Alex Hong, Contributing Photographer

An image of a white bulldog holding a crew oar, and a desire to become the fastest-growing collegiate brand, catalyzed the founding of the clothing brand Crew Dog.

The clothing line was conceived in April 2023, when London native Constantine Polychronopoulos ’25 was in his second season as a member of the Yale lightweight crew team. At the time of its founding, co-owner Polychronopoulos dubbed the creations neither a business nor a brand.

“It was literally a side project for the team around the race season in the spring, where we were going to do a group order for merch and a bunch of the guys, especially, wanted something different,” Polychronopoulos said.

“Different,” in this case, meant prioritizing understated fashion rather than loud “Yale Crew Team” or traditional emboldened logos, Polychronopoulos said.

The high-quality merchandise involves putting premium large scale embroidery on otherwise blank garments. He hoped to provide members of the team identifiable athletic clothing that could also be worn in travel, professional or leisurely settings.

Nearly every member of the team purchased the clothing, Polychronopoulos said. News of the “side project” quickly spread, with requests for similar merchandise from the varsity swim and baseball teams and other student organizations.

The Shopify contact form he used to sell the clothing soon gave way to a full-fledged website, and that was when Polychronopoulos decided to call the brand Crew Dog.

Co-owner Coby Wagonfeld ’26 began his involvement with the company and Polychronopoulos, whom he refers to as Tino, shortly after it put up its storefront in August 2023.

“A mutual friend introduced me to Tino and at that time, Tino really realized that there’s a proper concept here and that the success at Yale could work at a bunch of other schools,” Wagonfeld said. “From our first lunch, we were like, ‘Oh, this would be a super fun project to work on.’”

Wagonfeld, currently a student, said that balancing his undergraduate workload with the thriving company is “not the easiest at times.” However, he said his main priority is the business.

Schoolwork sometimes takes a bit of back seat until midterm season, and then he has to “lock back into school,” he explained.

Wagonfeld, though, intends to work on the company full time after graduation, joining the recently graduated Polychronopoulos.

“College apparel is so concentrated between a few huge companies that have kind of forgotten about the consumer, whether that’s students or alumni, and focused more on profit,” Wagonfeld said. We feel like there’s a way to do both and make really cool stuff. When people think, ‘I want to buy something for my college,’ we want them to think of Crew Dog.”

In February, the company received its first retail placement and pursued buying consortia such as Barnes & Noble. In just a few months, Crew Dog grew to more than 40 bookstores and larger retailers, according to Wagonfeld.

Eight to nine months after the company’s inception, many of the order forms were handled by Polychronopoulos, who would spend his weekends dallying with the form and confirming orders. 

By the end of 2024, the company sold approximately 12,000 units of clothing. This year, Wagonfeld estimates that it will sell closer to 37,000 through three revenue streams: direct to consumer, group orders and from bookstores. Currently, embroidered tees sell for about $45 on the company’s website; crewnecks go for nearly $100.

The pair, along with their 12 full-time staff members, sell hand-drawn images of everything from well-dressed Boston University terriers to dapper University of Washington huskies.

“Consumer apparel is hard,” Wagonfeld said. “At every touch point, there’s potential human error. You’re producing a physical project, and especially in the collegiate space, there are a lot of regulations around what you make. So it’s not a very easy space, but it’s even more rewarding because of that.”

The duo will have their first official merchandise drop on Saturday, with their Yale-Harvard game collection — a contrast with their other clothing, which showcases one school.

The collection will remain available for two weeks and is inspired by Harvard and Yale archival magazines, Polychronopoulos said.

“There’s so much meaning you can pack into a shirt, you have memories around it, where you bought it, when you wore it, who you were with,” Polychronopoulos said. “We’re trying to put all of that heritage into a broad collection that really speaks to every kind of fan and potential consumer and give people unique, meaningful apparel that isn’t offered for the Game.”

The first Yale-Harvard football game was in 1875.

Correction, Nov. 6: An earlier version of this article misstated when Crew Dog received its first retail placement; it was February 2025, not late March 2023. The article also previously misstated the University of Washington’s mascot animal; it is huskies, not wolverines.