Some Thoughts On Developing A Brand

We recently decided to completely re start or t-shirt brand.  Everything is being done from scratch as we look to make a really great brand and product for people.  I always thing it’s good to know when something isn’t working and make the decision to stop, make changes and most importantly, learn from the experience.  As we go through the process of building a brand, some thoughts came to mind so I thought would write them down for anyone in a similar position.

When you start out a brand I think there are some crucial things to consider:

Brand

Image source: logodesignworks

If you are looking to put out a brand that can be recognised it must be given serious thought.

You t-shirts must have some kind of link between them, something to hold them together something that people can sink there teeth into so to speak. There are so many brand out, what makes your different? They don’t need to look the same, they don’t need to even all be t-shirts, but there should be something to attract people beneath the designs themselves. That just my opinion anyway. I like the brands developed by people Johnny Cupcakes, Tokidoki and Superdry because of their strong concept that shines in everything from the website to the product to the people behind product.

Team

Image source: icebirdy

Are you doing it yourself or in a group? If by yourself have you got the right skills? You might be good at design but if you can’t get the business right then you might find it difficult to get traction.

I’m a fan of working with other people who are good at what they do, so we have a small team of people here. If you have a team make sure you’ve got the might mix of people to cover all the angles.

  • Vision – What is the long term plan for your brand, Where are you going with this?
  • Product – The designs you create to the physical the t-shirts you put them on.  Print, material, packaging etc
  • Business – The foundation of it all.  Sometimes the boring parts, but essential to making something successful

Even if you’re in a group, be prepared to wear different hats when starting out. We recently had to do taxes for the first time and the only thing it taught us is that we needed someone to do this for us next time! Really, it was not fun (respect to people who have to do this for a living!)

Plan

It’s an oldie but a goodie: “He who fails to plan is planning to fail” – Winston Churchill

Once you have all the pieces together how exactly are you going to make it happen? What’s the next step. I’ve never been a big fan of pages and pages of documentation (you’ll see why in a bit), but you need something on paper so you (and everyone in the group) know what you are going can coordinate actions. If you don’t have the discipline to even write down a plan of attack, you’ll probably never make it to the castle gates (not sure where that analogy came from…).

Adapt

Allow me to contradict myself. As soon as you start that plan you scribbled down, it’s going out the window. Let me explain. Things change and rarely ever go exactly as planned and you need to be flexible. This is why I’m not for hugely detailed plans, because that’s fairytale and it won’t happen like that.

Enjoy it

Image source: mjagiellicz

Last, but probably most important. Don’t do something you’re not going to enjoy. We only at the very start of are journey and it been tough, I can’t imagine what experienced and successful brands are going through but I hope to find out as I’ve enjoyed it so far.

Do you agree? Disagree or have anything to add? Drop a comment or vist our Facebook page.

Johnny Cupcakes London Store Saves A Long Trip

I was excited by the recent news that Johnny Cupcakes is opening a store in London! I read through his story this year and was really impressed by his journey to becoming a recognised and successful brand. It also may have something to do with the fact that I’m subconsciously drawn to cakes due to a supposed sweet tooth as one friend put it.

As all the stores were in the US I was planning to make a visit the next time I was in California. This will save me a journey, although I may actually be in California by the time the store opens…oh the irony.

Switching Things Up

It’s been silent on the blog front for a while now…but there’s a good reason.  We’re currently in the process of completely reinventing the mayamada brand!  We’ve gone back to the drawing board and are working on getting some new products out later this year.  Personally I think autumn/winter is an underrated time in terms of t-shirt wearing weather…
The blog will be updated on a more regular basis as we keep you updated with the progress and hopefully get to show you some of the new stuff we’reworking on.
Stay tuned.

A Little Known Gem in Camden Town

At least I didn’t know it was there until last week…

Last weekend, I took a trip to Camden market to visit a shop run by the ifreecans Collective.  I first meet these guys at StreetFest and thought I would look them up after hearing they had a shop in Camden.  It’s a celebration of arts in various forms: music, painting and tees all in one space.


You might miss the shop walking around the maze of clothing food a tattoo spots in the market area, but the standout feature of this I hung out for a while chatting to the owner Kiboko, who seems to be working on a mural every time I see him!  Check this one out:

We chatted for a while about all things t-shirts and I got the chance to look at other bits of art that will soon go up in an exhibition in London (check our Facebook page for more details when we get them).  I got these pic from there website, but there was a lot of other nice pieces and I should have taken some pictures of my own.  Oh well, I’ll be back there soon so keep an eye out for more.

