I was obsessed by the pursuit of perfection. This is one of the true enemies of creativity.
I had tried my hand at many art-forms but was too afraid to show the world what I had created, as I always believed I could do better.
I said to myself I would post every single garment I created despite whatever errors I made. That's where the name came from - Fully, House of Errors Founder
Five Years of Errors is a unique insight into building a brand.
the perfect book for my current situation.
i’m 2 years into building a brand myself. i could relate to the highs of that first sale. but he’s had some fucking low low’s which was interesting to read about. i thought i had some serious shit fuck up along the way but at least i’m yet to have people blasting me online about being a scammer.
a strong theme i picked up throughout is around hate and love. hate is not the opposite of love. ambivalence is. better to have someone hate what you do. than not give a flying fuck about it.
A customer will never buy your plain blue jeans instead of Levi's. They will never buy your plain knitted sweater instead of Ralph Lauren's. They will never buy your plain black boot instead of Doc Marten's.
Create something with no competition.
and you have your own personal taste. use it !!!!
A key to the quick success of the brand was that I didn't really care about fashion. I liked clothes, but I wasn't deeply interested in the world of fashion like I was cinema. I had less reference points in fashion to pull from and wasn't bound by the made up rules of the game. Everything I created was about bringing something to life that I wanted to exist. [...] Trust your taste.
and by trusting your taste, creating, and experimenting, good things will follow:
We finally had product with high demand. But the quality of the tees were only half the reason the latest drop went so well.
I spent almost three years making intricate and eye catching clothes. This gained peoples interest but wasn't always lucrative. I proved time and time again how good a designer I was. Finally, I cashed in on the hype on the brand and logo and dropped simpler products. If I had started with these products, nobody would have bought them. They were an opportunity for people to finally buy into a brand they loved but couldn't afford.
and you should be a creator, not a craftsman:
you are only one person. Every minute you spend trying to become a great craftsman, is a minute you are not spending trying to become a great creator.
The latter will get you to your goals faster.
a common question asked non-stop (and fair enough!) is re: pricing garments. especially when staring out:
I see a lot of people trying to charge industry standard prices from when they start off. Nobody will pay this, as you do not yet have the experience to create industry standard work. People will try and run with a narrative that this is unethical and we should pay creatives fairly. But it would be unfair to someone who's put in their 10,000 hours to pay someone who just started out the same rate.
Accept you will be screwed over in the beginning. Use any experience you can get. You will get to those big payouts much faster.
popups don’t make money. but they build the brand:
Pop ups aren't big money makers. We probably took a loss this day [Tokyo Pop-Up], if you consider the flights and hotels. But they create benchmarks for understanding the impact you are having on the culture.
also note:
Making clothes for celebrities is not a life-changing opportunity, they need you more than you need them.
learn, build, share, repeat.
You shouldn't chase success. You should chase being unbreakable.
An unbreakable person will always be able to find success no matter what obstacles come their way. This type of person attracts more success because to them, there is no other option.
Often, becoming successful is easy. A lot of people get rich because of luck. But it's likely they will not sustain their success. They haven't gone through enough hardship in their come-up to prepare them for the challenges they need to face to stay successful.
my main takeaway is just to create.
leave no stone unturned.
be authentically you.
if people love it? great. if they don’t? at least you’ve lived you own authentic life.
There is no party, vacation, relationship, level of comfort, or external validation that will bring you as much happiness as having a purpose.
There is no rejection, loneliness, humiliation, disapproval or criticism that will bring you as much sorrow as failing to chase your purpose.