Becoming Maroon

A Look Back Stateside

2011-08-26T11:57:00.000-06:00

Mr. Sullivan recently took a brief trip down through some of the western states, including stops in Washington and California to talk to retailers and see how they're getting along. New sales were made and current relationships maintained. We like to take a good Canadian approach to our relationships, make them in person, friendly and not too intense.

Here are some pictures Shannon took in Seattle on the trip.

Seattle has always been a little different than other major cities in the US. Maybe because they're tucked away in the far north west corner, or maybe its the beautiful pine-treed harbour surroundings, but what we know for sure is that it's a great place for Maroon's different and decidedly colorful pocket squares.

Here's a link to some other inspired creations from Seattle: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/seattlesketcher/?from=stnv2

London - The first step into the European market

2011-07-26T15:17:00.000-06:00

Maroon Apparel is poised to enter the European marketplace. What better place to start than one of the fashion capitals of the world; London?

Shopping in London is a vacation in itself for many holiday makers, and those that make their home in the big city enjoy its extensive supply of high quality shops scattered throughout its historic streets. Shopping here is a delight under-emphasized in the North American streets, as malls are replaced by street-side shops sprinkled down the high streets to the cobble-stoned alleyways.

As a fresh faced newcomer to the city, we shipped in our first product in a slightly awkward way. Instead of paying what we thought was 'too much' for door to door delivery, we opted to pick up the product at Heathrow's cargo area. This turned out, for someone taking the tube, to be quite a walk. Heathrow being as huge as it is has its cargo area located quite a walk away from the public transportation routes.

Walking through increasingly remote roads finding the customs broker

So, we had to hoof it for a good 45 minutes to run by the customs clearing area, then on the warehouse.

Luckily we found a bus back to the underground station, and made our way back with little other trouble. As well, thankfully pocket squares are indeed very small, enabling a reasonably large shipment to be carried by hand...

Escorting the boxes to the home office on the Tube

Look forward to stories of the endeavor to get the product into London's street-side shops coming soon.

Getting Noticed: The Retail Display

2011-04-08T05:08:00.000-06:00

So back when myself, (Colin) and Shannon brought our first shipment over to a retailer in the north west in person. I wanted a chance to meet the buyer Shannon had been dealing with, because he was young, friendly and helpful.

We got to talking about their new season of clothing and the process behind their spring rollout. Trying to take a more critical look at the realm in which our products will be sold, I noticed a few retail displays lying around the store. Mostly the acrylic things you see everywhere, our buyer told us that most of the ones he gets in are way to big to incorporate into their space.

So with this concept in mind, I asked him a few more questions. He told us that as long as it was small enough to put where he wants, like on the cash desk POS style, or with the ties, it has to suit the area.

All I could think was how we needed one to keep our product out of drawers where they wouldn't be noticed. So I set off to create something to show off the squares in a vivid, voluminous way.

Browsing through craft stores and the dollar store, I collected a few pieces I thought would work well together for our prototype. A photo frame, placed on its back, with a glass vase and some decorative sand mixed with glue. It looked nice, but there were some issues that Shannon brought up on inspection.

Photo Frame: $3.00
Decorative Sand: $2.00       Total: $8
Glass Vase: $3.00

Issues:
Must have space for boxes to be displayed i.e. shelves or otherwise,
Decorative sand is easy to pick off and does not hold vase effectively.

Pros:
Vase shows squares well,
Should have logo space

While discussing potential materials, and a growing distaste for cheap acrylic (not cheap to buy), Shannon decided to talk to his finishing carpenter step-dad Don, (seems so obvious now).

We did up a plan for him to visualize and got to work;

MDF and 7 or 8 woodworking tools

Total cost remained under $10 per unit, not including the beer and pizza fund contributions for the labour. We wanted to keep it really cheap so it wouldn't cut into our profit margins for each retailer. Complications to deal with include shipping the heavy MDF boxes, and we have to find a way to pack them carefully with the glass vases

In the garage at -15C

Our first cut out box. We changed the hole size to fit the new vase more snugly.

Painted photo corners to make the logo look more polished when attached to the box.

To finish the project we created a simple one pager about how to arrange the pocket squares and the boxes to show retailers how to best take advantage of the display. It is included in the shipment.

First set ready for shipping

Scoping Out The Big Retailers

2011-03-18T21:05:00.001-06:00

Someone asked me recently why I just don't sell to the Bay. To them it seemed so obvious, which is why we must. To me, it was humorous because they Bay has grown a little more complicated over the centuries... I quickly learned you can't just show up with a stack of pelts anymore

In the interest of learning about those larger retailers that we look to grow to, I checked out Canada's original retailer...

So I spent a good amount of time cruising around the Bay at Market Mall in Calgary today. It's going to be important to move to nationally based retailers eventually, to reach efficient margins. From what I've learned so far, to get in to see their buyers you need a couple things. Referrals from our original retailers is one, a selling history, and a great sales pitch to round it out.

I wanted to get a feel for the store, as we've recently received some interest from one of our contacts at the store. I don't know if you've ever looked at a department store without paying a lot of attention to the individual products. It's big, really big. They've got it all broken down into sections based on the label. I'd say the Polo by Ralph was the nicest put together. They've got the whole line set up there, along with some display touches such as some vintage trophies and leather football helmets.