A.Sharn Dialekt Video Teaser

Last Friday, I was at the home of one A.Sharn Dialekt as he, along with director Jabril Muse were putting together the video for “By My Side”.  It’s A.Sharn’s first major video and an ambition piece that comes off really well.  A music video sandwiched in between a short story…remember when music video were like that?  A lot of effort was put into this, I know because I was there with them editing until 5am…why I was there I still don’t know!  I spent most the night half asleep, but from what I saw from half closed eye lids was looking good, very polished.  You can watch the trailer and sneak preview right here:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDXnB8lEN9Q

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRThwXOvpSw

I’ll be sure to put up the full video when it comes out, we’re also working on a new t-shirt in collaboration with A.Sharn that takes inspiration from the song.  You’ll have to wait and see the final thing, but I hear it’ll look good.  Head over to our Facebook page to be the first to find out when it’s available.
Don’t forget to also check out A.Sharn Dialekt’s facebook page for news on the video.

StreetFest !!!!!

In the UK it was a long weekend and boy did we take advantage! The weather just about held up so we made it a point to check out one of the first summer events of the year, StreetFest.

For those of you that did not click the link above, StreetFest describes itself as “London’s   number one street culture festival” which we would agree with. There was a lot going on, Graffiti, Strret Dance, BMX, Skatebaording, Inline, photography, Street art, FOOD music and surprisingly T-Shirts! We didn’t expect to see our fellow competitors in such force but I wouldn’t call it a stretch to say Tshirts were a major attraction.

We ran into the ladies from Show Love “The brand with heart”. I had to get a shot of the varsity  jacket shown below. Why? I just love em okay and that’s why I snagged another shot with one of the lads from Ask Your Girl.

We really liked the persistent logo.

Kayobi’s African infused clothing were also present at the festival and drew a fair bit of interest. These guys really understand their audience with their tongue in cheek nod to African culture found within the “Make X not war” line.

There was an opportunity to design your very on Addidas trainers.

(Note the detailed London skyline)

We met Supremebeing as soon as we stepped into the festival. Great guys  and a selection that really reflects the brand ethos.

All in all, it was a good day. We came away entertained, better informed and encourages by our fellow T-shirt makers. Everyone was in high spirits and we wish we could feature all of the companies but space is short.

Mayamada Interviews Asili

We recently got some time to chat with Rex Osafo-Asare from Asili.  For those that don’t know, Asili is a London based clothing company focused on promoting Africa in a positive light.  I won’t give everything away though, that’s what’s the interview is for!


Despite being  friend of a friend I had never previously met Rex, but we had a great talk about his business and the business of t-shirts in general.  We had a lot of fun and found it really helpful as we are just starting out ourselves (I actually thought I would be transcribing all of this!).  If you are in a similar position in your business, there is some good advice for you.  Even if you aren’t, this is still a fun listen.

[audio:http://blog.mayamada.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/asili_interview_pt1.mp3|titles=Asili Interview pt1] [audio:http://blog.mayamada.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/asili_interview_pt2.mp3|titles=Asili Interview pt2] [audio:http://blog.mayamada.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/asili_interview_pt3.mp3|titles=Asili Interview pt3] [audio:http://blog.mayamada.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/asili_interview_pt4.mp3|titles=Asili Interview pt4]

You’ll have to excuse the rough editing.  We really had no idea it would go this long but hopefully you find it interesting throughout.  We’ll be doing this more often over the coming months.  If you are an establish t-shirt company interested in doing an interview with us, get in touch!

Part 1

  • The original of asili and it’s logo – fashionable clothing for Africa.  What Asili means (you have to listen for that…or just Google it)
  • How many people and why there are no women in the team!
  • Rex’s role in the company
  • Some of the obstacles in starting up his t-shirt company (money and awareness)
  • Grafting to make the business a success and attract fans (Facebook included)
  • An interlude while Rex got the door!

