OUR STORY
Origins and Vision
During an eSports event in Bucharest, precisely the DOTA2 TI10 in 2021, I noticed an Australian youth because of his unique attire. He was wearing Techwear, which was both technologically advanced and fashionably alluring. However, as our conversation deepened, he revealed a disappointing fact— while the sellers' websites and promotional images were cool, the actual quality often less than desirable, with problems such as frayed seams or faded colors after a few wears. Worse, contacting the sellers typically resulted in no response or unhelpful replies. He was wearing a newly received outfit and joked pessimistically about its awful condition by the end of TI10. As a Techwear enthusiast myself, I appreciate its blend of personal style and functionality. For example, I particularly like garments with multiple pockets that allow me to carry essentials like my phone and wallet without needing any additional bags, giving a sense of ease and naturalness. I see this is how future trend goes on, combining fashion with convenience. This journey sparked my entrepreneurial spirit: why not create a Techwear brand that's both stylish and high-quality?Birth
With this inspiration, visiting over 21 factories and acquiring 47 pieces of Techwear-style clothing in 6 months from the end of 2021, gaining a wealth of practical experience and ideas. Finally, on April 18, 2022, Techwear Official was established. Just three days later, Lucas from Wellington, New Zealand, became our first customer. His feedback at the end of the month was highly positive, praising our product's quality and design. His only regret was not receiving it two days earlier to wear to a surprise party.
Steps of Growth
By the end of April, we had accumulated 30 customers. This number grew to 100 by the end of May. This growth kept me incredibly busy, because I try to strike a balance between product development and customer service.
Team Expansion
To better meet these challenges, I decided to build a team in May. We were joined by Ryan, who is known for his great demeanor and physique, and is affectionately known as the "flight model." He is responsible for product discovery and design, making sure that every new product is personally tested and on trend. Amee, a very patient helper of mine and is in charge of customer service, working hard to resolve every customer's issues. The most satisfying part was that Amee found some more reliable logistics providers, solving more problems like Lucas' regrets. During this time, I personally inspected each new batch of purchases, constantly asking myself 'if I bought this, would I be happy with it?' Frankly, dozens of orders per month were not enough to sustain the three of us, so we invited Daisy to handle the marketing of our store.Turning Point and Reflection
Daisy brought us new hope, however in the first few months of marketing it did not bring the expected growth, but led to losses. September and Halloween were the turning point. A German client named Valentin shared high praise for our cosplay masks on Instagram. With his permission, we showed his photo to our website visitors, which unexpectedly attracted a large number of new customers and dramatically increased the number of orders. Valentin's sharing and the positive reaction it provoked made us realize that real advertising lies in word-of-mouth from customers, not in creating attractive images and mechanically optimizing ads. We are especially grateful to our loyal customers for recommending our brand to their friends, and their free promotion has greatly strengthened our team.
Looking ahead
By the end of June, 2023, we gained 74,505 orders and served 58,417 customers. During this time, we have built specialized teams in purchasing, production, logistics and marketing. Honestly speaking, we have encountered some problems in the course of development, there were some negative comments from our customers, mainly concerning logistics speed, product sizing issues, and discrepancies between price and quality. We have been working hard to resolve these issues, which have become less frequent as time goes by. However, we must admit that it is impossible to achieve 100% satisfaction, but we will work hard to chase it. Your valuable suggestions are our greatest support as we move forward. We have always been committed to providing high-quality goods and services as our first principle, adhering to the standard of quality over quantity, and striving to build "Official" into a trustworthy and authoritative brand and trustworthy shopping platform in the business of Techwear.Thank you for your support!
Sincerely,
John