It's definitely not exciting, and for a while I was wondering if it was even the environment we wanted to be in. But they have a lot of quality items, and after a while I enjoyed the peacefulness. I can only take so much "help" from an inexperienced sales guy at some stores.

Considering the massive selection, I can't help but assume the bay moves a lot of menswear through it. But that's gotta be obvious. The questions I have now are about whether the guys that hit this store regularly are in our target demographic, and whether the "pull" strategies employed by the established brands like CK are what brings 'em in. Considering there are almost nothing for pocket squares available, and some cheaper cuff links made by the Bay's own Hudson North, there definitely is some space for us... Whether anyone will be paying attention in the store is the crucial component.

Note: Nautica display used some cool colorful squares in their suits, which were subsequently unavailable for purchase after at least 5 minutes of searching the area... But they must recognize their value...

The way I figure it, if we sold even 20 squares to every Bay across Canada, we'd be in great shape.

Creating an Image: The Photo Shoot

2011-03-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

So a major piece in completing our professional image pie is our photo shoot that we just wrapped up. These photos will be used in the website and many of our publications.

Strong help came from our consultant Domingo (characterizedimage.com) who connected us with the key contacts to bring the shoot together. The whole thing went off without a hitch, and we're finding things usually do when you're making a straight cash for services deal.

Our new friend Libertee from Pure Form (pureformonline.com) has a great studio down on 12th ave here in Calgary. They did the photography with their in house photographer, and once the day started all we had to do was sit back and watch it all unfold.

We picked out our guys from Christal with Artists Within and the girl was an old high school friend

Domingo has some strong connections with Thomas Jeffrey, a respected menswear store here in Calgary. Domingo borrowed some clothing on the premise we would also shoot some material for them to use (i.e. a new cufflink line they were promoting). He put together six looks and we spent the afternoon trying different square folds and looks. The end result was some great shots we'll be able to use over the next season.

Check 'em out

Revelation, Relationships & Responsibility: Securing a manufacturer in a distant culture

2011-01-16T23:33:00.000-07:00

Maroon is a machine in motion, general strategy, logistics and the team have been secured. In the second day of the new year, Shannon set off to China to meet with the manufacturer and the agreements that had been set up over the summer months.

The objectives of the trip were fairly straightforward; to introduce himself and get to know his contacts in a face to face setting after months of email correspondence. If big deals are to be struck, we had to get to know them on a personal basis. Next was to view the factory facilities and meet some of it's people. We wanted to make sure everything was in order, and Shannon found the place as we expected, clean, efficient and a happy workforce. With the future of the factory assured, the last objective was to learn about the manufacturing process, allowing us to tune our organization to mesh as efficiently as possible.

Below are some pictures from the trip. Shannon grabbed some shots of the grounds, the town and the good-humored HuZhou residents around the factory.

The City of HuZhou, Northern Zhejiang, near Shanghai is a bustling place based on textiles (especially silk),building materials and agriculture.


Modest accomodations come with great service and delicious food. Shannon's contact, the factory rep graciously accepted our gift of scotch. We found out later he didn't like scotch, but at least he'll have it around the house for his friends.	Food was amazing... Nicklas Chen, guide for the trip and owner of the company, brought Shannon around the office and the factory. A Chinese custom, they dined on traditional Cantonese cuisine, ordering way more then could possibly be eaten. Peking duck, fish dishes, waxberry juice, steak and fresh crab to name a few. The fish and the crab were caught that day in the large lake bordering Huzhou.

Clean, organized and well lit, the factory was a welcome sight.

The people were friendly and cheerful

Huhzou is called the Silk Capital of the World

The factory had an almost campus feel, and was filled with 20-somethings wandering around in small groups on their break..

The trip was a success, and a solid relationship built for the future. Efficiencies and further strategy will be discussed as the team reconvenes after Shannon's trip and an adviser's vacation.

Conception: The first 8 months

2011-01-16T23:32:00.000-07:00

The original idea started coming together in April of 2010. Frustrations with a prior entrepreneurial venture had mounted; there just wasn't enough start-up capital for the scope of the project. Over the next 8 months, Shannon composed several ideas, narrowing his focus into this final project.

Shannon took his leave, and began to formulate an idea on something he knew, well; menswear. A passion for self-built success, the idea excitedly took fold.

The idea for the name was Uno Mundo. It was chosen to capitalize on Shannon's interest in the world as a community.

An idea had been formulated, and needed to become a reality. The next big step was to find a great designer, to create the works of art to become the pocket squares. A contact by the name of Domingo connected Shannon with a local artist and designer Kyle Nylund. Kyle is a grad from the Alberta College of Art and Design here in Calgary, majoring in fibre. A talented sketch artist with an eye for fashion was a perfect fit.

The name had to change when his Spanish speaking girlfriend (Christiane) at the time made simple comment;the name doesn't make sense."It's Un Mundo". Shannon didn't think it rolled of the tongue anymore, and friends close to the company didn't really understand it without explanation.
Many more names rolled through, until Christiane pitched 'Maroon'. Shannon mulled it over for a while, and the name sounded good. "Maroon Apparel".

and thus... the company had become something more than just an idea.