Part 2

  • You can never beat word of mouth
  • The importance of referrals
  • How Asili got into brick and mortar stores
  • Some tips on how to approach store owners and dealing with knock backs
  • How they look to brand themselves through associations with their t-shirts

Part 3

  • Online versus offline:  which is better?
  • Remembering the importance of getting recognition even on a small scale.
  • Breaking he myth that online is easier.  If you build it..they still may not come.  You still have to put in the work
  • We were working on the new site design while doing this interview.  You can check that out now!
  • Asili reaching as far as America!
  • Thoughts on appealing to different demographics

Part 4

  • Having realistic goals at the beginning – you have to measure using realistic standards.
  • Sometime things don’t do to plan, reality can be tough sometimes.
  • Breadth versus depth when it comes to products
  • What’s coming up next for Asili, looking to the future

Don’t forget to check out Asili – World cup tees are out now

Websites and Brand Perception

If you’ve been following us on Facebook and Twitter (you are following us right?) you’ll have seen we updated the our website.  We’ve been getting plenty of good reactions from fans and it made me realise how important a website is to the perception of a brand.  So for people in a similar position to us here a few tips from my experience …

Get the colours right

Colours are so important to perception in ways that I don’t even fully understand yet!  What I do know is that even I get a different and better feel looking at our new site than the old.
Think about how you want people to feel when they look at your site.  This isn’t just about you favourite colours but about what each one represents and how that relates to your brand.
I’m not even going to get into colour theory because I’d be way out of my depth.  However, you might want to take a look at helpful article from Smashing Magazine we used to get us to think about this.

Show, don’t tell

If you’re selling something, visitors should be able to go on the website and immediately see what you sell.  Don’t make people work for it, because you usually only have a few second before they go back to Facebook so don’t waste time!
If you didn’t know about us, it wasn’t easy to tell what we did looking at our old site.  There’s no question now: T-Shirts (OK, we do hoodies to but stick with me here I’m trying to make a point).
Pictures help in a major way as they let people see your product in action and let people get a better idea of what you are about.  Hopefully they like it and look deeper.i.e. start browsing your shop.

Let the world know!

Don’t just keep it to yourself, tell the world.  There’s always a danger of being blind to your creation’s faults,  but your site can always be improved so be on the look out for opportunities to do just that.  It is so important to get feedback from people who have had nothing to do with the development.
It never ceases to amaze me how someone can point out something that I had been staring at for ages, but never even noticed.  Plus,  getting people involved engages your audience and makes them feel part of the process, which is a good thing.

And on that note…What do you think of the new site?  How important is the website to a brand?  Let us know your thoughts here or on our Facebook page.
Don’t forget we also have to new tees ninjastar and superstar, available now in male and female.  Check them out!

New Site and New Tees This Week

It’s been a hard few weeks, but we’ve been hard at work getting out an all new website featuring the pictures from our photoshoot.  We think it looks great and you’ll get to see it over the weekend.  Along with that, we’ve got two new tees from a new theme.  Here’s a preview:

We’ve had a good reaction so far and hopefully you will like them too, we’d love to know what you think.  They’ll be available as soon as the new site is up on Friday…finger crossed!

What else is coming up for mayamada?  Well we’ll be at StreetFest on the 30th of May checking out all London has to offer in street culture.  We’re looking forward to meeting some interesting people and seeing the mix of talents and styles at the event.  Look forward to lots of pictures and video from us there.

Check out these pictures and video from past events:


First Image: PHOTOGRAPHY Yoshitaka Kono
Second Image:PHOTOGRAPHY SUELAN & YOSHITAKA KONO

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyTxLFWC8ec

Have you been before?  Are you going to this years event?  Let us know on our Facebook page.

Just Start Running

I stumbled across this presentation via the How To Start A Clothing Company blog.  It features Jeffrey Kalmikoff and Jake Nickell, co-founders of Threadless.  They talk about how they turned a hobby into a multimillion dollar business and more importantly (for me at least), a leader in their market.  Only a few companies are able to dictate trends in it’s market and when it comes to crowd sourcing t-shirt designs, Threadless are the go to guys.

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What really struck me was the way they approached their business in the initial stages.  When I first came across Threadless, I never really thought of how it got started.  I would have thought that for a company so big, there much have been some corporate business plan indicate how they were going to utilise crowd sourcing to maximise profits or something like that, but apparently not.  It was simply two guys doing something they loved.  The most important thing I took from this is that they just started doing something.  That’s a really important lessen for me.  If you want to go somewhere, just start running.  Don’t get caught up in how things could turn out or what happens if…just start doing it.  You never know what a start could lead to.