social lives. It’s something he’s not sure he could have tackled when he studied as an advertising design major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at SU.

The partnership between the group and Glenn was mutually beneficial, Manoog said. He doesn’t consider himself an artistically gifted person, so he appreciated Glenn’s help on the logo. For Glenn, the job gave him a chance to look back on his days at SU.

“We’re talking about artwork and the overall direction,” Glenn said. “(And) talking about everything from where he’s living, to Greek life and campus life. It gave me a chance to reminisce a little bit.”

Cousin Fred content as requested, you guys want these hoodies?!? COMMENT WHAT COLORS YOU WANT!

A photo posted by sweepingtides

One challenge of running a small company during a pandemic is the reliance on social media for business, Lepard said. Sweeping Tides’ Instagram account, run by Manoog, currently has 216 followers, which makes working with larger companies challenging.

“One thing I’ve learned is that it has to be mutually beneficial, so right now our main focus is to just make sure we’re growing,” Lepard said.

While the group is currently unsure about the company’s long-term trajectory, they know this is only the beginning of Sweeping Tides, Manoog said.

The cousins already have ideas for the future, including adding a thrift shop component, expanding to sell more surfing products or designing surfwear for competitive surfers in California as micro-influencers.

Despite being warned about the risks of going into business with friends, Manoog’s had a positive experience so far.

“It’s kind of crazy that we were able to do this because friends sit around and hang out all the time and they think of these crazy ideas, and very rarely do they actually put them into motion,” Manoog said. “It’s been an awesome experience seeing the three of us go for it and putting it all in on something and seeing it actually succeed.”

Published on February 8, 2021 at 11:12 pm