After the success of our initial DIY Made In New York collection. Gathering information from customer's feedback & analytics, I realized there was an entire market we weren't able to capture. Even though we sold at 1/10 the price of a designer flannel and 1/3 the price of mid-tier brands with comparable quality, it still was over budget for the majority of my audience.
I quickly went back to the drawing board, came up with the idea to create a sub-label called BRIJ Black Label to introduce a more affordable & playful option for the mass customers. This was the start of my mission to bring premium apparels at the lowest price possible to students and young adults.
We shot a look book, featuring a total of 2 graphic t-shirts, 3 corduroy shorts and 2 trucker hats.
The hype was spreading like wild fire, a ton of existing and new customers were thrilled and excited when we announce the drop. However, just 24 hours before the release. There was a post of an anonymous account on Facebook making fun of the bootleg design we used for our graphic tees. That post created a lot of hate and gained a lot of traction for a 'cancel campaign'. Through all the negativity and hurtfulness, at the end, he was right. We didn't have permission to use the 2 graphics by Metallica and Nirvana. At the time, bootleg wasn't as accepted and forgiving as it is right now. So people were skeptical, worried and went with the masses.
Due to that incident, at launch, we were only able to sell less than a quarter of our stock. Due to skepticism and afraid of carrying a bad name for wearing a bootleg t-shirt. Many turned away from us. It took us months, some styles nearly 2 years to clear out the rest of the stock at a discounted price.
Even though the styles were well developed and made with incredible quality and thought. A single mistake washed it all away.
This was a huge lesson for us. We were only acting out of innocence, influence & inspired by street culture. But we were punished for our ignorance. We learned & grew much from it, moving on with our head up high, eyes wide open.
