By simply "liking" Amethyst Jeans on Facebook, female students were able to receive free jeans, a t-shirt or a bag from the company.
The giveaway was set up in the parking lot between Teachers College and the Art and Journalism Building on Friday. Female students were attracted by a man using a loudspeaker and quickly began to form lines in front of the pink "Jean Machine" as they waited to be handed a free pair of Amethyst Jeans.
Ball State is one of the final stops for Amethyst Jeans summer campus tour. Field marketing manager Jonny Inghilterra said Ball State was a chosen destination among 10 other campuses.
"Ball State is our demographic," he said. "It's a great college from what we hear. The location they gave us to set up is great, we just thought it was a great fit for our consumers."
Amethyst Jeans was launched in 2007 by Ned Davidson and John McKelvey. The motto is "If you have something great, why not share it?"
Inghilterra described Davidson as a very giving person.
"When he created these jeans, he didn't just say, ‘Lets make jeans and go off random sizes.'" Inghilterra said.
The jeans are marked to 15-to-22 year old customers and can be found in various department stores in most states around the county. Prices range from $25 to $48 and sizes range from 0 to 24.
The campus tour is the company's way of advertising to their customers.
"Instead of taking a large amount of money and just throwing it to TV commercials, we'd rather interact with our buyers first of all," Inghilterra said. "We feel if you get a free pair, you are probably going to end up buying more, because they are just that great."
By giving away their jeans, Amethyst Jeans meets another objective of meeting their customers. Every stop along tour lasts for a few hours and it is not surprising the amount of jeans that are given away at each destination.r
"In total, it's up there — thousands upon thousands on this tour there is 11 stops," Inghilterra said. "We're giving out a little over 500 pairs of jeans at stops, but it's a lot of jeans."
He said the company actually has to restock items every two or three stops. They have pallets delivered to their hotel, and then they reload the "jean machine."
Inghilterra described another good deed the team does at the end of their tours. The trucks hold about 700 pairs of jeans, he said.
"If we have some jeans left over, we will drive around the city and stop at a random corner, and we will just start giving away free jeans to people," he said. "We also love to donate and give them to people who are needy."
The jeans have been worn by artists such as Meg and Dia who were on Warped Tour. Inghilterra said the company takes sizing seriously.
"Ours are true fits — true sizes — and it's going to fit you, and you are going to love it," he said.