079 : Here's How I Took My Accessories Business from Collaborating with a Stroke to Bankrupt in less than 12 Months
Here's a million dollar lesson in why you should be obsessed with differentiation - and not much else - when you are are starting out.
Here's how I took my accessories business from collaborating with a Stroke to bankrupt in less than 12 months.
Yes, I was a little bad with money (producing too many items because I loved designing so much) but that actually wasn't the biggest mistake I made.
What really screwed me was not focusing all of my efforts on differentiation.
When I started making ties (a less than subtle homage to my hero Ralph Lauren), they took off REALLY quickly because they didn't look or feel like anything else out there.
When everyone else was cranking out traditionally preppy ties made in cheaper factories overseas, I was sourcing wild style, colorful vintage fabrics from eBay and had them hand made in a small factory in Brooklyn.
People really resonated with them.
I took my first samples to Odin, one of the best menswear stores in NYC at the time, and within five minutes they were merchandised and sold alongside A-list brands like Thom Browne and Engineered Garments.
A few months later, I was collaborating with Albert Hammond Jr. of the Strokes on a capsule collection that was featured in GQ, Bloomberg, Esquire, and the Hollywood Reporter.
Here's the part where it all goes very wrong.
Wanting to expand from ties to other categories, I invested everything I had at the time - around 40k - into a line of bags.
And while the bags were very nice (leather details, built-in laptop sleeves) nothing about them stood out in the same way the ties did.
They were respectable, durable, and handsome.
I thought they'd be really "commercial" because they didn't stand out too much.
Boy was I wrong.
I put them up on Kickstarter and paid a company 5k to help market them.
Days went by.
And NO ONE gave a sht.
I shut down the Kickstarter after ten days and closed the business a month later.
Looking back, I would have done the bags in really unusual colors - or maybe silk screened designs by hand onto each one - something to make them stand out.
This was a very expensive and powerful lesson for me that I pass on to all my clients.
At the beginning it is essential to spend MOST of your effort on creating something that's different and funky.
If you can nail that (as I did with my ties) the rest falls into place.
Miss this (as I did with my bags) and you'd wind up spending tons of money trying to convince people that what you made is worth their time.
And yeah, don't make something just because you think it will be "commercial" - make what you REALLY want to make.
That's what people will resonate with the most.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
PS - Here's the part where I let you know that I can help you get paid to be yourself and improve your life spiritually, creatively, and entrepreneurially. If you want to chat, simply reply to this email or hit me up!
You still got the deadstock bags?