japan

The pieces are coming together as we prepare for the release of our new range of t-shirts and hoodies.  We have to get the t-shirts tagged, packaged and shipped to our first customers, sort out the website and organise a photoshoot all inside three weeks.  This month is going to be crazy!

If you’ve been following us from the beginning you’ll probably have seen our previous efforts to sell t-shirts…which didn’t go so well.  I’m one for learning from failure and since then we have completely rebranded our efforts and are almost ready to re-launch.

Towards the end of last year, I was asked why we we’re going at this again after our initial efforts didn’t go as planned.  The question took be by surprise, not because I didn’t have an answer, but because it was obvious to me.  So obvious I never actually stopped to think about the answer before.

Because this is what we want to do.

Because we want to create a really cool brand that people can related to, create something that takes our interest in Japanese culture and puts our own spin on it.  Because we want to make something great.

I recently watched the Social Network and for all the negative perceptions of Mark Zuckerburg and the general concerns over Facebook (security, privacy etc), for me the biggest takeaway from that film (or “movie” if you’re reading this stateside) is that at the end of this day he went and did something great because that’s what he wanted to do. He didn’t ask for permission, didn’t check with anyone along the way (except Justin Timberlake).  He just did it and that spoke volumes to me.

Now, before someone make a crazy assumption, I’m not saying mayamada is going to be Facebook.  What I’m saying is that creating anything from nothing is hard, but that doesn’t meaning you let setbacks stop you if that’s what you really want.

So here’s to making things happen and to a great 2011 for everyone reading this!