Maximum Style, Inc. was founded in September, 1999 to develop online projects targeting the interests of the Internet Generation. Company founder Raymond So's previous career experience has focused on various aspects of popular culture, and he concluded from his frequent use of the Internet that there were specific elements of the Internet Generation that were not being effectively served by existing websites. Raymond believed that his knowledge of the culture could be combined with his business background to develop unique e-commerce and content sites that would appeal to this highly desirable demographic.

Raymond quickly convinced a trusted former co-worker, Kerry Hendrix, to join him in building the Maximum Style organization. By late October, the company had found offices in the trendy Digital Village technology enclave in downtown Los Angeles.

With the holidays and Millennium approaching, the company decided to take advantage of the forthcoming party season, and determined that the nightclub and dance cultures would be the target of their first project. Maximum Style launched the ClubThings.com e-commerce site (www.clubthings.com) on November 22nd, 1999 to serve this culture.

After the New Year, the company began developing ideas for additional sites focusing on other cultures within the Internet Generation. In February, the company began marketing PopThings.com (www.popthings.com), a new online popular culture and entertainment superstore featuring a wide range of best-selling books, movies, music, and video games.

In addition, Maximum Style's team continued to recognize the potential of the club community served by ClubThings.com, and decided to spend part of the Spring developing several content projects targeting this audience.

On June 10th, the company simultaneously unveiled three new web sites focusing on this market. DoYouParty.com (www.doyouparty.com) would serve as a central on-line home for many of the services that would interest clubgoers, featuring such community elements as message boards, chatrooms, photo galleries, event ticketing, and more. CircuitRadio.com (www.circuitradio.com) would provide the soundtrack to the clubgoing generation, providing multiple channels of non-stop dance tunes using an advanced streaming technology. The third site, GlamourBoys.com (www.glamourboys.com) was envisioned to be the launching point for a whole new realm of online entertainment, seeking audience participation in the casting of a planned new internet serial about the party scene.

These new projects were met with mixed success as the Internet economy underwent a major downturn. Looking for other ways to grow the Company's business during this period, Raymond decided to draw on his dual backgrounds in the dance music and streetwear industries. In June 2000, he test-launched on the ClubThings website a possible future streetwear line with several t-shirt designs featuring slogans expressly targeting the party and dance communities. Meanwhile, the Company's core ClubThings business continued to expand, and there were an increasing number of inquiries from store owners and promoters asking to purchase wholesale the unique selection of products offered on ClubThings. Responding to this need, Maximum Style officially launched a wholesale side to the ClubThings business in July, 2000. The Company's focus shifted to developing this wholesale business while preparing the ClubThings retail site for the busy holiday shopping season.

After the New Year, and with ClubThings maintaining steady growth in both wholesale and retail sales, Raymond again turned his attention to the streetwear line he had first begun exploring the previous Summer. It was at this time that he asked his long-time friend, Patrick Midgett, to join him in pursuing Maximum Style's "next step." Patrick's extensive background in retail management of several prestigious fashion brands would make him the perfect person to help shape the Company's foray into the streetwear market. After much discussion, the two settled on a name that would fully express the philosophy and mission of the new brand: iGEN. Logo ideas, slogans, and other branding elements were debated, sketched, and revised, and finally, in March, 2001, iGEN made its debut with a baker's dozen of t-shirt designs offered through the ClubThings site and the Company's wholesale customers.

That same March, the Company was approached to offer its club toys through a direct fulfillment relationship on Kleptomaniac.com, the online sales arm of PlanetOut Partners, who also operate leading affinity portals Gay.com, PlanetOut.com, and OutandAbout.com. Through Kleptomaniac.com, Maximum Style's products would be exposed in extensive promotions to the 4,456,000 monthly unique visitors and 3.9 million registered members of the PlanetOut Partners portals. Additionally, promotions would be featured through PlanetOut Partners' strategic content distribution partnerships with AOL TimeWarner, Yahoo! and Microsoft.

In April, the Company decided that the drastic changes in the Internet economy over the previous year had made it unlikely that the Company could successfully monetize on its three content properties. The decision was made to pull the plug on DoYouParty.com, CircuitRadio.com, and GlamourBoys.com, allowing the Company to refocus its complete efforts on its retail and wholesale operations.

In May 2001, Kleptomaniac.com asked Maximum Style to serve as its primary vendor for a new gay pride product shop on the site. This relationship with Kleptomaniac.com has continued to grow, and Maximum Style has increased the product lines it features on Kleptomaniac. In August 2001, Maximum Style expanded its website fulfillment business as the exclusive vendor for newly launched online retailer HouseofRave.com.

The Company added yet another major fulfillment client in October 2001 by becoming the club toys supplier for the shopping channels of the GSociety, Inc. network of companies, which include the affinity portals GayWired.com, LesbiaNation.com, and Dance1.net, and travel sites QTMagazine.com and GHighway.com. The GSociety sites combined have over 700,000 monthly
visitors.

The Company and its staff faced a difficult challenge during the height of the Holiday shopping season that year with the unexpected passing away of COO Patrick Midgett. Despite some personnel changes when staff left due to the tragedy, the Company managed to fill all holiday orders and satisfy its fulfillment clients.

With the new year, the Company recovered its stride. In March 2002, Kleptomaniac.com asked Maximum Style to become its new fulfillment partner for a line of videos and DVDs. Kleptomaniac.com expected that this would increase orders filled by Maximum Style by over 500%. The Company quickly hired new personnel to handle this new business, which has grown rapidly as Kleptomaniac.com expands its video title selection.

In addition to continuing to develop its complementary core businesses, Maximum Style currently is working on launching additional online storefronts to offer its growing product lines to new markets.

Company Profile

Maximum Style, Inc. is a privately-held C corporation incorporated in Delaware. The company is currently financed via private seed funding. The company's principal offices are located in the Digital Village technology enclave of downtown Los Angeles, California.