Give Me Embroidery or Give Me Death
Dare to be different.
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.