Origins #3 - My journey of building an apparel business, while working as a full-time programmer.
Hey folks!
Last week I shared the second blog post of our "Origins" series, where we document the journey of building an apparel business.
As promised, I'll be sharing one every week, so here goes #3! Let me know what you think!
This post was originally published on Medium and weardulo.com.
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Our very first meeting was in the white caravan down the end. Talk about humble beginnings :)
We landed on the weekend.
Before going into the week with the appointments we scheduled from Amsterdam, we used the time to meet with friends who are in the apparel industry and hear an insider’s perspective, as well as discuss the product and vision we had in mind. We were also contemplating financing options, mainly due to the fact that we had no idea how much the production of an initial batch would cost and whether we’re going to be able to bootstrap it ourselves. On that note, we also did some research and had talks with friends familiar with EU (European Union) funding programs, and whether we can take advantage of them at this point.
Kicking off the week, we had a few meetings that did provide some industry knowledge, but we didn’t see any possible partnerships at this point. The main issue that kept popping up, was that people were not familiar with the fabric and certainly not familiar with it, in a formal clothing context.
There was however, an immediate indication that, if we managed to find the fabric that covered all the characteristics of what we envisioned our shirt to be, we would have a lot of options when it comes to producing it. Our initial hunch, that there would be a lot of production capabilities in Bulgaria turned out to be not far from reality.
For the Tuesday of that week, we had a planned 30 minute meeting with a manufacturer that was a 4 hour drive from where we were staying. The math showed an 8 hour drive to have a 30 minute meeting, if we were lucky squeeze in a lunch and a short walk around the city, before we had to go back. Luckily no one else replied for a meeting during that day and we thought that at least it would be a nice road trip.
Right from the get go, we felt that the people across the table immediately got our idea, were genuinely excited about it, knew the industry which we wanted to enter and could bring a lot of value to our lack of experience. Turns out, shirts were their specialty and the first product they started the company with, so that category was very dear to them. Also, currently they were working with huge brands on a very large scale and were very interested in having a client from the opposite end of the spectrum, working on a novelty product and helping us build a brand from the ground up. They were also the first company not to be intimidated by the fact that they had to work with a different fabric, when it comes to making a dress shirt. Another huge plus was that they had the capability to deliver on every step of the supply chain, from creating the fabric, to manufacturing and packaging.
Day 2: Ruse — a beautiful city on the bank of the Danube
Ruse, Bulgaria.
Ruse, Bulgaria.
Having the context from the last few days of talking to people, it was becoming clear that the best way for us to start this, is to have a partner that can take care of the whole manufacturing process with the needed experience to make sure that we would not miss something. The other option was to talk to individual partners on every step of the production process, then combine the separate pieces together to create a final product. The second option did not sound as practical as having a partner take care of the whole production chain and deliver a final product to us, this would enable us to concentrate on the marketing and business development aspects of the business.
On a side note, Marin (my co-founder) was very impressed to see someone wearing a smartwatch in Bulgaria, so the guy we met with (Commercial Director in the company) seating on the opposite side of the table and receiving notifications on his watch during the meeting seemed to be a good sign. In contrast to all previous meetings we had, there was a clear indication that we were talking to people who are forward thinking and aware of the current trends and dynamics of the business, both on large and small scale.
We wrapped up the meeting and right as we walked out the door, we could sense that maybe we’ve found a manufacturer to start with.
Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The oldest city in Europe.
Melnik, Bulgaria. Home of great wine.
We had a few more days left from our stay, a bit of traveling and some more meetings, which given the fact that we were just now entering the industry, were useful. However, none of the other manufactures we met with, came even close to the expertise of the smartwatch people, so we ended on a high note, excited about all the new-found knowledge and clarity on how to at least start the process, as well as a manufacturer that we would continue a discussion with.
They said they needed a few weeks to create a sample fabric that we can test and decide whether to start working on some prototypes with them.
All is well, when it ends well. We made a valuable contact with possible future manufacturing partners, and even though at times it felt like shooting in the dark and having pointless meetings, on a macro level, it all built up to a clarity of direction and next steps.
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