Outfitting the lifestyle

Young Chang

The view from “pimp headquarters” is of a serene and familiar Newport

Beach City Hall. It stands as if on guard, contrasting comically with

what is offered here.

A tiger-print couch. Volatile thongs, socks dotted with skulls.

Metal-spoked belts, DJ party lighting, Jacuzzis, fur-trimmed frames, even

a stripper’s metal pole with a pad of maroon velvet that should stick on

the ceiling.

It’s the promise of a different lifestyle -- a warehouse full of props

for those who want to be “pimp.”

Inside these walls, Keith Scheinberg and Derek Jaeger reign over an

empire worlds apart from the mainstream society governed by City Hall

across the street. Theirs is a virtual kingdom called pimpIT.com, but a

society nonetheless.

“What we now call the pimpIT empire has become a global recognition of

a lifestyle,” said Scheinberg, chief operations officer for the the

business’ Web site. “And that’s the new generation of what the word

means.”

To Scheinberg and his clients, “pimp” means cool or hip. The word is

an ever-evolving adjective with connotations that can have nothing to do

with the noun that more famously means an agent of a prostitute.

He and Jaeger, who is vice president of marketing, collect whatever is

cool -- pardon me, “pimp” -- in the clubbing and raving scenes.”We’re

kinda the trendsetters for what’s gonna be hip and what’s gonna be

fashionable,” the 26-year-old Jaeger said. “We’ve become synonymous with

the in scene.”

And though dotcom companies throughout cyberspace continue to

flounder, Scheinberg and Jaeger say pimpIT.com has overcome the deadly

trend. Getting more than 4 million hits a month and totaling close to

seven digits in net worth, the Web site is one of few actually making it,

Scheinberg said.

From clothes to furniture to transportation vehicles and even sports

gear, pimpIT.com offers answers to the eternal question posed by trends:

What’s next? Site visitors can order the products and use/wear/sit

on/ride that, which isn’t readily available in stores.

“And we post pictures from different raves and concerts on the Web

site,” said Scheinberg, 25. “It’s kinda like the 90210 fad. They want to

see what this lifestyle is all about.”

The two San Diego State University graduates started the web company

three years ago to sell club wear for men. Scheinberg, a Newport Beach

resident with a law degree, and Jaeger, from Irvine and with a business

degree, catered their business to guys who don’t like shopping for

clothes.

“Guys are very timid in shopping and they don’t like to go to a store

and have a salesperson accost them, unless they have a girlfriend,”

Scheinberg said. “So we wanted to provide them an outlet to get cool

clothes, so they could shop in their underwear.”

The men’s store grew into a lifestyle store and the partners moved

their products into warehouses in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

“We really don’t like to take a stand on any one clothing item,”

Scheinberg said. “We have everything from conservative button-down shirts

to the most alternative rave-style clothing anyone could find.”

The duo also started their own pimpIT line. Emblazoned across most of

the products is the logo of a red star with a mighty P inside. The P, of

course, stands for pimpIT.com. The star has greater meaning.

“It’s kind of a symbolization of how everyone looks at the stars,”

Jaeger said. “It’s the biggest thing in the world. Kinda bigger than all,

stronger than all.”