Building Apliiq into a fairly well known streetwear brand took a combination of good fortune, relationships and creativity. But the master plan for Apliiq was never to become a streetwear brand, it was more an accident of opportunity.
Apliiq began in my college dorm room as a custom hoody company. I’d collect fabrics and lay them out on my bed, my friends would come over and pick their favorite along with a hoody color and I’d stitch them into the hood lining, pockets and around the back in the same style as this hoody.
I dabbled in selling some hoodies to retailers and many agreed but the majority were consignment deals. I’d have to make the hoodies and they’d pay me if they sold. I did successfully sell a custom hoody I’d stitched with felt appliqué at Bodega in Boston for $200, that was a win. But selling to stores always felt off to me. I couldn’t give that custom experience to someone who buys one of my hoodies in someone else’s shop.
Despite my intuition which knew the customization experience was what I wanted to offer, I continued to explore the retail market and got a meeting with Greg Selkoe, CEO of Karmaloop in June of 2008 who I was connected to by my father who worked with his dad. I had no idea how important this meeting would be, but my goal going in was to get Apliiq on Kazbah, their underground brands marketplace. I brought a printed presentation of photos of some of the shirts, hoodies and shoes I’d been making, at that point I’d been stitching up pocket tees with my fabrics and also customizing Reebok hi-tops. Greg liked my ideas, even though they were just print outs on a few sheets of paper, and he introduced me to Blake Ricciardi who was running Kazbah at the time and is now CEO of Popular Demand. Blake and Chelsea on his team got me set up on Kazbah and by mid summer I was selling my pocket tees on Karmaloop!
custom one of a kind apliiq reebok ex-o-fit hi tops
Lets pause for a moment, there’s two HUGE lessons learned here that literally brought Apliiq in front of millions of eyes at a very early stage in the business. Lesson 1 – RELATIONSHIPS ARE PIVOTAL – your community and the people you know through your friends and family can help you and you can help them too. Every relationship you make, build, maintain and grow has intrinsic value in your life. They’re not always about making money or building your dream, but sometimes people come along who can really help you and are willing to take a risk or believe in you, especially when you can help them too. This leads me to lesson 2 – TAKE RISKS WITH CONFIDENCE – I thought I was fully unprepared to meet with Greg and Blake and honestly expected them to tell me to come back in 3 months once I’d built a bit of a following. I’m still surprised they didn’t tell me that, perhaps now they would, but I went in to that meeting knowing what I wanted and having the confidence to share my ideas clearly. It was clear to them that I knew what I wanted and had already started on the path. Kazbah was the perfect launch pad for me, so another thing is consider is finding the right champion for your work. I didn’t go straight to Barney’s, I went to a company that was looking for underground brands and had the resources to support their growth.
early 2010 top selling pocket tee
We’ve been on Karmaloop’s Kazbah marketplace since then and I can pinpoint that initial meeting as a core moment in getting Apliiq recognized as a clothing brand in the streetwear market. If you found us there, or via some of our influencer partners like Jacob from Always Fresh Apparel, this is how it all began. While we’re incredibly grateful for the exposure and growth we’ve seen from being on Kazbah, our focus at Apliiq has stayed true, we’re growing a platform for others to create unique products that are special to them. It’s about expression and creativity and empowering others to create their own brands.
jacob keller from always fresh apparel rocking a custom apliiq jacket with flocked velour paisley
I’ll be releasing future posts about the details of building your brand in the coming months, stay tuned.
#fabriclove
Ethan
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