Big Brother 8's Zach Talks About Dolphin Crash

"Big Brother 8's" Zach Swerdzewski will be launching Dolphin Crash, his edgy surfwear clothing line on October 23. Now living in California, Zach recently returned home to Tallahassee to decompress prior to the product's launch. The line includes t-shirts, shorties, tank tops and other aquatic wear. I interviewed Zach earlier this month at Tallahassee's Pockets Pool & Sports Pub to find out about "Big Brother 8" and learn what's next for the third-place reality show contestant. This is part two in a two-part series. Read the first interview: Interview with Tallahassee's Big Brother 8 Houseguest Zach: Part 1.

JA Huber: The Web site for Dolphin Crash launches soon, who is your target market?

Zach: Ages 15 to 40. I have clothing edgy for high school and college people and t-shirts for surfers of any age.

The clothing line is a financial situation where I'd like to make money to finance the underwater photography, which I really want to do and hopefully that'll take off. I need the equipment to really do what I want to, take large pictures of underwater sea life to sell to galleries. I have a couple of people who want to put them on their cruises.

I want to educate people not necessarily by taking pictures of fish but of little pieces of coral and different textures of the ocean. Not everyone can swim or dive. I think having some simplicity of underwater sea life is a spiritual and harmonious thing to bring and educate other people. Hopefully if it [Dolphin Crash] takes off I can donate money to the Surfrider Foundation which is what I want to do and my dolphin safe type stuff. It's kind of what I'm about.

JA Huber: You mean you're into environmental sustainability?

Zach: I love the ocean. That's really the whole point. To educate people in the process of doing what I love which is art. If the clothing line takes off there could be a million directions for that. I could branch out to more than surfwear like sponsorship for surfing but that's way down the road. Depends how well this goes.

I have 12,000 emails and have been through half of them. A lot are from people who want to buy the product. This would be a career change for me if I can get it going.

JA Huber: What was the plan for Dolphin Crash prior to "Big Brother 8?"

Zach: Three to four weeks before applying for show I used my tax return to finance the first pro-type for the clothing. Ended up doing a photo shoot for the line to see if I could do what I wanted to do. Then went through the process to figure how expensive it would be to start up. It was something I always wanted to do. Since I had the tax return refund, this is what I needed to do it and put in money to do it. Applied for trademark, got it through the Patent and Trademark Office applied for the show, got it and got to wear it [Dolphin Crash clothing] on the show. Sweet! It just happened.

JA Huber: Does art motivate you then?

Zach: My first degree's in marketing and second in graphic design. I like designing and have worked on various projects. I'm very well versed in a lot of different things.

I never had the financial capital to really do what I wanted to do. I'm taking a huge risk with my tax return, I've always wanted to do it. It's really hard to start something up but once it starts it's pretty easy.

The clothing line came up on a whim because of the tattoo design on my shoulder. It took me three and a half years to come up with this design and truly perfect it. Then it took me about six months to get the tattoo because I was terrified to do that (laughs).

JA Huber: Oh yeah! It's going to be with you for life.

Zach: But then after realizing it's a great logo and great design, it's part of me. Figured if I can incorporate it in a t-shirt design, people everywhere will be wearing my tattoo and I think that's cool.

I lucked out. Being able to wear the clothes on CBS really gave me a lot. Not winning first or second definitely sucks but I'm grateful for the fan base. And I'm grateful for the people really interested in the product. That's worth more to me than $50,000 [paid to second place Danielle] and definitely worth more than $500,000 [paid to Dick, the winner] to me. All I have to do is be comfortable. If I can do this and do what I love and people are supporting me that's enough.

JA Huber: I bet you could have sold some product during your visit to Tallahassee.

Zach: I put my wardrobe that I wore on the show on eBay right now because I'm trying to make any extra cash I can to put back into the clothing line. I dropped the entire stipend from the show already on product for the line so I'm even. I don't have any money. I'm hoping people will support the product and if it goes well it will continue to finance itself.

I'm dropping as much as I can on eBay to get rid of it because people are buying it for obscene prices and I'm grateful for that because they're supporting what I want to do. If anything, regardless what people buy, they're supporting Dolphin Crash. My brother's been helping me out. I really think the clothes are going to be successful. I would love to work for myself to make the dream I have happen. I would love to be able to travel to exotic locations and dive and take pictures.

I've come up with a process where I enlarge pictures up to 30 inches by 40 inches in size then mount them on wood and have a thick lacquer coating I put on them. I've got a few pictures in my house, it's an expensive process but they're gorgeous.

JA Huber: Who are you trying to sell these to?

Zach: I've got two galleries, one in Laguna Beach that has offered to carry it and one in the Universal City Walk in California. There are also a couple of companies in Southern Florida who've asked to carry them.

JA Huber: Tell me about the images.

Zach: They're all originals, all signed by me. For me, I love to be able to stare at an image. If I can sit there and stare at an image for three or four minutes, I know I've got something good. I got close up pictures of dolphin heads and close ups of dolphin eyes with the tears in the eyes. It's very emotional, it's very cool.

I swam with them in Islamorada in June, did a photo shoot for Dolphin Crash's MySpace and did a four hour swim with the dolphins. I have some kind of draw to dolphins and I don't know, but it's just the way it is. I have had them swim next to me while surfing in California.

JA Huber: Do you have retail shops interested in Dolphin Crash?

Zach: I have a few places that have already said they'll carry it. I plan on doing Magic Marketplace in Las Vegas, a place to sell independent clothing, in February. I have a feeling it's going to go. I'm the guy who's positive and negative. I'm negative about my business because I want to try as hard as I can to make it work. So when you have unexpected surprises it's possible.

I don't set myself for failure, I embrace the surprises that come at me for a challenge. I'm excited to see what the next month is going to do because the next month will determine if I can do it. There is no better publicity than what I did for 72 days on the show wearing my clothes, nothing better than that.

Having 6,000 MySpace friends that I don't know but were all fans, on three different profiles, a Web site and a lot of people supporting me, I can't wait to see what happens.

JA Huber: How are you advertising Dolphin Crash?

Zach: MySpace and the Web site. Everyone I know personally, whether models, actors as well as fans, the Surfrider Foundation and a couple of other surf shops are aware. If a few of those people are willing to let me put my banner on their page to generate interest, it's exciting. I'm not getting my hopes up but I'm so excited to see what happens. I'm very grateful for everything that has presented itself.

JA Huber: Where will you be five years from now?

Zach: Probably having a home base on the east coast like Miami or Southern Florida, possibly Tallahassee. Hopefully working for myself and becoming a professional artist. The world is full of opportunities and I'm just trying to get a small piece of the pie. Don't have to be a millionaire, just comfortable.

Maybe I'll be married by then, maybe two kids. I just want to succeed and not back down. I knocked down a lot of doors in California before the show. I had a lot of crappy jobs, had a lot of hard moments moving to California and not having any friends and not knowing anyone. I've come a long way.

Dreams are actually going to happen. I got great advertising for free from CBS, I hope it goes well. I think it's incredible you can have an online business and live anywhere and be successful if you have a good idea. I have lots of good ideas and if anyone is willing to invest, I'm listening.