To know FATE is to know we do not screenprint anything. We’re not a graphic tee brand. There will always be a new brand that comes along with different graphics, better marketing, and is more in touch with the new generation. Our goal is to be timeless and avoid trends. One way we maintain our standard for long-lasting, high quality clothing is through embroidery. We love embroidery through and through. But maintaining this love comes with challenges, the main one being cost. Which means, to know FATE is to know we hate money.

We Hate Money

Embroidery is expensive.

I believe we would be further along as a brand if we stopped being so hard headed and just printed on our clothing. This would lower our production costs, increase our margins, and shorten our cycle time(s). I consider this the easy way out. We’ve been willing to slightly decrease our margins so that our customers can wear a superior garment. Something that took more time, effort, and ultimately more money to produce. In the short term, this is painful. Every quote I get baffles me more than the last and every week I’m come closer to capitulating. In the long term, we build more trust amongst our customers. Trust that when they spend their money with FATE, they’ll be receiving a piece that time was invested in and will last for years to come.

Different ≠ Easy

Business is centered around competition. It is much more difficult to obtain a competitive advantage by doing the same things as your competitors. The idea to embroider everything is strictly rooted in being different. Oftentimes differentiation leads to competitive advantages. In the same regard, being different often comes with challenges. We have embarked on a path that the majority of brands have not treked. This comes with a tremendous amount of no’s, increased costs, slower sampling and production times, more constraints, should I keep going? I think you get the gist. If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Our Long Term Vision

We’ve decided not to be a printing-led, graphic tee brand. By making this choice, we’ve had to deal with the complexities of embroidering everything. That said, a lack of screen printing does not mean only an increase in embroidery. As mentioned, the vision for the brand is to be timeless and avoid trends. For us, this means transcending more into “fashion” and expanding our tastes outside of just streetwear. I tell everyone that our goal is to make clothes nice enough to be worn to a wedding, a date, the office, or the club all without changing. We cannot wait to show you some of these items featured in our new Amor Fati line.

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Would you believe me if I told you it took eight months to produce this one shirt? Throughout those eight months I often asked myself if this was all just a waste of time? I even contemplated quitting. I’ve been told that the most important skill an entrepreneur can have is the ability to withstand the test of time. Here’s a little bit about the trying period leading to the creation of Ascension.

The Art

Can you see the resemblence? The Ascension design was originally much more “abstract”. Friends and family referred to it as “scary”. This was not the look we were going for. We redrew, modified, and redrew again until we landed on a drawing that resonated with us the most. Little did we know, redrawing was the easiest part of this process.

How to Handle “No”

I never knew there were so many different ways to be told “no” until searching for a manufacturer.

Though challenging, there was never a question on if we should concede to screenprint because of cost, complexity, or scrapping the design altogether. There was going to be someone somewhere who could produce our clothing in the way we imagined.

There is Someone Somewhere

We could have continued to search for a manufacturer online, but as you read this was a long painful process. Our next idea was to shop the design around in person at Sourcing. I find much greater value in meeting manufacturers face-to-face as opposed to over the internet. The internet is low-touch, there is a lot less stake in the game for a manufacturer when turning someone down via email or WhatsApp as opposed to in person. The expense was well worth it, the trip to Vegas resulted in us finding the factory with the capability we hoped for, we were off to the races. I’ll save the challenges of production for another blog.

Burden of Proof

The T-Shirt has been our best seller to date. This validated the process of getting the shirt into production. In spite of the many challenges we faced, it was worth our time and energy. We stress being different, if we were making something that fell in the same realm as other brands make, we would have gotten a yes at inquiry one or two. We want to continue to raise our bar in this way. Every problem is solvable. A “no” or “not possible” only means we are dealing with the wrong factory.

P.S.

As a gift to you, being a part of the community, shop the “Ascension” tee. Use the code “BUILDINPUB” for 25% off.

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Commoditization

At times it feels like there are more people with clothing brands than those without. Though this is not true, clothing is a commodity, and clothing “brands” have become a commodity as well.

Commoditization is the process of converting a product or service into a commodity, allowing suppliers to compete mainly on price as opposed to distinct features. This often involves standardizing the product to be interchangeable with others in its category, emphasizing affordability and accessibility. Commoditization can increase market liquidity, making buying and selling straightforward and creating more cash flow in trade. However, it also raises challenges for small producers due to its focus on low-cost mass production.

Often times I ask myself,

“How have brands become a commodity?”

The answer is simple, the barrier to entry is low. If the barrier to entry to start a space transportation and satellite ISP company were low, there would be many, many more. It’s easy if you think about it:

• Create a half-baked design.

• Screen print said design on blanks purchase for $8-$15 per garment.

• Profit (charge $120 for it).

This not only damages the little trust customers have in said brand, but also ruins their faith in brands with a good product that take time and effort to develop.

The Uncertainty in Manufacturing

If your brand has “graduated” from blanks onto cut and sew manufacturing (in the States or overseas), congratulations! You have moved into the next level of pain. Endless WhatsApp arguments, language barriers, quotes that give you the blues, and sometimes incompetence (depending on the manufacturer). This process alone will be enough for you to call it quits. Did I mention tariffs? Don’t even try to set release dates if you don’t have clothing in hand, you might miss a QA check and everything needs to be remade (speaking from experience).

Inability to Pay Yourself

Are you trying to grow your business or do you want to get paid? No, these two things are not oxymorons, but if you are running a growing e-commerce business as we are, you know that most of the profits go back into buying more inventory. This can be a never ending cycle for longer than one may expect. Can you withstand the business making money, but you personally making next to nothing?

We Did it Anyway

In spite of these negatives, we are doing it anyway. Can we turn the negatives into positives? Can we stand out in a saturated market? Do we have the ability to insource as much as possible? Are we even doing the right thing? Do we have to pivot? I’ll leave it up to our FATE.

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