The launch has come and gone, and it’s reflecting time.
"The only failure in your twenties is inaction. The rest is trial and error.”
Fuuuuuarrrrking what even! Absolute madness from day dot.
By far the most popular “item” was the bundle option. With the tight pins cream tee by far outselling the black and white box logo tee. If I’ve done the math right, 27 orders included the tight pins tee, whilst only 8 included the white box logo.
Funny story, I was still umming and ahhing about what items to do in the first drop, and at the last minute decided to take a risk and do the tight pins tee, so I honestly only ordered those blanks a week prior and I think they only arrived on the Wednesday or Thursday before the drop.
My takeaway from the tight pins tee doing so well is a lesson I kind of already knew, but didn’t adhere to. Swing for the fences. Try different things. Don’t play it safe.
I think I’d done so well overall in terms of taking risks, but last second was getting cold feet and was initially going to offer some really tame (and frankly lame!) designs.
So can’t wait to really get funky with it and double down into trying different things.
I loved the whole process. Screenprinting. Packaging. Getting orders out.
Was a bloody fun week. Tough, but rewarding.
Golf is really breaking through. I’ve always loved talking about it non-stop, but I’m definitely seeing an uptick even now.
Had a Bucks do in the city on the weekend and it’s insane how many people will want to talk about it. I fucking love it!
The bad aspects? Purely myself to blame. My systems/process sucked.
If I want to have 50 orders on the go, I need to have a rock-solid base to operate off. It was not by any means of the imagination a “smooth operation”. There were plenty of small mistakes. I forgot one person’s sticker pack, got another’s sizes mixed up, and delivered to someones billing address, not their shipping address lol.
Sizes sold were interesting! I ordered based on a Reddit streetwear post detailing the sizes they sold. I think Aussies like to size up and go for a baggier look though! I was caught out selling out of Large and XL’s, but legit Smalls and Mediums barely got touched. Lesson learned!
Also, sewing tags is ass. I know it’s a part of the handmade process, but fuck me it was worse than pulling teeth. Side by side, when sewing is put against screenprinting you could describe both as repetitive, consistent, and detailed. But I fkn love screenprinting and never want to sew a tag ever again. Go figure!
So yeh. Bumpy road ahead. My preparation for drop #2 has been less than stellar and I’ve got my work cut out for me. I think I would already be cutting it fine otherwise, but to add insult to injury, it’s the Chinese New Year holiday season so work there slows to a crawl and that’s where I source my blank polos from Alibaba. I sourced my first tees from AS Colour, but since I hate sewing tags so much, I’m gonna have to change that up or figure something out there. Help!
Completely my fault for being a dodo and not anticipating/preparing.
I’ve got a few packaging ideas and changes that will improve things. Just small quality-of-life stuff. And the more I do this, the better I’m going to get.
I also wouldn’t mind doing a belated launch party, but I’ll get onto that after I figure out the fucking sourcing elephant in the room.
conclusion
overall? great success! keen to embrace the inner gambler, reinvest every last cent and double down. I’d love more than anything to turn this into my main gig one day, but that doesn’t happen by accident. and even if I made zero money I’d still be doing it. either way, I am just absolutely loving the fuck out of what i’m doing here. and I just hope that love is infectious.
I’m a big early-to-bed, early-to-rise type of guy so the past week has been brutal but so fkn worth it in every sense. The feedback, the love, and just the satisfaction of putting ya heart and soul into something and seeing it out in the world I can’t recommend enough.
I owe a billion people a hug and a thank you. I’m beyond fucking grateful. It might come across as a one-man band sometimes but I lean on a lot of legends for help, feedback, and everything in between.
So my success is your success too because I don’t do this alone.
‘Life is brief and to have to spend every day of it doing what somebody else wants you to do is not the way to live it.’ - Cormac Mccarthy