Introduce your business and tell us your story: How did you decide on what to sell, and how did you source your products?
We are three buddies that worked in the fashion industry. In early 2014 we chatted about how difficult it is to find vintage-inspired, washed-out artisan fashion. We felt like we wanted to combine our skills and passions to create a vertical business where we could sell high quality, well made rugged fashion items directly to our customers at a competitive price without exploiting people in production countries.
We started our own factory on the island of Bali, so that we have full transparency over who is sewing Haze & Glory garments and guarantee good working conditions. We have 7 men and women from the village working with us in our studio and we source our fabrics from within Indonesia and dye, print and distress them together with our employees and make them into garments.
How did you earn your first sales? Which channels are now generating the most traffic and sales for you?
We were very active on social media, especially Instagram before we launched the brand, so we created a small hype and told people what we were up to. Three weeks prior to having our first collection ready to be shipped we went online with our Shopify store and accepted pre-orders. The same day the first order came in. Great feeling!
Facebook and Instagram generate the most traffic and sales. We keep in touch with our customers on a daily basis, which is very important for a vertical business. We receive feeback, criticism and suggestions while intergrating our customers directly with what we are doing.
Tell us about the back-end of your business. What tools and apps do you use to run your store? How do you handle shipping and fulfillment?
Currently we use Olark Live Chat and Pop Up Window from LifterApps. Customers love the Pop Up App as they receive a 5% discount when they sign up to our newsletter. But there are so many more apps that we need to look into to push our store to the next step. Everything is made in our studio on Bali, then shipped to Germany to our Pop Up Store in Berlin. We ship the individual orders ex Germany with DHL worldwide as it is the most reliable and fast option for us. Our customers mainly come from Germany, the UK, Canada, France and the US, so we need a fast secure partner like DHL.
What are your top recommendations for new store owners?
There are a lot of great products out there. Don't try to copy a product, concept or business idea that is already out there. Chances are there are people with more capital, more experience and a better set up. So rather focus on a unique product, a great story or new concept. Create a brand that is as personal and transparent as possible, that will set you apart from the big players and that is our strength as small labels.